The federal takeover of Rikers Island

On Point | Podcast

WBUR

Talk Show, Daily News, News, Npr, On Point, Daily

4.2 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

New York City has lost control of its jails. In May, a federal judge ruled that the city’s jails, including Rikers Island, will now be run by a manager who will report directly to the court. What’s next for one of the country’s largest and most notorious facilities?

Transcript

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0:58.0	This is on Podcasts, Boston. This is on point. I'm Megna Chakra-Bardi.
1:01.2	Rikers Island, the New York City Jail in the Bronx, one of the nation's largest city jails and its most notorious.
1:10.7	Hell. Clean and notorious. Hell.
1:11.6	Plain and simple. How?
1:14.6	They taught me how to use a level of violence that I could never imagine I was capable of doing.
1:20.6	You know, there were several units that were unstaffed completely.
1:23.6	There was no correctional officer physically in the unit.
1:26.6	And I can't remember looking under a sheet or a mattress and not seeing a shank under one of them.
1:34.3	Because frankly, anybody would want one to keep themselves protected because there was no correctional officer to keep them protected.
1:42.3	They're averaging about 150 stabbings and slashings a month.
1:47.2	Well, from the top, you just heard former inmate Benji Lozano,
	...

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