I Was A Corrupt NYPD Cop — Then I Spent 3 Years in Solitary on Rikers Island | Jose Ramos

Locked In with Ian Bick

Ian Bick

Society & Culture

4.8 • 745 Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2026

⏱️ 101 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jose Ramos grew up the son of a cop, served in the military, and joined the NYPD to follow in his father's footsteps. In this episode of Locked In with Ian Bick, Jose breaks down how it all fell apart — from getting shot multiple times by a fellow officer he trained, to becoming corrupt, to spending 3 years in solitary confinement on Rikers Island before being sentenced to over 14 years in prison. He opens up about operating barbershops in his precinct, renting space to a drug dealer who eventually flipped and set him up, getting jammed up in the NYPD ticketing scandal, and the quota system nobody in the department wants to talk about. He also shares what it was really like surviving prison as a former cop — and how he found redemption on the other side. _____________________________________________ #NYPD #RikersIsland #policecorruption _____________________________________________ Thank you to INCOGNI for sponsoring this episode: Take back your personal data with Incogni! Use code IANBICK at https://incogni.com/ianbick to get 60% off annual plans. _____________________________________________ Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ _____________________________________________ Shop Locked In Merch: http://www.ianbick.com/shop _____________________________________________ Timestamps: 00:00 From NYPD Officer to Rikers Island Inmate — Jose's Full Story 02:31 Growing Up and the Family Influences That Led Him to the NYPD 05:47 Military Service and How It Shaped the Cop He Became 09:00 His Early Years on the NYPD — What the Job Was Really Like 14:45 The Shooting Incident That Changed His Career Forever 20:02 Life After the Shooting — What Nobody Prepared Him For 23:31 The Truth About NYPD Quotas — What Officers Are Actually Told 26:46 Ticket Fixing and the NYPD Culture Nobody Wants to Talk About 31:40 The Barbershop Dealings That Set Everything in Motion 40:00 The Arrest the Charges and What the Justice System Did to Him 48:00 Inside Rikers Island — Solitary Confinement and the Systemic Failures Nobody Talks About 01:00:01 The Trial His Conviction and the Family That Kept Him Going 01:10:01 Surviving Prison — How He Adapted to General Population 01:18:00 What It's Really Like Being a Cop Locked Up With the People You Once Arrested 01:27:29 Release Readjustment and What Life Looks Like After Everything 01:31:09 What He Thinks About the NYPD Today and What Needs to Change _____________________________________________ To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/LockedInWithIanBicka Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	My guest today was an NYPD cop, the son of a cop, who ended up spending three years in solitary
0:05.7	confinement on Rikers Island before being sentenced to over 14 years in prison. His name is Jose Ramos,
0:12.6	and this is his story. I grew up in Queens, New York, back and forth to the Bronx. My family, my mom and dad were separated. So we went from South Ozone Park to the Bronx to Queens Village. So I'm all over to the Bronx, Manhattan. What they did for work when you're growing up? What did they do? Yeah. My dad's a former cop. He's retired. And my mom, she passed away. She was a nurse, registered nurse.
0:39.2	He was NYPD? Yes. Actually, I had his shield number. We same exact shield number.
0:44.4	Oh, that's possible to do? Yeah, you just request it and that's it. So did you know as a kid
0:50.5	that you wanted to be a police officer? Not so much. I don't think so.
1:14.1	It was just, I'm into helping people. I got that for my mom. And my dad was a police officer. I didn't spend a lot of time around my father, but I knew he was a police officer. And I've always wanted to help people. So if it wasn't going to be NYPD, it would probably be a fire department, something like that. Did you guys have an all right relationship growing up, even though you didn't spend much time together?
1:30.3	Not really, not anything. It wasn't a bad one, but it wasn't a good one. It was non-existent. I didn't really spend a lot of time with my dad. So my mom was everything. Did he instill any values on you at all? I'd like to say so. I mean, he's taught me things without meaning to do so.
1:37.1	So I never panicked, and I get that from him. I've seen him under pressure and cools a cucumber, so I like to say he gave me that because I don't panic. I don't worry about anything. And that's
1:42.4	because he showed me never to worry about anything.
1:44.8	Whether he meant to or not, it happens. How are you as a kid? How would you have described yourself?
1:51.4	Well, I think I've been through, I'm very athletic. I like to be in the sports. Very friendly.
1:58.9	So it was kind of awkward. I was in Queens,
2:01.5	which is predominantly white neighborhood.
2:03.8	And that was a different experience,
2:06.3	trying to interact with the people there.
2:07.9	I went to Catholic school.
2:09.6	It's just a different experience to when going to the Bronx.
2:12.6	I moved from Queens to the Bronx.
2:15.1	I guess that's culture shock.
2:16.3	I don't know.
2:16.7	The block was different in the
	...

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