2021 began with Rikers Island in a miserable state, with every indication that conditions would soon get much worse. covid was spiking. The staff was depleted, and the jail was getting more crowded. In January, its population rose above 5,000—an increase of more than 25 percent from the spring of 2020. After nearly two years without a suicide at the facility, a man hanged himself before the month was out. A gruesome incident followed in early March, then another suicide, then an overdose. The people incarcerated at Rikers continued to die at such a steady rate that the agency charged with investigating deaths in custody couldn’t keep up.
Rikers is a complex of jails, not a prison. A small number of people are serving short sentences for misdemeanors or parole violations, but the vast majority are waiting for trial. Many are there because they can’t make bail. Ninety percent are Black or brown. Their alleged offenses range from graffiti and shoplifting to rape and murder. They are innocent until proven guilty, though no one treats them that way. The city spends an annual $550,000 per incarcerated person, compared with $28,000 per student in its public schools, for conditions that a court-ordered monitor described as “rife with violence and disorder.”
On March 17, an officer named Timothy Hodges testified to the Board of Correction, the body that oversees Rikers, that the jail was facing a personnel crisis and could not provide a basic standard of care. “We’re trying to point out to upper management and to additional people like you that we’re doing our best and we’re trying to make this work,” said Hodges. But the staff shortages, he predicted, would lead to chaos.
This story is from the January 3-16, 2022 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the January 3-16, 2022 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The Escape Artist
PinkPantheress blew up anonymously on TikTok. Now, her Y2K dance-pop influences the masses.
The Parasites of MALIBU
Anthony Flores and Anna Moore met Dr. Mark Sawusch at an ice-cream shop.
THE INVITED
WHEN YOU'RE A VIC-\"VERY IMPORTANT CLIENT\" -LUXURY BRANDS ANYTHING TO KEEP YOU HAPPY (AND SPENDING). WILL DO
LEARNING THE ART OF SEDUCTION FROM THE KING OF HÖRNINESS
There are two things that make women happy,” Usher Raymond IV tells me.
Magic Mikey
She gave up competitive horseback riding to pursue acting. Now, the rising star is getting awards buzz for her role as a determined stripper in Anora
'Mommy, Can We Go to Paris?
You try explaining to my kid why he can't do the wildly expensive things some of his Brownstone Brooklyn classmates take for granted.
Plus-Size Shopping in the Wild
Samyra Miller’s quest to find clothes at the mall that fit.
Hungry for More
A decade of Chicken Shop Date behind her, Amelia Dimoldenberg is still holding out for the One.
BIRTHDAY SUITS
On the cusp of 50, CHLOË SEVIGNY is ready for a change.
Art Fall Preview - World in Motion - An Alvin Ailey retrospective sets the tone for an array of eclectic offerings from the art world this fall.
An Alvin Ailey retrospective sets the tone for an array of eclectic offerings from the art world this fall. A gust of fresh air is blowing through the art world. A brand-new outfit called Ruby/Dakota has opened on the supercool strip of East 2nd Street. A whole new scene has formed around 56 Henry's two gallery spaces in Chinatown, and solo shows there by Laurie Simmons and Richard Tinkler promise to scintillate. Just north of the Whitney, Fort Gansevoort Gallery regularly showcases undiscovered artists, including, in September, 84-year-old quilt-maker extraordinaire Yvonne Wells. A gaggle of established artists are also exhibiting-Kara Walker, Simone Leigh, Nick Cave, and the still under-known Denzil Forrester among them. And the museums will have their fair share of thrilling exhibitions, too: The Whitney will feature American national treasure Alvin Ailey, MoMA will peer deep into its own brilliant bellybutton in a show about the woman who helped make the museum, and the Brooklyn Museum will give us an enormous show of artists based in its borough.