Why the Bail System Doesn’t Work and Why Rikers Should Close
By Tenzin Lekshey
Long Island City, NYC - Rikers Island is one of the most notorious prisons in the world, partly for being in the largest city in the country, but mostly for being one of the most violent correctional facilities in the whole country.
In October of 2019, the New York city council decided to close down the facility by 2026, after being in service since 1932. “Rikers Island is a symbol of brutality and inhumanity and it is time once and for all close Rikers Island,” reported The Guardian.
This action was taken four years after the death of former inmate Kaleif Browder. He was originally put in Rikers to be held while being prosecuted for stealing a small backpack which he vehemently denied he did. And due to a broken bail system - he was not able to raise the $3000 needed to pay his bail so he could be released.
In February of 2012, he took his bedsheets and made a noose and attempted to hang himself from a light fixture, the case was eventually dismissed and he was let out of Rikers in 2013. Six months later, in November, he tried to hang himself again in his own home, it was not successful and he was sent to a physiatric ward at St. Barnabas not far from his home in the Bronx.
In the Spring of 2014, he met with Jennifer Gonnerman of the New Yorker, who described him as being “more stable.” However, being at Rikers obviously hurt him mentally in a way that stuck with him in civilian life. In Gonnerman’s article on him, she detailed his arrest and the years he spent in solitary confinement as well as being physically abused by guards and older inmates.
“Two months [after his release] he stopped going to classes at Bronx Community college. During the week of Christmas, he was confined in the psych ward at Harlem hospital,” Jennifer reported. She visited him at St. Barnabas and said he was “gaunt, restless, and deeply paranoid.” And he had thrown out his brand-new television because it was “watching him.”
But two weeks later Kaleif’s lawyer received an anonymous donation to pay his tuition and his life got better. The footage of his abuse at guards was released and he was invited on The View and he got to meet with Rosie O’Donnell and Jay Z. Even though he made progress, on June 6th, 2015, he commited suicide.
The story says a lot about the conditions of Rikers and the long term affects it has on the psyche, which in some cases leads to suicide.
But let’s really think about the reason he was put in one of the worst jails in the country for such a minor offense - theft of a backpack. Does that seem fair? Kaleif was a black kid from the Bronx and his family was not able to pay the $3000 bail set by the court and he was put in Rikers for holding and stayed there for three years. Ultimately he was another victim of a broken system.
This doesn’t just happen in New York. Data mapping projects in Los Angeles from Vox show that, “the amount of bail was levied disproportionately onto lower income blacks and latinos.” So these groups are forced to pay an amount of money they do not have for their freedom or be sent to horrible conditions like the ones at Rikers.
I told the story of Kaleif to two classmates, Oscar Ochsteyn and Travis Sebastion. And they both replied that it was “very sad,” which should be the consensus. Oscar also added “that’s racist.”
I also interviewed a former Rikers employee, Erin Spergel. I asked her what her job was at Rikers and she explained she was a guidance counselor at a school on Rikers. If you’re asking why there is a school on a prison island, here’s your answer. At Rikers 16-year olds are put in jail with adult prisoners, and if they are between 16 and 21 they can still attend schools. In fact, those between the ages of 16-18 must go to school but they can sign themselves out at 18. Young people should not be held there for more than a year but due to backlogging some are kept longer, like Kaleif Browder.
The School Ms. Spergel worked at was East River Academy. She explained she never, “called my (her) students inmates (or thought of them as such).” Everyday she would commute to work and would get scanned going in just like her students.
I personally believe this is incompetent and inhumane and it is a good thing that soon Rikers will no longer exist, but what will we do to fix the system that birthed Rikers?
Long Island City, NYC - Rikers Island is one of the most notorious prisons in the world, partly for being in the largest city in the country, but mostly for being one of the most violent correctional facilities in the whole country.
In October of 2019, the New York city council decided to close down the facility by 2026, after being in service since 1932. “Rikers Island is a symbol of brutality and inhumanity and it is time once and for all close Rikers Island,” reported The Guardian.
This action was taken four years after the death of former inmate Kaleif Browder. He was originally put in Rikers to be held while being prosecuted for stealing a small backpack which he vehemently denied he did. And due to a broken bail system - he was not able to raise the $3000 needed to pay his bail so he could be released.
In February of 2012, he took his bedsheets and made a noose and attempted to hang himself from a light fixture, the case was eventually dismissed and he was let out of Rikers in 2013. Six months later, in November, he tried to hang himself again in his own home, it was not successful and he was sent to a physiatric ward at St. Barnabas not far from his home in the Bronx.
In the Spring of 2014, he met with Jennifer Gonnerman of the New Yorker, who described him as being “more stable.” However, being at Rikers obviously hurt him mentally in a way that stuck with him in civilian life. In Gonnerman’s article on him, she detailed his arrest and the years he spent in solitary confinement as well as being physically abused by guards and older inmates.
“Two months [after his release] he stopped going to classes at Bronx Community college. During the week of Christmas, he was confined in the psych ward at Harlem hospital,” Jennifer reported. She visited him at St. Barnabas and said he was “gaunt, restless, and deeply paranoid.” And he had thrown out his brand-new television because it was “watching him.”
But two weeks later Kaleif’s lawyer received an anonymous donation to pay his tuition and his life got better. The footage of his abuse at guards was released and he was invited on The View and he got to meet with Rosie O’Donnell and Jay Z. Even though he made progress, on June 6th, 2015, he commited suicide.
The story says a lot about the conditions of Rikers and the long term affects it has on the psyche, which in some cases leads to suicide.
But let’s really think about the reason he was put in one of the worst jails in the country for such a minor offense - theft of a backpack. Does that seem fair? Kaleif was a black kid from the Bronx and his family was not able to pay the $3000 bail set by the court and he was put in Rikers for holding and stayed there for three years. Ultimately he was another victim of a broken system.
This doesn’t just happen in New York. Data mapping projects in Los Angeles from Vox show that, “the amount of bail was levied disproportionately onto lower income blacks and latinos.” So these groups are forced to pay an amount of money they do not have for their freedom or be sent to horrible conditions like the ones at Rikers.
I told the story of Kaleif to two classmates, Oscar Ochsteyn and Travis Sebastion. And they both replied that it was “very sad,” which should be the consensus. Oscar also added “that’s racist.”
I also interviewed a former Rikers employee, Erin Spergel. I asked her what her job was at Rikers and she explained she was a guidance counselor at a school on Rikers. If you’re asking why there is a school on a prison island, here’s your answer. At Rikers 16-year olds are put in jail with adult prisoners, and if they are between 16 and 21 they can still attend schools. In fact, those between the ages of 16-18 must go to school but they can sign themselves out at 18. Young people should not be held there for more than a year but due to backlogging some are kept longer, like Kaleif Browder.
The School Ms. Spergel worked at was East River Academy. She explained she never, “called my (her) students inmates (or thought of them as such).” Everyday she would commute to work and would get scanned going in just like her students.
I personally believe this is incompetent and inhumane and it is a good thing that soon Rikers will no longer exist, but what will we do to fix the system that birthed Rikers?
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