The Rikers Island Crisis: How a Famous Prison Turned into Hard Labor

Twelve inmates have died at Rikers Island Jail since the beginning of the year. According to official figures, five of them committed suicide. State Senator Jabari Bisport called what's going on at Rikers nightmare... A humanitarian crisis is brewing on the island, says Voice of America.

Unsanitary conditions of detention, overcrowded cells, a lack of personnel, lack of medicines and a shortage of drinking water - this is an incomplete list of the reasons for the crisis in a New York prison. She was visited by local legislators on September 13. Since the beginning of the year, 12 prisoners have died there. And lawmakers, the public and lawyers are demanding the urgent closure of this penitentiary institution.

But first, the authorities will need to decide what to do with the nearly XNUMX prisoners awaiting trial.

Prisoners' attorneys and advocates demand a decision

For several months now, politicians and lawyers have been seeking answers from the authorities expressing their indignation at the conditions of detention on Rikers Island.

“Six thousand people were trapped on this island in inhuman conditions that could be called torture that could take their lives,” Magna Filip, a lawyer representing many prisoners, said at a press conference after her visit to the pre-trial detention center.

On the subject: Anna Sorokina, posing as a millionaire in New York, spoke about life in prison

Alice Fontier, attorney for Defender services of Harlem, spoke about what she saw. She stated that the prisoners are kept in the assembly department for 13 days, no one registers them.

“Toilets don't work, sewage is flowing on the floor. There are 25 people in cells, all without masks. "

Alice added that they have no telephones, no access to lawyers, and they are not taken to court. The relatives of the prisoners do not know where they are and what is wrong with them. “I just wrote down the names of many prisoners - they ask to call relatives and tell them that they are alive,” she lamented.

Victoria Philips of the Jails Actions Coalition spoke after visiting the prison. At a press conference, she said that the prisoners are hardly fed. Victoria believes that nothing can be expected but violence under such conditions of detention. Prisoners have no access to drinking water.

“So what can you expect? Only violence, ”she summed up.

The pandemic has aggravated conditions

According to Amanda Septimo, member of the New York State Assembly, the infirmary is overwhelmed. “We do not have time to treat all the wounds. We are now unable to cope as a medical aid station, ”the prison medical center told her.

Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, a New York State Assemblyman from Queens, was also on the Legislative Delegation. In front of her eyes, one of the prisoners wanted to commit suicide. She recalled this during an interview with Voice of America:

“I went from camera to camera, wrote down names, phone numbers, case numbers. And one person called me. We started talking to him through the bars at a close distance from him. His cellmate climbed up the bars, tied a sheet around her neck ... and let her go. I was only a few centimeters away. "

On the subject: Sing Sing prison in New York: what is known about it and what do Russian spies have to do with it

More than two thousand guards were sick with coronavirus at different times. About a thousand employees have quit over the past year. There are eight buildings on the territory, up to seven thousand people can be accommodated here. Now they contain five and a half thousand. The lack of service personnel makes the conditions - for both prisoners and warders - unbearable.

According to Benny Bosio, president of the prison workers union, the guards have wounds and trauma. They are attacked daily by prisoners. The jailers take risks every time they enter the cells. He says that prisoners running through the corridors of the prison like crazy.

At the peak of the pandemic, 90 prisoners were released, but gradually the pre-trial detention center was re-filled. XNUMX% are suspects, not convicted, that is, they have not even appeared in court yet.

The city administration is to blame for everything

Activists blame the city administration for this situation, demanding the closure of Rikers Island right now. Mayor Bill de Blasio agrees that the prison needs to be closed. But not now, but in 5 years. By that time, new pre-trial detention centers will be built in different districts of the city, where the prisoners will be sent.

De Blasio recently visited Rikers Island and reiterated that the prison population must be reduced before closing it. And Vincent Giraldi, head of New York City's Correctional Services, told the press, “We take a balanced and diverse approach. This is the only way to solve this problem. She has no immediate solution. We are doing systematic work. "

Gov. Katie Hawkul signed into law the release of minor offenders from Rikers Island. After that, 160 minor offenders were released from prison. The academy, which trains prison guards, hastily admitted 600 new students. But they won't be able to start work on Rikers Island until next year.

Many believe that the problem is, in principle, the mass detention of people in America. The United States leads the world in terms of the number of citizens in penitentiary institutions - 2 million people.

US congressmen and a federal judge demanded that the mayor and governor of New York provide a report on the state of affairs in Rikers Island. In addition, activists and human rights defenders sent a complaint to the US President.

“If this happened in any other country, the United States would already be calling on other nations to impose sanctions on a country that admits what we saw in this prison,” said New York State Senator Alessandra Biaggi.