New York has many islands one of which has been home to a notorious correctional facility for over
85 years this is Rikers Island for better or worse a symbol of the American Criminal Justice System
known for its harsh conditions and high-profile inmates despite its reputation many people have
no idea what really goes on inside its walls and even fewer are privy to the Island's mysterious
history surrounded by controversies staffed by over 9 000 officers and home to over ten
thousand inmates this island is camouflaged by the water surrounding it but today we will
discover its haunting past I'm your host Ryan silkash and you're watching it's history [Music]
these images are very dystopian a necessary evil perhaps but alarming all the same an island of
412 acres in the bronx's East River filled with the brutalist buildings that constitute New York
City's largest jail the island in though is look this way in fact when Dutchman Abraham
ricken first acquired It In 1664 it was under 100 acres in size which was only a fourth of what
it would ultimately become as the years passed and with the help of donations from John Jacob
Astor the Private Island was used as a training facility for the Civil War proving helpful and
hence was later sold to the city in 1884 for one hundred and eighty thousand dollars now you might
recall the Aster family from our previous video on the Empire State Building but if you missed it
here's a quick refresher in addition to many other assets they owned the famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel
which would be demolished to make way for the iconic Empire State State Building anyhow once
New York took over the land the commission of Charities and Corrections immediately expressed
interest in operating a so-called workhouse there however this presented a bureaucratic challenge
as technically the jurisdiction of the island belonged to Long Island City of Queens County
which was not yet a part of New York City so a resale was required so in 1884 state senator
Frederick s Gibbs introduced a bill authorizing the action now although there was strong political
contention between the territories then Governor Cleveland signed off by May of that year and a
new era began the groundwork had been set but it would be several decades before the bureaucrats
could follow through on their plan this was a down period for the island only leaving behind
some random if not bizarre news articles along the way for example in 1895 fishermen discovered
the body of A well-dressed man floating along the shoreline they towed him to 135th Street
and Harlem River to make a report to the police around that same time the land was also used as
a farm then in the year 1900 the New York Daily Tribune reported that a commissioner had claimed
to have discovered gold on the island believing it to be a Haven of precious metals however upon
formal inspection the man was laughed out of the office as he had mistaken iron for gold
then finally by 1925 the city began taking more serious steps to open their notorious jail this
was a desperately needed measure as their current facility on welfare Island now called Roosevelt
Island was overburdened and dilapidated and so it was in 1932 the jail opened with the
first iteration being modest compared to what was to come the original Penitentiary building
was called HDM or the house of detention for men in recent years it was renamed to James a
Thomas Center and was ultimately closed due to structural issues two thousand as the City's
population expanded so did the criminal population meaning that a larger territory was needed for
expansion so with the support of prison labor landfill was used to enlarge the area this effort
was helped immensely by a Court ruling from 1922 that banned New York City from dumping garbage
into the ocean hence the waste of the city was now redirected to Rikers Island but this actually made
a lot of sense as before that ruling the island already had 12 mountains of garbage 40 to 130 feet
tall yet after 1922 they took in an additional 1.5 million cubic yards of trash imagine what a
place this must have been to serve time isolated on an island filled with the literal garbage of
New York City back then New York City was largely powered by coal feeding the systems that powered
the skyscrapers of the area that require fired tons of coal per day and all that hot ash was also
dumped on the island resulting in scattered trash Heap fires burning through all seasons of the Year
even during blizzards one Warden described the situation ominously back in 1934 exclaiming quote
at night it's like a forest of Christmas trees first the little light then another until the
whole Hillside is lit up with little fires it was beautiful but garbage didn't only bring fire and
smoke no it brought something even nastier that's right rats and the situation was out of control
they infiltrated the sewage systems getting into the kitchens showers and cells many measures were
taken to fight the infestation they used poisonous gas poisonous bait ferocious dogs and pigs but
nothing could really contain the issue this is when the esteemed Robert Moses stepped in you see
Moses was on a mission to master build New York a theme I trust you may recall from our New York
history playlist and with the 1939 World's Fair just around the corner things had to be in order
the fair was to take place in nearby queens and he couldn't have literal mountains of garbage burning
throughout the night with a rat infested prison as his backdrop so he organized a Hunting Party
to kill them off converted some of the trash into a landfill and moved the rest of the waste to the
fresh kills landfill on Staten Island by 1943 Rikers Island had quadrupled in size although
there there was a bit of fluctuation to the exact measurements since some of the fill was taken from
Rikers to extend the North Branch Airport which is now of course called LaGuardia the sentiment
was evident when it came to criminals in a way New York had its version of Australia and some
very unusual events were in store Rikers Island is basically directly under the flight path of
planes traveling to and from LaGuardia Airport and curiously its development was somewhat in
parallel with the onset of commercial Aviation meaning it saw some nearby crashes one of which
came down on the compound's land on February the 1st 1957 Northeast Airlines flight 823 crashed
onto ricard's Island shortly after departing LaGuardia killing 20 and injuring 78 out of the
95 passengers and six crew the pilot Manning the flight went on to have something of a career and
crashing as he said survived three plane crashes in five years Captain Marsh of Miami first crashed
on January the 14th 1952 in the East River 300 yards from Rikers Island the plane was only in
nine feet of water so the captain managed to smash the window and Escape everyone survived with only
six requiring time in the hospital then again in 1953 his landing gear collapsed and the right wing
of the airplane was torn off at LaGuardia the subsequent crash in 1957 was actually the only
one to see casualties astonishingly when the crash occurred inmates immediately ran to the wreckage
undoubtedly saving many lives as a result of their selfless actions 30 of the 57 inmates
who assisted with the rescue effort were released immediately with 16 receiving a sentence reduction
by six months this event stands out but there were other exceptional circumstances in which prisoners
left early for exam Temple during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 90s the prison sometimes granted
early release to terminal HIV positive inmates so they could die peacefully in their homes
but more on that later by the 1970s conditions began degrading to unprecedented levels blocks
designed for 240 inmates were now housing over 330. corruption and neglect were the norm and it
became apparent to everyone that this Arrangement was not sustainable these issues were not new from
the onset of the jail complex smuggling by the guards was commonplace old newspaper reports
from the 1920s recall guards being prosecuted for those crimes and more but in the 1970s another
Eternal aspect of the island would show its face riots in 1975 the complex was overrun
by 1 200 inmates taking five guards hostage they demanded improved conditions at the overcrowded in
isolated jail in the East River and surprisingly the authorities met these demands and the guards
were released now not to take the side of the criminals here but they may have had a point you
see Manhattan had closed significant portions of its notorious tombs jail with Rikers Island
taking on the spillover the ramifications were endless here prisoners were routinely illegally
denied visitation Recreation and so on or perhaps it's best put in the words of Judge Morris Lasker
who described it as quote the most serious and potentially explosive prison atmosphere to exist
in New York City anyhow the release of the guards and meeting the conditions of the hostage takers
set a very dangerous precedent hence 200 of the prison staff began shouting strike and
left the job a gesture that brought no actual ramifications as nearly all those same guards
returned to work in the following days as for the prisoners and their complaints about overpop
regulation that wouldn't improve either in fact conditions were about to get much worse the 1980s
would see the population triple from about 5 000 inmates to 15 000 and with that rise saw a slew of
illnesses such as AIDS tuberculosis syphilis drug addiction and so on the medical Readiness for so
much disease was utterly ineffective with nearly 20 percent of the population testing positive
for Tuberculosis alone I need to point out an essential Factor here of the 15 000 inmates at any
given time seventy percent were awaiting trial or pre-trial release meaning that not only were they
considered legally Innocent but that incarceration was typically brief they would soon have access
to the outside world contact with a greater population hence the Cesspool they were living
in was beginning to affect people outside of the jail you have to remember jail is different from
prison prisons and jails are both facilities where the government detains individual levels as a form
of punishment or a means of keeping them off the street for the safety of society however they're
also distinguished jails are usually operated by local authorities they're intended for short-term
confinement of people awaiting trial or sentencing who have been convicted of minor offenses and have
sentences of less than a year on the other hand prisons are typically run by state or federal
government institutions and are designed to House people convicted of serious crimes with sentences
of one year or more hence jail populations will without a question have far more contact with
the outside society and this was dangerous to New York according to the Daily News one person with
tuberculosis returning to a homeless shelter for example on average infected up to 50 other people
as a result of the public outcry Solutions were sought to deal with the overcrowding and in 1992
the now famous 800 bed barge was installed nearby by on the East River to accommodate the extra
inmates perhaps in keeping with the maritime theme of the landscape in general as it became known
the boat was initially used by New York City's Department of Juvenile Justice and received many
alterations over the years although the inmates outright hated the solution it was a cheap and
immediate solution for the city they expanded on this type of jail boat housing by reconstructing
two British military transport barges from the Falkland Wars and two 1950s era Staten Island
ferry boats accommodating another 162 inmates each the ferries were eventually sold for Salvage
around 2003 however the boat remains best efforts aside the boat solved very little in 1995 the
overpopulation of the jail began menacing nearby communities who proclaimed their concern about the
environmental impacts of the traffic moving to and from Rikers Island not to mention all the traffic
accessing the nearby airport Robert Moses probably rolled in his grave you see the massive Regional
Highway Network cut right through the area to cap it all off the then Queensborough president
Claire Schumann proposed converting the area into a recreation space arguing that the jail
was unsustainable proclaiming quote the way things are now people going to Rikers Island don't have a
place to go to the bathroom a place to eat or a place to get change for the bus in modern times
it's been said that positive changes are on the horizon when it comes to quality of life
for inmates but without a doubt Rikers Island remains in New York City's most notorious jail
and it's interesting to see how it's transformed the land physically speaking throughout the years
so before wrapping up here today let's have a look at what remains Rikers Island is connected to the
community via a bridge and it's very close to the airport as well according to Newsday you could
almost walk from Rikers to airport during low tide the bridge was opened on November the 22nd 1966
at the price of 10 million dollars and before that time it was only accessible via boat the
city of New York operated the ferry service and provided transportation for prisoners staff and
visitors but once the service concluded the docks were effectively abandoned the ferry port remains
to modern day though they are Rusty and gradually falling apart running a prison Center on an island
presents some logistical challenges so back in 1985 there was a proposal to Ferry prisoners and
visitors via boat directly from Manhattan but the idea proved to be too impractical anyhow once on
the complex there are 10 different facilities with various purposes from detention for adult
males housing sentenced adolescence and segregated areas for teens The Rose M singer Center houses
adolescents and female adults with the north infirmary for General medical needs and the West
facility accommodating inmates with contagious diseases some have called this the world's largest
penal colony and in light of its size it also requires schools clinics chapels Sports Fields
gyms grocery stores various shops a power plant and a bus depot and according to unitedstates.org
an Institute on the island also specialized in housing homosexuals bisexuals and transgender
inmates however that was until 2005 when it was closed for security purposes which has been a very
problematic issue in general a report by NBC News described Rikers Island as quote hell plain and
simple with former inmates alleging that prisoners or technically the accused ran the facility and
a former Warden proclaiming that there was a shank under every pillow recently some inmates
have been released because the jail itself was too dangerous the danger affects everyone inside
from the medical staff to the officers and the prisoners currently the facility has experienced
a staffing crisis with nearly one-third of correctional officers not showing up to work
at a given time meaning intervention of violence is limited and searches don't happen but with
thousands of Officer assaults happening yearly who could really blame them when I first stumbled
upon images of this Jail's rotting ferry port I knew it was a place of troubling significance but
I couldn't have imagined that it played a role in so many people's lives at such a grand scale from
average New Yorkers to celebrities who got locked up there like Tupac or Little Wayne but what I'm
missing in this story are real life accounts I imagine that some of you watching this video may
have even been incarcerated at Rikers and I'm really curious to hear your story so if you or
someone you know has been to the island share your experience in the comments section below
and before you go I want to present you with another exciting topic this is heart Island it
was New York's so-called Lunatic Asylum back in the day if you'd like a video about its
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watch these episodes commercial free until next time this is Ryan silkash signing off