I was a correction officer at Rikers Island for two years.
Rikers Island is an island with nine jails
that house inmates awaiting trial.
There’s been multiple occasions when I’ve been touring,
and an inmate will pull his penis out,
will masturbate.
They would set fires in their cell.
You can be walking during your tour, and all of a sudden,
urine or feces is thrown at you.
The inmates are in there for
murder,
rape,
domestic violence,
burglary,
robbery.
It’s just an island filled with gangs
that are constantly trying to kill each other.
Almost all of them have weapons—
knives or sharp objects.
Officers would be assaulted daily.
It can range from a broken nose
to a broken eye socket,
broken bones, broken ribs.
There’s no limit to what these inmates would do to you.
We are at a time where the inmates are running the prison.
There was definitely officers accepting bribes.
[INFORMER]
[RIKERS OFFICER]
I was hired to provide custody, care, and control of the inmates.
The system has definitely failed everyone involved—
the inmates, the officers.
Everyone involved is suffering.
Sixty people quit in one day.
Your captain would side with the inmate
before they would side with you.
They’re worried about bad publicity
because they’re trying to keep certain things under wraps.
Drugs is very rampant.
There’s
K2,
fentanyl,
marijuana.
Any drug, basically, you could think of,
they probably have it.
The value of any drug in jail
is worth much more than it would be worth on the outside.
Maybe, like, five times more.
There was definitely officers accepting bribes.
Not only officers, but civilians bring it in as well,
the people who are in charge of programs,
doctors, nurses.
During the pandemic, visits were suspended,
so they weren’t getting them through visits.
Some of them are scared.
Some of them do it for the money.
On Rikers, the alcohol is called hooch.
And what they would do is save their fruits,
and they would ferment the fruit.
They would mix it with hot water and sugar,
and they would let it sit there.
And then they would get drunk.
They would become very touchy-feely.
Then they would become aggressive.
And then they would start fighting each other, start arguing.
It would just lead to disaster.
I remember the first time that
an inmate masturbated in front of me.
I was feeding them through the feeding slot.
Once you open their slot to put their tray,
they would put their penis in the slot.
I screamed,
and the other officers on the floor were like, “What happened?”
And I was like, “He’s masturbating.”
And they were like, “Oh, he does that to everyone,”
like it was just normal.
I felt violated. I felt disrespected.
I felt scared.
I remember being scared to do my tours.
There was a time in the building that I worked
where an inmate got into the A station
where a female officer was.
He was able to
rip her duty belt off,
rip her pants off.
Thankfully, an officer came,
was able to come and help her.
He was being held for rape.
I believe his intentions were to rape her.
They suggested that we wear Spanx underneath our uniform
for just in case.
There shouldn’t be a just in case.
Am I going to go to work today,
and is my belt going to be ripped off?
Some of the inmates are used to the pepper spray,
so it does nothing to them.
And then there’s others that threaten you,
“If you do use your spray, I’m going to cut you.”
You’re in a position like, “Do I spray and get cut,
or what do I do?”
Some of your captains are there just to tear you down.
If you report something or you get into an incident,
they want to know, “What did you do wrong?
What didn’t you not do to prevent it?”
You’re more likely to end up in jail being a correction officer
than you would as a civilian on the street.
Suicide attempts on Rikers are pretty common.
It breaks my heart.
They are humans,
and they do have families that love them
and are waiting for them to come home.
It’s just sad.
Typically, there are about 50 inmates to one officer.
The job was so draining that I was literally coming from work
and sleep until my next shift the next morning.
Then the pandemic hit,
and that’s when I actually started getting stuck.
That’s 16 hours back to back.
My co-worker called me from the jail.
She’s like, “I’m on 24 hours, and they won’t let me leave.
And they’re saying if I walk off the post,
I’m going to get suspended.”
You’re on post for 24 hours,
and then a fight breaks out,
and they expect you to do everything right
on no sleep.
You're supposed to still do your duties to the best of your ability.
I have seen female officers terminated
for having relationships with the inmates.
There have been incidents where
officers have been impregnated by inmates.
Once you start a relationship with an inmate
or once you say yes to them once,
you can’t say no because you’re locked in.
You’re trapped at that point.
I didn’t have a coping method.
I had chest pain.
I’ve had colleagues die from heart attacks.
I remember thinking,
“I’m 21, and I’m going to have a heart attack.”
I hit rock bottom.
I actually tried to quit, like, three times.
You know, they would always convince me to stay in the fight.
I remember getting to a point where I was like,
“I can’t do this anymore.
Just give me the paper to sign, and I’m done.”
I remember still feeling that chest pain
for probably up to five months after I quit until it went away.
Right after me, hundreds of people were quitting.
If I can talk to an officer that was looking to join corrections,
I would tell them, “Don’t do it.
It’s not worth your quality of life.
It's not worth your mental health.
And until there is some sort of structure and safety,
you shouldn’t even consider it.”