Rikers Island is a prison island in the East River in the Bronx, New York City, United States, that contains New York City's largest jail. It is named after Abraham Rycken, who took possession of the island in 1664. The island was originally under in size, but has since grown to more than . The first stages of expansion were accomplished largely by convict labor hauling in ashes for landfill. The island is politically part of the Bronx, with a controlled-access bridge carrying the MTA Q100 and general traffic to and from Queens. It is part of Queens Community Board 1 and uses an East Elmhurst, Queens, ZIP Code of 11370 for mail.
The island is the site of one of the world's largest correctional institutions and mental institutions, and has been described as New York's best-known jail. The complex, operated by the New York City Department of Correction, in 2015 had a budget of $860 million a year, a staff of 9,000 civilian officers and 1,500 other civilians managing 100,000 admissions per year and an average daily population of 10,000 inmates. The majority (85%) of detainees are pretrial defendants, either held on bail or remanded in custody. The rest of the population have been convicted and are serving short sentences. In a 2021 analysis by the New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, it costs the city about $556,539 to detain one person for one year at Rikers Island.
Rikers Island has had a reputation for violence, physical and mental abuse, and neglect of its inmates, and has attracted press and judicial scrutiny that has resulted in numerous rulings against the New York City government. Numerous assaults have occurred by inmates on uniformed officers and other civilian staff, often resulting in serious injuries. In May 2013, Rikers Island ranked as one of the 10 worst correctional facilities in the entire United States, based on reporting in Mother Jones magazine. A documented increase in violence on Rikers Island was reported by the 2010s. In 2015, 9,424 assaults happened, the highest number in five years. In October 2019, the New York City Council voted to close down the facility by August 31, 2027.
Complex and facilities The Rikers Island complex, which consists of ten jails, holds local alleged offenders who are awaiting trial. People who are serving sentences of one year or less or are also temporarily detained there, pending transfer to another facility. Rikers Island is therefore not a prison by US terminology, which typically holds offenders serving longer-term sentences. It holds 10 of the New York City Department of Correction's 15 facilities, and can accommodate up to 15,000 detainees.
Facilities located on the island include: Robert N. Davoren Complex (primarily male inmates of ages 18–21) Eric M. Taylor Center (sentenced male adolescents and adults) Otis Bantum Correctional Center (detained male adults) George R. Vierno Center (detained male adults) Anna M. Kross Center (detained male adults) George Motchan Detention Center (detained male adults) Rose M. Singer Center (detained and sentenced female adolescents and adults) North Infirmary Command (detainees who require medical attention) West Facility (detainees with contagious diseases) James A. Thomas Center (no longer used to house detainees) Harold A. Wildstein barge (no longer in use) Walter B. Keane barge (no longer in use)
The average daily individuals in custody or detainees population on the island is about 10,000, although it can hold a maximum of 15,000. The daytime population, including detainees, staff, and visitors, can be as high as 20,000.
The only road access to the island is from Queens, over the , three-lane Francis Buono Bridge, dedicated in November 1966, by Mayor John Lindsay. The street address is 15 Hazen Street, East Elmhurst, NY 11370. Before the bridge was constructed, the only access to the island was by ferry.Rikers Island Bridge Opened, Correction Sidelights, Spring 1967. Accessed January 18, 2024. Transportation is also provided by the MTA Regional Bus Operations route. Privately operated shuttles connect the parking lot at the south end to the island. A bus service within the island for people visiting inmates is provided by the New York City Department of Correction on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
The North Infirmary Command, which used to be called the Rikers Island Infirmary, is used to house inmates requiring extreme protective custody, inmates with special health needs, mentally ill inmates, and inmates undergoing drug detoxification. The infirmary has the capacity to house overflow inmates from conventional populations. The rest of the facilities, all built in the last 67 years, make up this city of jails, in addition to the Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center, a floating barge (described below), as well as schools, medical clinics, ball fields, chapels, gyms, drug rehabilitation programs, grocery stores, barbershops, a bakery, a laundromat, a power plant, a track, a tailor shop, a print shop, a bus depot, and a car wash. It also contains a large composting facility.
History
Historic use
The island is named after Abraham Rycken,Daily Star May 1880 Greater Astoria Historical Society. Accessed July 27, 2007. "His daughter Grietie married Abraham Rycken; it is after this prominent Queens family that Rikers Island is named."Vieritti, Joseph P. "Rikers Isand" in Staff (March 3, 1940) "Alpheus P. Riker Dies" The New York Times p.46 a Dutch settler who moved to Long Island in 1638 and took possession of the island in 1664.Farrell, William M. (August 24, 2018) "Rustic 'Paradise' On Rikers Island; Short-Term Prisoners Tend Trees and Shrubs Destined for City Parks, Parkways" The New York Times p. 31. Accessed August 24, 2018 Rycken's descendants, the Ricker family, owned Rikers Island until 1884, when it was sold to the city for $180,000.
The island was used as a military training ground during the Civil War. The first regiment to use the island was the 9th New York Infantry, also known as Hawkins' Zouaves, which arrived there on May 15, 1861. Hawkins' Zouaves were followed by the 36th New York State Volunteers on June 23, which were followed by the Anderson Zouaves on July 15, 1861. The Anderson Zouaves were commanded by John Lafayette Riker, who was related to the owners of the island.
The camp of the Anderson Zouaves was named Camp Astor in compliment to millionaire John Jacob Astor Jr.. Astor provided funding for the army, and made a significant contribution to the raising of the Anderson Zouaves, with the Astor ladies making the zouave uniforms worn by the recruits of this regiment. Rikers Island was subsequently used by numerous other Civil War regiments, but the name "Camp Astor" was specific to the Anderson Zouaves, and did not become a general name for the military encampment on the island.
In 1883, New York City's Commission of Charities and Corrections expressed an interest in purchasing the island for use as a work-house. Any such purchase would have to be approved by the state. In January 1884, state senator Frederick S. Gibbs introduced a bill in the state senate authorizing the commission to purchase the island.Staff (January 30, 1884) "Pilot Fees at New-York" The New York Times In May 1884, Governor Grover Cleveland signed a bill authorizing the Commissioner of Charities and Corrections to purchase the island for a sum no greater than $180,000.Staff (May 25, 1884) "City and Suburban News: New-York" The New York Times
At the time, the island was within the boundaries of Long Island City in Queens County, which was not yet part of New York City. This potential transfer set off squabbling between politicians of Long Island City, Queens County, and New York City.Staff (July 3, 1884) "The Purchase of Riker's Island" The New York Times On July 31, 1884, a compromise was agreed to by all three entities. New York City agreed to pay $3,000, with $2,500 given to Long Island City and $500 to Queens County."City and Suburban News: Long Island" New York Times, August 1, 1884 On August 4, 1884, the Commissioner of Charities and Corrections, Jacob Hess, signed a contract purchasing the island from John T. Wilson, a descendant of the Ryker family, for $180,000. $179,000 went to Wilson and $1,000 for a title search.Staff ( August 5, 1884) "City and Suburban News: New-York" The New York Times
Conversion to jail
The city expressed a desire to open a jail for men on Rikers Island as early as 1908, in order to replace their overburdened and dilapidated jail on Welfare Island, now Roosevelt Island. The jail was opened in 1932. Landfill continued to be added to the island until 1943, eventually enlarging the original island to . This required the permission of the federal government, since the expansion extended the island's pier line. were also stripped from Rikers to help fill in the new North Beach Airport, which opened in 1939 and was later renamed LaGuardia Airport.
The net expansion of the island enabled the jail facilities to expand. The original penitentiary building, completed in 1935, was called HDM, or the House of Detention for Men. It became a maximum security facility called the James A. Thomas Center and closed due to structural issues in 2000.
In 1922, New York City was banned by the courts from dumping garbage in the ocean. Much of it ended up on Rikers Island, though the island already had 12 mountains of garbage 40 to 130 feet tall. Rikers took in 1.5 million cubic yards of additional refuse, more than the amount of soil displaced by the building of the World Trade Center. Since much of the garbage was composed of ash from coal heating and incinerators, spontaneous phosphorescent fires were frequent, even in the wintertime, in the snow. One warden described it in 1934: "At night, it is like a forest of Christmas trees – first one little light ... then another, until the whole hillside is lit up with little fires. ... It was beautiful."
The island was plagued with rats, which at one point were so prevalent that after "poison gas, poison bait, ferocious dogs, and pigs" failed to control them, one New Yorker tried to organize a hunting party to kill them off. It took the efforts of city planner Robert Moses, who did not want the unsightly island to be the backdrop for his carefully landscaped 1939 World's Fair, to get the island cleaned up, and have the city's garbage sent elsewhere — ultimately to the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island.