It’s Time to Talk About Rikers Island with Three Who Have Been There
Why is it so unbelievably cruel and costly? It costs almost $50,000 a year to house a single person there. Rikers has been a disaster since it opened in 1932. Plans for closure began with Koch. Does Eric Adams really need to open four new NYC jails in order to close just this one?
Speakers:
Vincent Schiraldi
Co-director of Columbia University Justice Lab; Senior Advisor to DeBlasio with improving Rikers in his portfolio.
Alelur Duran
Program Officer with Galaxy Gives Criminal Justice Reform. He was incarcerated at Rikers for 3 years while awaiting trial.
Jose Saldana
Director of Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP). Advocates to dismantle the Criminal Justice System. He had a son at Rikers for 5 years before he was tried and acquitted.
Steven Dominguez
Author of Across the Bridge: A Rikers Island Story and was a Corrections Officer at Rikers for 5 years.
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