By: Jared Evan
On a recent tour of Rikers Island, the state legislators and other guests were left “visibly shaken” by the conditions, according to Scott Pinto of The Intercept. Alice Fontier, of Neighborhood Defender Services,who is used to visiting people experiencing incarceration, says that,”this is the most horrific things I’ve seen in my life. I’ve been coming to this jail since 2008 this is unlike anything that has ever happened here.” Their website, Neighborhood Defender Services has been serving the community since 1990. Their website www.neighborhooddefender.org states that they have “pioneered the holistic model as a way to address problems plaguing public defense.
In contrast to a traditional public defense practice, NDS clients have an entire team fighting on their behalf, including criminal and civil attorneys, social workers, investigators, paralegals, law school and social work interns, and pro bono attorneys.”. According to Fontier, people are being forced to live in shower stalls. “It’s about 2 feet wide by 6 feet. There is no toilet. They’ve given them plastic bags to use for feces and urine. And they’re sitting in the cells with their own bodily waste locked into these conditions.”
It’s no secret that prison is a terrible place and Mayor de Blasio has campaigned and long promised that he would close Rikers. But he has not, so far even visited since winning his second term, according to Pinto. He goes on to write that “In the last eight months, 10 people have died in custody on the island, five of them taking their own lives. Covid-19 is once again on the rise on Rikers.
On September 10th, the chief medical officer on Rikers wrote a letter to New York City Council, warning that “in 2021 we have witnessed a collapse in basic jail operations, such that today I do not believe the City is capable of safely managing the custody of those it is charged with incarcerating in its jails.” Overcrowding is likely not the only reason these inhumane conditions exist. Lack of staffing also makes it impossible to properly run the facility.
Pintos research shows that “By the city government’s estimates, on any given day, fully 35 percent of staff are unavailable to work. On September 15, according to New York City officials, 789 jail employees called in sick, 68 were out for a “personal emergency,” and 93 were simply absent without leave.”
If Rikers Island is closed, the inmates will be sent “neighborhood jails”. That will keep them closer to family and social services that will help them transition to life outside and hopefully lower recidivism. At this moment, the losing Rikers will not solve the problem of America’s history of mass incarceration or the brutal treatment of inmates. It is said a society is judged by how it treats its animals. But when a society treats human beings no better than animals what does that say?
