From New York Times, I'm Michael Bavaro. This is Adelaide.

Today, a Times investigation has uncovered unprecedented levels of violence and lawlessness

inside New York City's main jail complex on Rikers Island.

A steadhermden spoke with our colleague, Jan Ranzom, about one man's recent experience there

and why Rikers guards have in effect handed over control of the jail to its detainees.

It's Thursday, October 14th.

Jan, can you tell us about the reporting that you've been doing on Rikers Island?

Sure, I've been covering Rikers since I joined the Times in 2017.

It's one of the largest jail facilities in the country.

It sits between the Bronx and Queens on the East River in New York City.

And there are over 4,800 people there, a majority of which are awaiting trial.

And so these are people who have not been convicted of a crime.

And the rest of the population includes people who are there on technical parole violations.

And the four years that I've been covering Rikers, I've written about a number of abuses there,

whether it was guards who were accused of assaulting detainees, to jail staff who have neglected to provide care to the mentally ill,

to incarcerated people who have just been held in solitary confinement for weeks if not months.

Rikers has long been this place that lawmakers have described as a stain on the city.

But what we've seen in recent years is this effort to try to change the place, to reform it.

And there's even been this push to close down Rikers.

But in spite of that, Rikers has just continued to have this reputation for violence and brutality.

It's just never been a place where good things happen.

Right. It's one of the country's most notorious jails.

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