Rikers Island Jail Complex: The Use of Social History to Inform Current Debates on Incarceration in New York City
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Academic Unit
College of Arts and Sciences
Publication Date
9-2020
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Rikers Island is the main jail complex for New York City. At its height in the 1990s, 22,000 people were incarcerated there. Having attracted national and international condemnation, it is regarded as one of the city's biggest failures: a magnet for scandal and controversy. In 2017, Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged that the complex would be closed within ten years with smaller ‘state of the art’ jails built to replace it. Our research explores the social history of Rikers from its origins to the present day, in a bid to provide a more nuanced understanding of the island and incarceration in New York City, and to engage with ongoing debate on the future of penal reform.
Journal Title
The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice
Volume
59
Issue
3
Beginning Page Number
286
Last Page Number
304
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12380
Recommended Citation
Moody, Jayne and Shanahan, Jarrod, "Rikers Island Jail Complex: The Use of Social History to Inform Current Debates on Incarceration in New York City" (2020). Faculty Authors and Creators Reception. 59.
https://opus.govst.edu/fac/59