The feds running Rikers? Are you joking?
The scene at Rikers Island is a nightmare for sure. Virtually nobody would dispute that statement. In fact, it has become so bad that some in the know would have the federal government take over the administration of the infamous jail. As if the feds are so good at running detention centers.
I spent almost all of 2019 incarcerated in one of three facilities: MCC federal prison in downtown Manhattan, and two city jails — Rikers and the Tombs. From my perspective, I’d be lying if I said that MCC was run any better than Rikers or the Tombs. In fact, of the three, MCC was the worst. When I was released, friends and family asked which institution I would rate with the lowest marks. MCC won, or lost, that ignominious contest.
MCC was little more than a human warehouse. As with Rikers and the Tombs, the threat of violence was ever-present. Frequently, we kitchen workers were ordered to make “bag nasties” (peanut butter and jelly or bologna sandwiches) for one pretrial unit or another where brawls had broken out and all the inmates were locked in as punishment. Bloodshed was not out of the ordinary and confinement was the simple fix. Similarly, when too many disenchanted officers called out sick because of the miserable conditions and jobs they faced, the entire prison population was locked in for lack of staff to oversee us.
On the rehabilitation front, yes, there were slave-wage jobs for inmates in which we could presumably learn a little discipline. But the notion that MCC boasted useful programs that might help a released inmate earn a legitimate living after entering society is laughable.
My last bunky, a college grad, and alumnus of Stuyvesant High, ran the GED program. But in essence, there was no program. He was simply bestowed with a title to fulfill his work requirement. In three months, I witnessed him tutor one inmate once. And he never taught a class in all that time.
Upon entry into the prison, my first bunky handed me text material that accompanied a course in obtaining a commercial driver’s license so inmates could learn how to drive big rigs. Always fascinated by that world, I decided to take the course.
When I asked the education department head about signing up, he looked like the proverbial “deer in the headlights.” There was no course. To be fair, my best friend in prison, a Ph.D. in astrophysics, taught a college-level astronomy course. It — and he — were excellent. But how would that prepare a prisoner for the outside world? Nor was it part of any prison curriculum. John just taught it to maintain his sanity.
Anecdotally, the recidivism rates at MCC were through the roof. I felt like a rookie when I arrived. It seemed that almost everybody had done what I called “the grand tour” — and spoke of multiple institutions where they’d been incarcerated previously. If recidivism rates are any indication of the federal government’s expertise in running prisons, it was clear to me it has been failing miserably.
And let me not talk about the wisdom of leaving a prisoner named Jeffrey Epstein alone sans cellmate so he could kill himself — and hiring officers who would fake their logbooks as tier cameras were left inoperative. We all know about that story. This is who should take over Rikers?
In an odd twist of fate — and owing to a state bureaucrat’s incompetence — I was forwarded to Rikers Island after serving 311 days at MCC. From the news, you’d assume I’d been sent straight from the frying pan right into the fire. But I saw it the other way.
Beyond the improved creature comforts at Rikers (there was actually a yard, no lock-ins in 60 square feet 11 hours a day, and others), I didn’t see any more propensity for violence than at MCC. Let’s get real. Both places housed violent criminals. Are you really surprised that fights might happen?
With respect to the officers? Six of one and half a dozen of the other. Ya know — the usual low morale guys (and girls) punching a time clock for decent pay. I didn’t see a difference.
Yes, as with MCC, programs at Rikers to help inmates cope with society were somewhere between few and far between and non-existent. But Rikers is a jail — not a prison. Jails, by definition, are supposed to be short-stay. Prisons are for the duration. The latter is where the bulk of rehab is presumably centered.
By my lights, the entire jail and prison system in the nation needs overhauling. Assuming that one failing jurisdiction might remedy another is a joke. The blind cannot effectively lead the blind.
Studying how other countries deal more successfully with their prison population might be an answer. Bring in a foreigner — because the locals, be they federal or New York City, aren’t getting the job done.