Play area created for Rikers visitors

NEW YORK — It’s probably the last place a mom wants to spend Mother’s Day with her kids. But a family visiting space at New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex is a little more kid-friendly after a colorful redesign by the Children’s Museum of Manhattan.

The jail opened the new preschool play and learning room for the children and grandchildren of female prisoners Tuesday, a few days ahead of the Sunday holiday.

“Mother’s Day means everything to me,” said Rikers inmate Nadine Leach, 43, as she watched her 3-year-old granddaughter, Queen, excitedly explore the sound machines, coloring books and toys.

One interactive wall display shows a map of the city’s five boroughs. Buttons below trigger city sounds, like the screech of a subway.

Leach’s daughter Lashawna Jones, 27, said the play installation is beautiful compared with her last visit. Before, it was a mostly bare room, with a few books. Jones said the design focused her children’s attention on imaginative play, instead of on their grandmother’s being in jail and awaiting trial on a felony drug charge.

“It makes me sad that she’s not actually home with us for Mother’s Day,” Jones said.

To get to the facility, families take a bus, go through security and drug screenings, and pass by walls with six layers of razor wire.

The visitation hub was designed and installed by the Children’s Museum of Manhattan and replicates exhibitions at the museum.

The exhibits teach preschool skills: communication, sharing, literacy and executive function, said Leslie Bushara, the museum’s chief program officer.

Lynelle Maginley-Liddie, commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction, cut a giant green ceremonial ribbon to open the room.

“We want mothers to have interactions with their kids,” Maginley-Liddie said. “It’s important for them to have those connections even while they’re in our care, so that when they are released, that bond has been sustained during incarceration.”