Convict Alley (Lexington Avenue, between 119th and 126th streets)

The area of East Harlem on Lexington Avenue, between 119th Street and 126th Street, has been called “Convict Alley.” The New York (NY) Daily News, in the story “Convict alley in Harlem nabe” by Robert F. Moore, stated on March 18, 2007:
   
“But the working-class neighborhood is home to the highest concentration of convicted criminals in the city. One in every 20 men in the area is sent to prison, according to an exhaustive analysis of incarceration data.”
 
The unflattering “Convict Alley” name has not been used in real estate advertisements. 
 
   
Wikipedia: East Harlem
East Harlem, also colloquially known as El Barrio and previously as Spanish Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and East 96th Street up to about the 140s, east of Fifth Avenue to the East and Harlem Rivers. It lies within Manhattan Community District 11. Despite its name, it is generally not considered to be a part of Harlem.
 
The neighborhood is one of the largest predominantly Latino communities in New York City, mostly made up of Puerto Ricans, as well as increasing numbers of Dominican, Salvadoran and Mexican immigrants. It includes the area formerly known as Italian Harlem, in which the remnants of a once predominantly Italian community remain. The Chinese population has increased dramatically in East Harlem since 2000.
 
East Harlem has historically suffered from many social issues, such as the highest jobless rate in New York City, teenage pregnancy, AIDS, drug abuse, homelessness, and an asthma rate five times the national average. It has the second highest concentration of public housing in the United States, closely following Brownsville, Brooklyn.
     
Daily News (New York, NY)
Convict alley in Harlem nabe
BY ROBERT F. MOORE
DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU
Sunday, March 18, 2007, 4:00 AM
The seven blocks along Lexington Ave. from 119th to 126th Sts. appear to be an unremarkable mix of aging apartment buildings, traffic and retail.
 
But the working-class neighborhood is home to the highest concentration of convicted criminals in the city. One in every 20 men in the area is sent to prison, according to an exhaustive analysis of incarceration data.
   
Twitter
Pronounced Dukes O
‏@MightyDuxoh
@Wayno119 Weezy gonna be on the island with wild niggas from Convict Alley
10:06 AM - 9 Feb 2010
 
Vimeo
Convict Alley: A Story of Second Chances
from Sandhya Dirks
December 15, 2010
There is a stretch of East Harlem that residents refer to as Convict Alley. It is called that because a disproportionate number of formally incarcerated people return to this neighborhood.
   
The Huffington Post
Recidivism Hard To Shake For Ex-Offenders Returning Home To Dim Prospects
Trymaine Lee
06/09/2012 11:35 am ET | Updated Jun 10, 2012
(...)
Holder’s East Harlem neighborhood is ground zero for New York City’s returning ex-convicts. A seven-block stretch along Lexington Avenue between 119th Street and 126th Street is home to a higher concentration of formerly incarcerated people than anywhere else in the city, according to data compiled by the Justice Mapping Center in New York. An average of about 2,200 men and women return from prison to East Harlem and the surrounding area in Upper Manhattan each year.
 
This has earned the corridor the epithet, “Convict Alley.”
 
Twitter
Wayno
‏@Wayno119
My neighborhood is nicknamed “Convict alley” because we have the most repeat offenders in all of New York , see further than ya eyes can see
9:44 PM - 25 Dec 2013
 
Twitter
Laura Everett
‏@RevEverett
Julio Medina of @Exodus_ETCNY works in NYC in the 6-block radius known as “convict alley” where prisoners are released #ncccug
7:49 AM - 20 May 2014