Twenty-three hours a day in a small cramped space. No human contact, no fresh air, no food. This was the fate of Kalief Browder a sixteen-year-old African American boy, who was incarcerated at Rikers Island for allegedly stealing a wallet from a white man. Rikers Island is a 400-acre island in the East River across from LaGuardia Airport that serves as the principal jail complex for New York. There are sixteen jails in New York, ten of which are on Rikers; that why it’s considered one of the largest penal complex. Rikers Island is an unsafe place for people who committed nonviolent crimes and the tribulations that inmates encounter mentally breaks them. By keeping this crumbling building open, it increases the altercations between inmates. The city of New York should permanently close Rikers, it would be a satisfying solution. …show more content…
Rikers is a jail where they put nonviolent criminals with violent criminals and a malicious staff. As reported in “Hidden America Inside Rikers Island”, “57 % of Rikers inmates are in jail for nonviolent crimes.” The majority of the Rikers inmate population are made up of nonviolent criminals and they are put with violent criminals. According to “Opinion: Keep Rikers Open, with Strong Leadership”, it states, “Inmate-on-inmate violence averaged between 100 to 150 stabbings and slashing per months, overtime was running at $112 million a year and staff stick abuse was an average of 22 days a year, higher than any other city agency.” The fact that majority of Rikers are nonviolent criminals, it shows that stabbings, slashing, and staff stick abuse that occurs in this jail some nonviolent criminals are targeted; when they shouldn’t be. If Rikers isn’t shut down more nonviolent criminal will get