By Claire Greenburger, November 7, 2023

Along, narrow bridge spanning the East River in New York City is the sole link between two realities. To the south, the familiar city skyline stands tall. To the north, walls of barbed wire enclose the site of an ongoing human rights crisis: the Rikers Island jail complex. This bridge, known to justice-impacted New Yorkers as “the bridge of pain,” is a constant reminder of their isolation from loved ones.

Rikers, located on an island between the boroughs of Queens and the Bronx, is one of the largest jail complexes in the United States. It houses nearly 6,000 people, the vast majority of whom are pretrial defendants who have not been convicted of a crime.

Rikers is notorious for its dire conditions and high death rates. “Almost everybody is worse off for spending any amount of time at Rikers,” says Zachary Katznelson, policy director at the Independent Commission on NYC Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform. “It’s an incubator of violence and misery.”

Since the beginning of 2022, 28 people have died on Rikers. Correctional officers doled out 400 head strikes since the beginning of last year, compared to 52 at Los Angeles County jails during the same period, despite L.A.’s larger jail population and notoriety for use of excessive force.

Read more: https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2023/11/07/nyc-criminal-rikers-pollution