A glance at some venues suggested for 9/11 terror trial, if it were moved out of NYC

A glance at some venues suggested for 9/11 trial

Some places that community activists and business groups have proposed as alternative locations for terrorism trials now planned for Manhattan federal court. None have received a blessing from federal officials.

— U.S. District Court in White Plains: This courthouse is in less densely populated suburban New York, but there is no detention center. The building lacks the security of its sister courthouse in Manhattan, where prisoners can be moved from an onsite jail to the courtroom through a secure tunnel and roads are already blocked by guarded barriers.

— Stewart Air National Guard Base: There is no courthouse or prison or even a barracks at this small base near Newburgh, N.Y., 60 miles north of New York City. The facility shares runways with Stewart International Airport, which has daily commercial flights. The mayor of Newburgh has said he would welcome a trial because of the stream of visitors.

— FCI Otisville: A medium-security federal prison in Mount Hope, N.Y., about 70 miles northwest of New York City. It has no courthouse but has held terrorists before. Zvonko Busic, who hijacked a TWA flight in 1976, escaped by digging under a fence in 1987.

— The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.: It is unclear where on the sprawling campus suspects would be held or tried without disrupting the education of nearly 4,500 cadets, but the location is at least capable of being closed to the general public.

— Governor’s Island: Once a Coast Guard installation, this island off Manhattan’s tip is now a public park and historical site that hosts art exhibits, concerts and festivals. It has no jail. Suspects would likely have to be transported daily by boat from federal lockups in Brooklyn or Manhattan. Some structures are large enough to serve as a courthouse, but they are in severe disrepair. A trial would likely cut off public access to one of the great new gems in the city’s park system. New York’s mayor and police commissioner have already said the location is unsuitable.

— Sing Sing: The famous maximum security prison on the banks of the Hudson River has bars and cells but little available space and no courtroom. A similar location, suggested by some, with similar problems, is the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, N.Y.