The Ongoing Crisis at Rikers Island

Starting on January 7th, about 200 of those detained at one jail facility at Rikers Island went on a partial hunger strike in hopes to draw attention to the poor conditions at the jail, and also a lack of basic services.

You’ve probably heard of the infamous Rikers Island, which is the main jail complex for New York City. And because it’s a jail complex, most people there, about eighty percent of the near 6,000 detainees, are waiting for trial and haven’t been convicted of a crime.

And although the jail has long been characterized by dysfunction, brutal conditions, and violence, detainees and advocates say that Rikers is in its worst crisis since the 1990’s. Along with poor conditions at the jail complex, rising Covid, and issues with correctional officers not showing up for work, violence is also increasing in the jail with reports of detainees hosting fights for entertainment with little intervention from guards. Last year, 16 people died in custody at Rikers — and at least five died by suicide – making 2021 the deadliest year since 2013.

The Takeaway spoke with Jan Ransom, a Metro investigative reporter with the New York Times, who has been following what’s happening at Rikers.