Opinion | Rikers Island Is an Endless Catastrophe

Countless words have been written over the years, many from this plaque, illustrating the barbarism of the Rikers Island prison complex and calling for its closure. The latest entry came this week in a tweet thread by a New York State Representative Emily Gallagher, who was on a tour for elected officials and left the facility in shock and described the facility as a “humanitarian crisis” and “a house of horror of abuse and abuse Neglect “denoted.”

“There is trash everywhere, rotting food with maggots, cockroaches, worms in the showers, human feces and piss,” wrote Ms. Gallagher. “Most of the toilets are broken, so the men are given plastic bags in which to relieve themselves.”

“I met several men with broken hands and legs who were not treated,” she continued.

In 2021, 10 Rikers inmates have died so far, at least four by suicide. More than half of inmates have received psychiatric treatment, and almost one in five were diagnosed with serious mental illness over the past year.

Meanwhile, correctional officials are calling sick en masse – nearly 1,800 on Wednesday alone – giving their colleagues double and triple shifts, effectively handing control of parts of the complex to gangs.

This is everyday life in New York’s largest prison, despite Mayor Bill de Blasio’s promise to close it for good. The plan to replace Rikers – possibly delayed by the Covid pandemic – includes a $ 8.7 billion effort to rebuild three outdated prisons in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan to make them more sanitary and safe. A prison is to be built in the Bronx. Community prisons have numerous advantages over a centralized facility on an inaccessible island. Whatever critics from left or right may shout, New York will not do without jail cells. But it can be a much more humane approach to incarceration.

Mr de Blasio first promised to close Rikers in 2017 – the last time he visited the island. More than four years later and only months into his tenure, the situation is worse than ever. In May, a federal observer report described a “pervasive level of disorder and chaos” in the city’s prison system; Within three months, the observer reported that the situation had deteriorated significantly with regular violent attacks on inmates and guards. “The city has completely lost control,” said Mary Lynne Werlwas, director of the Prisoner’s Rights Project at the Legal Aid Society.

On Tuesday, Mr de Blasio announced a plan to address the immediate personnel crisis by moving more correctional officers from the courts to Rikers and threatening suspension of those who skip work without an apology. He also called on judges to release up to 250 people who have served less than a year for nonviolent crimes – although he has the authority to release them himself.

These are all stopgaps that don’t address the underlying problem: New York, like the rest of the country, locks way too many people in for no good reason. Mr de Blasio likes to point out that the city’s prison population is about half the size it was when he took office, but still far too large: almost 6,000 at the moment. Taxpayers are billed nearly half a million dollars annually to imprison each of these people – the vast majority of whom have not even had a lawsuit. Others are imprisoned for violating technical suspended sentences, such as forgetting to report to their manager. This is an absurd expenditure, especially when some evidence shows that pre-trial detention for just a few days increases the likelihood of someone committing a crime, no less.

That number could be significantly lower if Mr de Blasio and other politicians hadn’t gotten cold feet over New York’s 2019 bail reform bill, which abolished cash bail on most misdemeanor and non-violent crime arrests. It was a long overdue solution to prevent people from being locked up simply because of their poverty. But the law was withdrawn before it could take effect, thanks to a relentless scaremongering campaign by police, prosecutors, and some lawmakers who took advantage of some high profile crimes – a tried and true tactic to block efforts to make the criminal justice system fairer and more effective. However, opponents of bail reform ignore the basic facts: New York City’s crime rate is still far lower than it was in 1991, when the city’s daily prison population was more than three times what it is today.

New York must give bail reform a chance to succeed. Albany was also supposed to revive the Less Is More Act, which would prevent people on parole from going to jail for technical violations. The legislature passed the law this year; Governor Kathy Hochul must quit and sign the job her predecessor did not do.

It is time for Mr. de Blasio to visit Rikers Island again and, through his presence, show the inmates and guards that he cares about alleviating the appalling conditions in which they live and work. They are also part of this city.

If you have thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). For a list of additional resources, see SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.