Despite declining incarceration rates by the decade’s end, the city subsequently ordered another, even larger vessel, announcing in March 1989 that it had awarded the $125 million contract for its construction to Louisiana’s Avondale Industries shipyard. This video documents the christening of the Vernon C. Bain, held at the Avondale shipyard on January 8, 1992. The donation of the video was facilitated by visual artist Sean Vegezzi. The recording opens with a shot of the event’s program overlaid with woodwinds and brass playing “America the Beautiful,” followed by “Dixie.” After introductions by Avondale Corporate Vice President René P. Meric, remarks from New York City Department of Correction Assistant Commissioner John Shanahan precede an intense moment where the hulking facility is lowered into the Mississippi River to be towed the 1,800 nautical miles to its new home.  

When the five-story, 47,326-ton barge arrived in New York Harbor later that month, it was $35 million over budget and 18 months overdue. Named for a late Rikers Island warden, the Vernon C. Bain was moored in the East River off Hunts Point in the South Bronx. The ship’s facilities included a chapel, library, dining hall, and clinic as well as a caged outdoor recreational area on its top deck. At 625 feet long and 125 feet wide, it contained dormitories for 700 people and 100 cells. Dubbed the “Louisiana Purchase” by one local, the massive blue-and-white prison barge was quickly considered an unsightly financial boondoggle. 

The ship closed briefly in 1995 before reopening as a juvenile detention center, then finally as a standard intake and processing facility for adults. A sobering landmark of New York City’s role in the era of mass incarceration, the Vernon C. Bain remained the United States’s last prison ship when it closed permanently in November 2023.