By; Nylah Nash 

Rickers island is a 413-acre island in the East River in the Bronx that contains New York City’s largest jail. The island was originally under 100 acres in size but has since grown to more than 400 acres. Rikers island is known for its intense violence and corruption and for grouping minors with adults. 

The conditions faced at Rikers island have been described as  ‘“inhumane” not because of what happens in the jail but because of the de Blasio administration not fixing the framework, and lack of hiring correctional officers for about 4 years which puts correctional officers who currently work in the facility at a disadvantage because they were understaffed. For years inmates and correctional officers have spoken out about the cruelty faced in this prison but so far, no one has made an effort to correct these problems.

 Vincent Schiraldi, an American juvenile justice policy reformer and activist was recently in charge of Rikers island and in an interview explained how there was a lack of recreation, health care, appearance in court, and searches. Correctional officers weren’t in units physically which meant inmates had shanks and this put the lives of inmates at risk due to some having serious mental problems. This jail was so bad to the point where it came to the conclusion that inmates and correctional officers were getting treated worse than people who are fully convicted. 

One of the most pressing problems as stated was a union contract which meant that correctional officers had unlimited sick days, this left about 7,000+ (up to ⅓) not coming to work which created the added problem of sick leave abuse. One former inmate at Rikers island said that though they have been to many jails, Rikers island is most definitely the worst and another describes Rikers island as “animalistic’’. 

Rikers Island from a birds eye view

More elderly former inmates say it’s embarrassing being locked up with inmates half of your age and on top of that having your life at risk because there are no correctional officers nor the help you seek is provided. Over a 9-month period in 2021, there were over 2,000 assaults, which was expressed as a correction officials “ worst two years’’ of his life because of skyrocketing violence. Honestly, I think the idea of getting more correctional officers and renovating Rikers island is the best idea yet because the problems faced in this jail are being spoken about and ideas are being generated but nothing is actually being done. You can ask a current inmate in Rikers island who hasn’t served a long sentence and I guarantee you they are going to say that the conditions are bad, and most likely even worse than before.