Rikers Island: the failure of a “Model” penitentiary

New York City’s Rikers jail complex is gripped by a crisis of legitimacy. Following a series of investigations, it has been denounced as a major symbol of criminal justice dysfunction, with calls for its closure and replacement with new smaller “state of the art” jails. Yet, when it opened, Rikers w...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mooney, Jayne (Author)
Contributors: Shanahan, Jarrod
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2020
In: The prison journal
Year: 2020, Volume: 100, Issue: 6, Pages: 687-708
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Keywords:
Jails
New York City
Penal Reform
Penitentiaries
Prisons
Rikers Island
Description
Summary:New York City’s Rikers jail complex is gripped by a crisis of legitimacy. Following a series of investigations, it has been denounced as a major symbol of criminal justice dysfunction, with calls for its closure and replacement with new smaller “state of the art” jails. Yet, when it opened, Rikers was hailed as a “model” facility, at the cutting edge of prison design and prisoner rehabilitation. To elucidate the present situation, we provide a focus on the under-explored history of New York City’s penal institutions.
ISSN:1552-7522
DOI:10.1177/0032885520968238