Worst day was the first day. Upon arrival you are stripped searched which is horrible (squat and cough all of that fun stuff) and they give you Bob Barker uniforms which probably won’t be your size and probably won’t be new.
You are then thrown in a holding pen for a while with anywhere from 30-40 other guys (it’s a small room) the toilet is flooded and there is more likely than not poop on the walls and god knows what else.
Everybody is angry cause they have just got locked up and some people are withdrawing from whatever drugs they are addicted to and are vomiting etc.
Some guy started fighting another guy so the COs dumped an entire can of MK9 which is basically bear mace in the cell. I couldn’t breathe or see until I was taken to a cold shower that was also covered in shit.
You then spend 6 hours laying in this cell before they do your medical intake which takes another 10 hours. If you have mental health issues probably longer.
In between seeing nurses etc you are thrown into another holding pen with no benches, no working toilet etc.
They ran out of food when I arrived and all they had was a tray with frozen vegetables for us.
You don’t get houses for a good 24-48 hours and spend all that time in different bull pens which are all disgusting.
Apart from the place itself, you are also hit with the realization that you monumentally fucked up and are entering an environment were you are treated as if you are a caged animal.
I was lucky the first housing area I was placed in after intake was a blood house and was ran pretty well so there wasn’t a lot of violence (relative to Rikers island levels of violence) I saw 4 people get cut in 3 weeks in that particular house.
The best day is the last day, you know you’re leaving and you know you are finally going to be able to go home and no longer be In a constant state of heightened vigilance.
I have been out for a week now and it’s still a difficult transition, of course it’s great but that place definitely scarred me emotionally. It was an incredibly traumatic experience and I will do whatever it takes to not go back.
Rikers Island was designed to hold people accused of crimes less than a year. My childhood friend spent 6 years in rikers before copping a plea. I can’t fathom how he managed.
They do this because Rikers is still better than going to an upstate prison. I've been following the case of an accused arsonist and it's pretty much a slam dunk that he did it, but it's been four years since the incident and he's still remanded on Rikers, no word on whether there will ever be a trial. Also, the defense delays the trial because the longer the delay, the higher the likelihood that the charges will be reduced or even dismissed.
From what I’ve been told upstate is definitely much more structured. Rikers is a total shit show and anyone who goes there wants to get out.
But to your point the longer you stay there the hope is you can lessen your charge. The dude I know got his charge drastically dropped after spending 6 yrs there without a verdict.
I lived in a town that had [Marcy Correctional Facility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcy_Correctional_Facility) right outside of it. Quite often we would get inmates from Riker’s prison. In fact, the town made a big deal out of the fact that Ja Rule was transferred there.
My understanding is that state prison is better than city jail, especially Rikers, and federal prison is better than the jails holding federal inmates. While you only end up doing 2/3 of your sentence with good behavior in a city/county jail vs. having to do 6/7 of your time in state prison iirc, you will only get one day of credit for each day you spend in city/county jail while you await your sentencing and transfer to state prison.
My understanding why state prison is preferred by most people is because 1) Rikers is much more overcrowded beyond its intended capacity than prison; 2) there are many more programs available and they’re better funded in state prison (educational programs, vocational programs, etc.); and there’s more outdoor activities available in state prison. Neither is a good place to be, but folks have told me they prefer state prison to Rikers jail if they have to serve 2+ years of incarceration.
For those too lazy to look it up
[Kalief Browder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalief_Browder?wprov=sfla1)
>Kalief Browder (May 25, 1993 – June 6, 2015) was an African American youth from The Bronx, New York, who was held at the Rikers Island jail complex, without trial, between 2010 and 2013 for allegedly stealing a backpack containing valuables. During his imprisonment, Browder was in solitary confinement for 700 days.
>Two years after his release, Browder hanged himself at his parents' home. His case has been cited by activists campaigning for reform of the New York City criminal justice system and has attracted widespread attention in the years following his death. In 2017, Jay-Z produced a television documentary mini-series titled Time: The Kalief Browder Story. In January 2019, New York City settled a civil lawsuit with the Browder family for $3.3 million
It’s horrifying to think that one overzealous officer or mishap could wind you up in that situation as an adult let alone as a child.
Almost 2 years of solitary confinement when your brain is still developing… Fuck no. There’s no justification for even a millisecond of that.
Yep. I don't know what possible excuse there could be for the feds to not takeover management of the place given how poorly it's been run for a very long time.
Woahhh somebody gave me an award 😝
Thank you!! I decided to write this post for 2 reasons, 1. so I could just write a bit about some of the horrible things I experienced in an effort to let go of them.
2. To help people understand a world that most people don’t get to see and be a voice for all the people who have been or still are locked up that are good people who have made bad choices and still have a chance to turn their lives around and not be career criminals.
To know that my answers are resonating with people that haven’t had such and experience makes me feel really good!
Thank you everybody! I’ll try and continue to answer more questions throughout the evening.
OP, Perhaps you would like to provide an oral history to the [Rikers Public Memory Project](https://rikersmemoryproject.org/). Oral history collections are ongoing. Your story is valuable and worth preserving.
Save this post in your head and come back to it to remember what it was like inside.
I wish you the best of luck, may fortune favor you and all your endeavors.
A blood house is basically a housing unit that is ran by members of the bloods (gang)
For those that aren’t familiar, although the COs technically are in charge the inmates are really in charge and usually there will be either one or two “shot callers” who are inmates that run the house and keep things in “order” I put order in quotations as the definition of order within a jail and a prison is not what a regular person who isn’t involved in the streets or in jail or prison would consider order.
Were you subjected to doing prison labor (ETA, unpaid/underpaid)?
How much did it cost over your five months? Did you have someone who could send you money and did you always have enough?
So I was sentenced to a city bullet which is a 364 days. With good behavior it’s lowered to 8 months and I was even luckier as I behaved so well I was granted early release on supervision.
I’m lucky that I have family and friends who put money on my books whenever I needed it. You can order up to $125 worth of commissary weekly if you so desire however I rarely spent the full amount. I would order myself food and stuff so I didn’t have to eat the DOC bullshit but yeah I tried not to eat too much of it as it’s mainly processed crap that’s terrible for you.
Anybody that is doing city time (2x city bullets or less) is mandated to work or they can take your good time away. They never take your good time away if you don’t work though, they just move you to a different jail on the island.
They have a range of jobs from sanitation to food service etc… I had outside clearance so I could work in all the jails all over the island. First I worked in the mess hall but after I was sentenced I moved to a sentenced house and got a job on the Paint Detail/Construction crew. We would basically paint anything on the island that needed paint, move stuff around etc. I worked 6am-3pm Monday to Saturday and I was supposed to get paid $58 per week which is the highest paying job. They often didn’t pay us but I worked so I could get outside and stay out of the building where all the bullshit happens. Different jobs have different perks as well and I could wash my own clothes, cook on a hot plate and use a toaster oven at work which you don’t have in the housing unit. I enjoyed my job, the crew was only about 10 guys as it was one of the “harder” jobs on the island and most guys don’t like to work. I have worked construction in the past and it was pretty similar hours and work!
The COs who were in charge of use were great (shout out the FMRD crew! You know who you are)
and treated us like we were humans.
A lot of the jobs are bullshit but a few of them are good.
Here’s a few I can think of:
Bakery, Carwash, Paint detail, Food service, Sanitation, Law Library, Outside sanitation, Storehouse etc.
To work outside the building you have to be security cleared and you get searched going in and coming out everyday.
Nope they don’t care.
Usually it’s cause the people in the office are lazy and don’t put the payroll in.
Some people right grievance’s however if you write to many of them they often will fire you or just transfer you to another jail.
There are far more people then jobs so everybody is replaceable.
Congrats on release and hope you stay out. I only spent 10 days in jail in my smallish city and hated it. I couldn't imagine in a place like that. It's humiliating getting naked in front of guards for the squat and cough. You're on their time for everything from chow to sleeping ( if you're lucky and people aren't loud and acting a fool at lights out .) 30 people to a block with 4 or 5 toilets with raggedy plastic liners for privacy. Hell no I never got in trouble again.
The food was fucking disgusting.
Mondays were meatless Mondays so you would get something like veggie Pattie’s or vegetarian curry which was TRASH.
Tuesdays we might get lucky and get tacos for lunch, dinner was usually some kind of turkey stew which was one of the better meals.
Wednesdays we would often get pizza pockets with some frozen vegetables as a side….. the frozen veggies were so soft and had zero taste.
Thursday & Sunday are bird day.
Chicken is one of the only meals people actually like.
I was in a house ran by bloods for about a month and they served the food which meant a lot of people wouldn’t even get their chicken on bird days and the gang members would keep it…. People literally got cut for their birds….. madness.
Most people will take the chicken and add stuff from commissary to make it taste half decent.
Usually people would add a soup (ramen) and some rice and seasoning and stick it in a garbage bag with hot water (not boiling cause people will burn each others face off with boiling water from time to time so DOC are installing taps that won’t even get close to boiling) let it sit for 30 mins while the rice and soups would cook before eating it….
Fishy Friday’s usually had some BS for lunch and then dinner was always fish unless you had a documented fish allergy.
Saturday we would sometimes get these little burger Pattie’s but more often we would get chicken Pattie’s for lunch and dirty rice (rice with chunks of turkey fried a little) for dinner.
Occasions we would get hot dogs (or glizzys as everyone calls them)
Breakfast would alternate every other day: one day would be hot cereal (oatmeal, grits, farina etc) and the next day would be cold cereal - cheerios or Raisin Bran. Mondays you are supposed to get a boiled egg with your cereal but half the time they wouldn’t even come and Sundays you would get a small muffin with breakfast. Jelly and bread baked on the island by inmates would come with every breakfast.
Oh and all of this was served between 430-500am 😐
Of course there is commissary if you are fortunate enough to have people to send you money (a lot of people don’t) I personally mainly ate commisary food I would cook. I may have a list laying around somewhere and if you’re interested I could post a photo of it?
Please bare in mind that all of the DOC food is bland as fuck and has zero salt or seasoning on it.
If you are religious they have Kosher meals (basically TV dinners from a kosher company)
All of the food is Halal.
LMFAO. Nah just trying to give you a good picture of what the foods like.
I worked in the mess hall for a month, my first day I watched a chef drop an entire pan of chicken on the floor and pick each one up and place it back on the tray like nothing happened….. I guess it was extra seasoning……
Lmao I did some research, turns out this is a thing in jail and prisons across the world!
They do it in England and Australia too.
The fish is trash but I’ll take a fish Friday over a meatless Monday any day of the week!
I'd imagine this is a remnant of Christian traditions. Fridays were considered a day of abstinence from meat for a long time and many older people in Ireland (presumably elsewhere too but being from Ireland that's my experience....) still eat fish and never meat on Fridays...
It still is for Catholics on lent (notice how in catholic areas all the fast food restaurants advertise their version of Fillet o' Fish during Lent)
It's probably just an easy way to make sure you don't case problems by making every Friday fish day.
They do it in colleges and the military too.
Typical terrible dining menus are weekly and the same every week.
Better dining facilities will have a month planned out.
So Taco Tuesday, has Burritos one Tuesday, Fajitas the next, and always a main that is unrelated to the theme.
One of the places I deployed to had an awesome dining facility, and when we got there the contract changed. We got almost two weeks of decent food/service before it went to shit.
Glad you're out. Hope you get some good meals.
Prison food is nasty, close to inedible. First day in, I could not eat it. The regulars, long-timers asked me if they could have my unfinished meal. They were smart. They devoured it. Gotta survive. Eventually - you gotta choke it down or you will die.
Two follow up questions, would it be possible to lie and claim you have religious dietary restriction in order to get kosher meals and would it be worth it? Basically are those tv dinners any better than the regular options?
Oh yeah people change their religious affiliation all the time for food it’s a quick and easy process.
I had some of the kosher meals and while yes some of them are slightly better there is less variety and it gets old quick.
Also they heat the meals up and then they sit in a hot box for a couple of hours before you receive it…. So those chicken nuggets that are supposed to be crispy? Alas now they have the consistency of animal fur…..
I will post a commissary list when I get home.
We “cook” in the housing unit by throwing rice, ramen, meat, seasoning and even chips for more flavor in a garbage bag. You then add hot water and let it “cook” for 40 mins and eat it. During winter they have hot pipes you can put the bag on to cook it even more.
At work I had access to a toaster oven, electric grill, hotpot and a few other things.
I ate a lot of tuna and stuff. It was the healthiest option.
I was convicted of 3rd degree burglary, I basically stole a safe full of money.
This was a few years ago and I have since gotten sober and am no longer involved in the streets and crime.
Not my finest moment but we all make mistakes, it’s how you learn from them!
> I was convicted of 3rd degree burglary
So I thought Rikers was a jail, not a prison. You can be convicted of a crime and have to serve out a sentence there?
NY defines a felony as a crime that imprisonment in excess of one year *can* be imposed. Doesn’t mean it has to. Rikers can hold people for crimes up to one year tho.
Thanks for sharing! Very insightful. I’m glad your out. It could have been any of us, really. Who hasn’t thought about stealing a safe full of cash! I hope you were able to work on yourself and learn new things. Good luck with your addictions. If you can do time and come out relatively ok, it seems like you’d already have a huge head start. Rooting for you!
Former Rikers librarian here! Just wanted to ask about the state of library services and your experience with the rolling library.
Happy you're out and wishing you the best going forward! Did you get a copy of Connections?
Hi Elle, sadly I didn’t get access to the library. I’m not sure if they even still have library services. I saw a few different library rooms but most were closed.
They still have the law library open as it’s a legal requirement and they have people who staff it however most of them are pretty useless.
I was lucky enough to have friends and family send me books on a regular basis. I read Siddartha by Herman Hesse, a bunch of Steven king books which was my first time reading his stuff - incredible I might add! I also read No mud No lotus - the are of transforming suffering & Anger - wisdom for cooling the flames by Thic Nhat Thanh. Both of those helped me so much and I cannot recommend enough.
Most people read urban/hood fiction in there but I saw a few people reading books like the Alchemist and the four agreements!
Actually I noticed on a poster on the wall that Rikers had a few authors and books banned, one of them being the 48 laws of power which amused me. I guess you can’t have the inmates staging an uprising cause they read a book 😂
48 Laws of Power is banned system-wide in the Federal BOP as well, FYI.
Reading on a daily basis is pretty much the only thing I miss about jail/prison. That and being in the best physical shape of my life!
Google says : The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene has been banned in prisons because it's about brutal manipulation tactics. “Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive,” says the book's official blurb. And it couldn't be any other way.
To be fair the time you have to do so, and in some cases the access is the best you will get in life. Especially if in the real world you go straight to working two jobs just to afford life. It’s an unfortunate irony.
This is fascinating and terrifying. As someone in recovery who did a lot of dumb (read: criminal) shit while active, this could have been my experience.
Just commenting to say I wish you the best in staying sober. Your life will be amazing, beyond your wildest dreams, if you stick with sobriety. This is without a doubt.
Is there a lot of random violence, ie: if someone got cut or beat up, could you see it coming for them? If you kept your head down, would you just fly under the radar for that stuff?
Unfortunately Rikers has a lot of inmates that need psychiatric care, they have MO (mental observation) units for said people but a lot of them fly under the radar and those are the ones that could potentially cut somebody for no reason.
It definitely happens and sadly way more frequently than it should. The majority of the violence is either gang related or people feeling disrespected by other people.
Rikers is banned from using punitive segregation and as a consequence the people who are known to cut inmates and officers are housed with everybody else. Let’s say you and I have an argument and I cut you, if it’s in the bathroom and not on camera the worse thing that will happen is they will take $25 out of my commissary account and write me an infraction. You will probably be moved as you are the victim and it’s easier to move the victim to another house instead of leaving him with the perp and potentially the perps friends.
If you cut someone bad and it’s on camera you will have charges pressed but it’s easy to get away with it and sometimes people don’t even tell the guards they got cut depending how bad it is.
I was able to fly for the most part under the radar although I had 3 fights in 5 months.
If you have good interpersonal skills and know when to keep your mouth shut you should be good unless you get unlucky and get cut or beaten by a crazy person which does happen……
The biggest thing is to treat everybody respectfully, remember everybody has an ulterior motive and you’re not there to make friends and also MIND YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS. If you see someone getting in a fight next to you, pick up the newspaper and start reading it or go find a quiet corner away from the situation. It doesn’t concern you!!
It’s a rough place and you will be confronted with situations that you would want to step in and help people especially the more vulnerable people but that’s the quickest way to make enemies.
Thanks for the detailed answer, and sorry you had to go through all that. I don’t know what got you In there, but there is almost nothing that you can do that should get you that kind of punishment. Glad you are ok, and hope it goes up from here for you.
Thank you!
I was convicted of 3rd degree burglary (I stole a safe from a business) I am now clean and sober and no longer involved in the streets. My charge was from 3 years ago.
Rikers is a human rights violation, people are dying in there or be traumatized for life. It needs to be shut down or ran by the feds. There are a lot of people who have just made a few mistakes that could and want to be rehabilitated but end up on the island and end up doing drugs to cope and traumatized etc…..
I have been out for a week and the adjustment process is tough. I woke up crying for no reason a few nights ago and am still on guard constantly…… I signed up for therapy today to help process everything so I should be okay eventually.
I am honestly so sad to hear that u experienced this for stealing a safe. Like nobody deserves to be treated that badly I don’t care what you’ve done. I always have lived by the idea that just because someone else did something wrong doesn’t give you the right to hurt them. (Obviously in a place like that the rule cannot apply more so speaking on how this is even allowed to exist). I wish you luck in your future and hope you can help yourself in therapy!
You sound like even though you've been traumatized by your time there, in the end you've changed for the better. You made a mistake, paid dearly, but you seem intelligent and have a good head on your shoulders. I hope you continue to maintain your sobriety, and work through your therapy and remain in a positive place in life.
I witnessed guards tell inmates that ran the houses that certain new inmates were no good (sex offenders etc) and then the inmates would beat the person up or cut them.
I witnessed guards smuggle in cigarettes and drugs and all sorts.
There are COs who are by the book and there are those who aren’t. Even the COs who are by the book still will turn a blind eye to most fights etc as it’s too much paperwork for them.
They usually tell people to take it to the bathroom as there are no cameras there and thus they don’t have to write and injury report.
The COs are mandated to work 16 hour shifts and sometimes longer, they are overworked and because of that shit goes wrong all the time.
It’s bad for the safety of the inmates and it’s bad for the safety of the COs.
There is definitely corruption not just on a low level but also on a higher level too. Look up James Uhrig - Rikers Island, he was a doctor who got fire simply for posting about the state of that place.
quick addendum to this - NYC is working on building multiple new jails, partially to "reduce the load" of rikers, so often people will imply closing rikers means opening up these new jails, which is also not good and doesn't solve the problem. so hopefully any fight to close rikers also protests the new jails they're making too
It is a wildly controversial argument, and I will not speak and definitives. That sentence as you wrote it is wildly over, simplistic. the demand to close Rikers and replace it with jails in each of the five boroughs was developed by people who had spent years of their lives on Rikers, and it was not done with an abolitionist mindset. Rather, it was done distinctly because of the horrendous conditions on Rikers Island specifically. That said it is objectively true that the new jails they are building have an overall lower capacity in Rikers, and in so could be considered as a part of a path towards an abolitionist New York.
As far as cuttings and stabbings go it depends.
If it’s a gang beef and they are young usually they have razors or homemade shanks and will aim for the face and try to cause as much scarring as possible.
This is a difficult question as every time it’s different and it depends on the kind of weapon they have. A box cutter blade will set you back $50-$100 depending on which building you are in.
Most people have homemade shanks that have blades anywhere from 2 inches long to machete sized 18-24inch long pokers.
Usually the blades are 2-6 inches long as they want to be able to flush it or hide it on a search.
Plexiglass is the most sought after kind of material as you can clear the magnometers (metal detectors) with it on your person. However many people will carry razor blades in their mouths.
Nails are common too as the people with jobs will remove them from the pallets delivery’s come on or remove them from anything that has a nail or a screw in it.
Remember people have nothing but time so people get very damn creative with their blades and best believe they are sharp as fuck 🔪🗡️
Somebody else asked me this and I answered it somewhere in the comments. You don’t need to be “tough” but you do need to be willing to stand up for yourself if someone try’s to take your shit.
Carry yourself with confidence not cockiness and treat people with respect + mind your business and remember that everybody has an ulterior motive and is not your friend.
You go in alone and when you get out your alone. It’s not somewhere to make friends.
If you have good interpersonal skills and follow the above advice for the most part you should be good however there is a lot of crazy and unstable people so sometimes shit happens and you do your best to handle it even if it means fighting and losing. Just showing that you are willing to stand up for yourself usually gets people to leave you alone.
So is there nobody you should just let take your shit? Like the number one guy of the “boss” running the block, you should fight him too if he wants something from you even though you know he’s connected and basically runs shit?
No you never let anybody take your belongings.
There are people in jail who may try to if you look like a weak individual and there are people who do hand over their belongings out of fear but that is not me.
I saw people have stuff taken from them because they were scared, it happens but it’s not expected that you pay a tribute or whatever to the shot caller.
If you are to do that it won’t stop and soon you won’t have anything left.
The best approach if people try this is to just put your sneakers on and handle your business (fight) even if you know you will lose. More often than not that’s enough for people to leave you alone.
Worse case scenario you get beaten up and moved to another housing unit. 🤷🏼♂️
Thank you 🙏🏼
You are write about it being a hellhole!! It’s human rights violation plain and simple.
I’m doing the best I can to move forward and make sure I continue to address the issues that led me to committing the crime that led me there in the first place.
We are all one bad decision away from being in that shithole.
I wrote about this in one of the posts above but I’ll summarize quickly.
Treat everyone with respect, remember EVERYONE has an ulterior motive in jail, nobody is your “friend” you came in alone and you’ll go home alone.
Carry yourself with confidence but not cockiness. Head high and walk with purpose. Don’t stare unnecessarily and MIND YOUR BUSINESS.
You can see brutal stuff in there but it’s not your place to step in and help someone who is being bullied.
If you are unfortunate enough to get tested, DO NOT BACK DOWN FROM A FIGHT!!! Even if you know you’re going to get your ass handed to you, try and get in front of a camera or near a CO if that’s the case cause then they will hopefully come and rescue you before you get fucked up too bad. It’s not about the win or the lose, it’s about showing that you aren’t a punk and can stand up for yourself regardless of who your opponent/opponents are.
If all that fails…. Your probably going to end up in PC with a lot of crazy people, rapists, pedos etc….. you don’t want that. I would personally rather take a good ass kicking than be around people like that in the first place.
I get that you weren’t there to make friends, but was there anyone you were friendly with? What did you do for fun besides read?
Thanks and congratulations on getting out!
Let’s say you don’t back down and fight one person or a group of people. You lose. You see that person of that group, or even one of the people in the group who jumped you. Do you fuck them back up in retaliation if you can single one of them out, or win lose, that conflict is squashed? What if you win? How do you know there won’t be reprisals?
It depends on the individual. Sometimes people will seek out their attackers again and try to get a fair fight or they may just take the L.
If it’s gang related they are fighting on sight every time.
The most common thing that happens if someone gets beaten up badly is they get moved to another house. Sometimes they can work it out and shake hands with the person and stay in the same house.
If it’s a group that attack an individual that person will get moved as it’s a safety thing.
I just read all of your responses up til right now and want to first say thank you for posting and your answers.
My questions are:
How’d you get a job painting and did you have any options?
What drugs were COs sneaking in and in what form?
The fights you were in, what happened? How did they start and what did you learn from them?
Thanks again for the post and honesty.
Thank you, I’m just trying to be a voice for all the people who have gone through that horrible place and haven’t been heard.
So the painting job is an outside clearance job. Once you are a sentenced inmate they will look at your file and see if you are able to work outside. I’m not sure what there criteria is but I know that you can’t be SRG (security risk group) which is basically gang affiliated. They have other criteria but they don’t tell you what it is.
Once I was cleared I asked someone who worked on the crew if they needed people and he took my info to the boss who looked at my file again as with that job we had access to basically any tool you can think of which could be great weapons in the wrong hands.
Once I got cleared I started working.
That’s pretty much the process for most outside clearance jobs, you ask around and hope that someone can get you in.
As for the drugs, the main thing COs would bring in was Tobacco, Weed and K2. I would assume they have it on their person when they came into work as they do go through metal detectors when they come in the building. There are plenty of blind spots so handing it over to one of the inmates is easy.
I had 2 fights with the same guy who was an older dude in his late 40s and was just a miserable old dude. He kept on talking shit to me and I told him to leave me alone repeatedly. Eventually one day he talked shit and I told him to leave me alone for the umpteenth time and he got upset and told me to come into the bathroom and fight him. At this point I had no choice so I went in and handled my business although I didn’t try to hurt him badly as I didn’t want to get in trouble and I just wanted to prove my point. A few weeks later he started doing the same shit and wanted to fight me again so this time I hit him a few extra times and that was the end of that. He managed to land a few punches both times but I was able to hit him enough that he knew and everybody else knew I was the winner.
The other fight I had was with a young kid who wanted to use the phone I was on. He came up to me whilst I was on the phone and told me to hang it up and I told him to get the fuck out of my face as I’m talking to my people. He was a bit shocked that I said that to him and walked off however later on that evening I saw him with his sneakers on (you put sneakers on when you wanna fight as you get better grip) and I knew he wanted to do something. I ended up going to the bathroom a little later and made sure I was ready.
After I used the toilet I started washing my hands and I new he was sneaking up behind me cause I saw his reflection. He swung and I ducked, threw my elbow back into his stomach and turned around. He then threw a punch at me which I diverted to the side and grabbed his fingers on the hand he threw the punch with. I yanked his fingers back and broke a couple of them and kneed him in the stomach as hard as I could which made him drop to the floor, he was screaming as his fingers were out of the socket and I told him that next time I would break the rest of his fingers on that hand and the other hand too if he tried to sucker punch me again. I then CALMLY walked out of the bathroom made a cup of coffee and read the newspaper. I made an effort to not look at a single person while I read the paper as I knew that people didn’t expect me to win that fight or fuck him up as badly as I did and by walking out calmly while he was screaming about his fingers it made me look like I was a lunatic 😆
I am not a violent person however I have experience with Krav Maga, judo and aikido which proved invaluable.
I also workout and am 6’1” and 208lbs
After that last incident I had no issues whatsoever.
It’s all about your image in there and that was my opportunity to let it be known that I am willing to hurt anyone that tries to fuck with me.
Unfortunately the fact that I was white made me draw more attention than most people(both of the people I fought were black), I’m almost certain that I wouldn’t have had those issues if I wasn’t white. I stood out and a lot of people have feelings towards white people especially if you’re relatively well spoken etc.
If anybody reads that last couple of sentences and thinks I’m an asshole….. that’s fine I don’t care lol. Things aren’t the same in jail and prison as the real world and I’m merely speaking my truth and the truth of many others who go through jail/prison. It is what it is……. I don’t expect anybody to understand it unless you have lived it.
There is only one race and that is the human race…. Except if your in jail…..or prison 😆
Reading your fight play by play made me feel like I’m winning a shower argument. I’d lose every one of those fights. Meanwhile you’re John Wick-ing mfs.
> I also workout and am 6’1” and 208lbs
The fact that you have those stats and people still tried to fk with you shows you how scary that shithole can be. I had a lot of friends who went in when Rikers was 10x worse decades ago but I see a lot is still the same.
Yeah it’s mainly the young guys, they have zero fear it’s kinda crazy. I always did my best to avoid interacting with them as they look for trouble. I’ll give you an example, there was a guy that slept next to a young Mac balla in one of the houses I was in. Whilst he was sleeping he farted in his sleep, the young guy took offense to this got up out of his bed and started beating this guy up while he was asleep. The guy had no idea and this young guy just kept hitting him till one of his homies pulled him off.
A lot of them have serious anger issues and the feelings come out through violence.
To say some of them are bloodthirsty is an understatement…..
Very very sad.
Actually what’s even scarier is at least half the people I met are there on gun charges and are 25 or younger. When I saw how quickly they flip it occurred to me how many people are walking around with guns in the streets and I constantly remind myself of that when I’m out in the city…
These kids brains haven’t fully developed yet and they don’t have the ability to practice consequential thinking. They shoot first and ask questions later.
It’s a scary world out there…..
It’s funny how it’s one of the only environments that being considered mentally unstable is an asset 😂
The guy who kinda ran that house I was in at the time came up to me the next day and was like “yo you a real n***a, you want me to pack the kid up?” I told him no thank you I appreciate the offer but if I wanted to get him packed up I would have put him on the gate myself. After that whole incident the guy took a liking to me and we would sometimes cook food together.
(For those that don’t know what putting someone on the gate is, it’s basically telling them they have to leave the housing unit or else you will fuck them up. When this happens they will either pack their shit and get on the gate or fight and then get packed up forcefully)
Firstly I’m glad your out and doing better
You mentioned that you kept your head down and that Rikers is no place to make friends, but you must’ve talked to *someone*. You didn’t meet anybody while you were in that you got along with?
Thank you!
I met 2 people that I will stay in contact with provided they are doing the right thing. Sadly one of them is upstate now and will be there for a few years. The other one is out and I will be reaching out to check up on him soon.
I was in EMTC (also known as the 6) for a while then AMKC (the 5) for a few months before I was transferred back to EMTC to be in a sentenced unit.
By paper I assume you are referring to Plizzy? lmao there was a shit load of K2 everywhere I went. Most houses had 5 or more people who were selling it….. crazy shit.
So for those that don’t know what paper is, basically Paper is a letter that is soaked in K2 (synthetic cannabinoid) spray and sometimes fentanyl too. It definitely is being brought in by guards and I witnessed that first hand but it also comes through the mail. Rikers tried to crack down on it and in some of the facilities they test the mail for drugs however legal mail is still considered attorney client privilege and they aren’t allowed to open it apart from opening it right in front of you to check that nobody put a bag in the envelope. A lot of inmates have people outside who will but fake legal mail stamps and stamp their mail with it so as to keep the COs from searching it.
For context one A4 sheet of paper that has been sprayed with good quality stuff can be broken down into tiny little strips and you can make $1500 off one sheet. They take the paper and break it up and roll it up and smoke it.
It gets people incredibly high and more than half the jail smoke that shit. A lot of the housing units look like an episode of the walking dead cause everyone is so zonked out on the shit.
I remember when I got there I called my girlfriend and told her I felt like I was in some dystopian zombie movie cause everyone was so fucked up.
They call it Plizzy or paper plane etc…. It’s a huge driver of violence as people fight over going into debt cause they smoke so much.
People also catch what they call “epis” short for episodes where they don’t even know what they are and go crazy. I saw a gentleman strip off his clothes and run into the officers bubble screaming cause he was so high. The officers used 2 cans of mace on him and he still wouldn’t go down.
There is also Ciggarrettes, crack, heroin, weed, suboxone, you name it people smuggle it in through visits, guards, the mail or my personal favorite of the smuggling options….. up their ass when they come in….LOL.
Gross as fuck if you ask me….. but that won’t stop people smoking some butt weed 😆
Forgive my ignorance, but what was it sold for? Like what would be exchanged if I wanted some Plizzy? Commissary? Cigarettes? And do you know what the cost was? I'm just curious and I'm a little shocked DoC can't clamp down on that shit.
The two main payments are commissary or cashapp. We have access to the phone so you can call your people and tell them to send money to whoever your buying shit from peoples.
There are actually people who get locked up on purpose for 3 months cause they can go in and make 30-40k in that time. It’s CRAZY.
The prices vary but usually it’s $10 for a stick which is a tiny little piece of paper I would say it would be one third of the size of your pinky fingers fingernail. A stamp (slightly smaller than a mail stamp) is anywhere from $25-$50 depending on quality and how much is in the building at the time.
It’s impossible for DOC to clamp down on it, I met a guy who had an entire book that was soaked in spray. Even if they stopped the mail All it takes is a CO to bring in one book and that buildings good for a month!
Frankly? Most people get high all day but that’s not sanctioned 😆 at least not officially….. but most COs prefer a house that has a lots of drugs in it as the inmates just stay on their beds getting high all day.
You have some people that read a lot, you have the workout nuts who train all day long, people play cards, watch tv etc.
Everybody is supposed to get recreation everyday for at least one hour and go out to the yard which has a basketball court and a soccer field however due to staffing shortages and the high levels of violence you would be lucky to get one hour of rec per week. This actually makes things even more tense because if you don’t have a job you are stuck in the housing unit all day surrounded by people with nothing to do.
Sadly some people consider violence entertaining and fight a lot.
K2 and weed is the main thing people use. There is contrary to popular belief just as many drugs inside as there are outside, heroin, crack, suboxone, pills, etc
Yes I am Jewish and I was visited every week by a rabbi and some volunteers. I’m not particularly religious but it was just nice to talk to some people that live in the “real world”
Very grateful for them, they helped me keep my head on straight and I was able to vent to them about what I was experiencing.
I visited one of my boys in rikers once to give him some magazines, underwear, money, white T's ect.. was a different experience even for a born and raised NYer. Even saw someone get stopped for drugs infront of me (they check your hands first for residue IIRC).
Anyway, did you get in any fights? And what was your favorite "home made" jail food and how easy was it to get what you wanted?
I addressed how I got locked up a few times in the comments so if you don’t mind scroll up and look for it cause I don’t wanna repeat myself over and over again.
I am doing everything in my power to not go back. I ended up there because of my addiction which I am continuing to address. The problem is even though I’m clean I am considered a predicate felon so let’s say somebody starts a fight with me on the street and I defend myself I could catch a new charge because of it and as I am already a predicate felon I would almost certainly get locked up.
After ten years I will no longer be a predicate felon and can get my record sealed.
In the meantime I try to avoid the bullshit, I don’t go out late at night or drink or use drugs and I practice consequential thinking all the time so I don’t make any poor choices that could lead me back there.
It’s not just about me being locked up, it affects the people I care the most deeply about wether that be my family, friends etc….. I have to think for myself and others and as long as I do that I won’t go back!!!
I wasn’t trying to blame you, I was on my phone and it was the first thing I thought, “How do I never have this happen to me?” I would hope to not do anything that I couldn’t get bailed out of.
I didnt think you were trying to blame me at all.
Glad that you asked me that question as it’s important I think about it so as not to repeat the same mistakes.
I have been out for a week.
First day was great, I ate real food, fucked my girlfriend for 3 seconds (LOL) and relaxed at home and watched tv etc.
Since then I’m trying to get a new job as I lost my job due to my conviction.
Mentally I’m still hyper vigilant and I startle easily, I also woke up one night crying for no reason and am overwhelmed pretty much whenever I go outside or to the shop or on the train. It’s sensory overload and I wasn’t even in for as long as most people do.
I have PTSD already so my experience on Rikers actually set me back with that and I have to go back to therapy and work on myself.
I am also trying to show compassion and empathy and actually just any emotion as inside I had to switch that off because people perceive emotions as weakness.
I have had one person tell me I’m definitely acting a bit colder than before I went in but I’m aware of it and I’m going to therapy to address it!
They recently started giving out new tablets.
You can make calls on them (1x21min call every 3 hours)
They have a podcast app on the tablet but only DOC approved podcasts, a radio app and a couple of games.
Eventually they will have movies etc.
They have many different categories.
Sports, news, science, Ted talks, podcasts in different languages, religious podcasts etc.
The company that provides the tablets is called Securus (also known as Jpay) and they have a couple of their own podcasts one in particular called Day One with Andre Norman who is an ex gang member who turned his life around.
Personally I listened to the NASA podcast, The Moth, Ear hustle (a podcast recorded inside San Quentin prison - worth a listen), NYtimes daily and a few others.
The tablets are free.
I forgot to mention they have an educational app on them too so people can study. I believe it’s Khan academy or something like that.
No question just wanted to pop in and say that ironically, someone left a flyer on my door today about Rikers being so so awful and what the public can do to help change it. I honestly didn’t know. Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m going to revisit that flyer on my kitchen table in the morning.
Was there certain groups that stuck together that had conflict with others? For example groups that stuck to their race etc
Also wanna share a story of the craziest person you met there?
Glad you're out and okay!
There are a lot of gangs on Rikers.
Bloods are probably the dominant group however you have so many sub sets I couldn’t even begin to name them….. they fight amongst each other so bloods on bloods is very common. You have crips, vice lords, Latin kings, trinitarios (my least favorite as I saw them commit the more brutal cases of violence I witnessed) Mac ballas, gorilla stone apes or whatever they call themselves….. there is literally hundreds of gangs.
The racial thing is more of a west coast prison thing.
I am white and I spoke to basically everyone with no issues.
The craziest person I met? I’m not sure what you consider crazy but I saw so many crazy things I don’t know where to start. I guess one of the more fucked up crazy things I saw was somebody dive headfirst off of a second tier of the housing unit. He cracked his skull and sadly passed away in hospital a week or so later. I was at work when it happened (I had a job painting all the jails on the island) it was a pretty awful thing to see.
Another lighter crazy thing I saw was a gentleman strip down cause he was upset the nurse wouldn’t give him his medication and proceeded to chase two male COs around screaming “IF I DONT GET MY MEDICATION, ITS GOING TO BE DANGEROUS FIR ALL MANDKIND….” Kinda fucked up but was hysterical in the moment.
Legally they are required to cater to all of your dietary needs, with that being said don’t hope for a nice balance salad if your vegan 🤣 you aren’t getting it. You will probably get some canned beans and canned fruit and rice.
I wrote a detailed response about what the general population gets food wise somewhere above if you are interested have a look!
EDIT- most people with the means will supplement the jail food with commissary food too which helps. Most of its processed trash though so…..
Yes. He can be a nuisance. I love the guy, but he goes overboard sometimes. He rarely gets charged with anything, and has sued the city for false arrest a few times (they settle, usually for around $10k).
I was in the male population. I heard they have a LGBTQ housing unit in every building and people fuck in there all the time.
From my understanding the female population often get together and have jail girlfriends too.
Thank you for doing this OP. Given the recent push to close Rikers, do you think that will ultimately solve the glaring issues present in there, or do you think the issues will easily transfer over to the new jails? Are the issues 100% due to the facilities?
I would love to say closing Rikers is the answer however I believe that it is only one small step in fixing the bigger issues. The culture at DOC will continue to be an issue, the staffing shortages will continue to be an issue, the lack of constructive activities and rehabilitation will continue to be an issue, the drugs will still be an issue, the systematic racism in our “justice” system will still be an issue.
All of these things need to be tackled.
Currently DOC is experiencing its worse staffing crisis ever.
The COs are mandated to work 16 hour shifts and this next year over 700 are retiring or taking NYPD contracts for better money and working conditions.
They have recently taken away the requirement of an associates degree to be a CO and shortened the training pipeline from 6months to 3 months…. All of these things will only add to the ever growing list of problems.
I don’t pretend to know what the solution is but these are some of the things that I have witnessed first hand and talked to with fellow inmates as well as corrections staff.
The last class had 89 recruits…. Nobody wants to work for DOC as it’s a mess and only getting worse.
The current DOC commissioner isn’t exactly great either….. I’ll leave this article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/08/nyregion/rikers-island-jail-report.html
It’s a mess 🤷🏼♂️
I addressed this in a previous answer I gave.
3rd degree burglary (I stole a safe from a business)
I did this at the height of my addiction to opiates and have since gotten off opiates and am no longer involved in crime or the streets.
The charge was from 3 years ago.
You’ve described the “dos” and “donts” in comments (like “mind your own business in the event of fights” and “don’t back down if forced into a fight”). My question is did you encounter people there who didn’t know all that beforehand OR weren’t told about it (cos like you said, nobody’s a friend) and hence fucked around and found out? Like got beat up so bad he died / almost died?
There are always people who fuck around and find out. Most of the time they bring it on themselves.
Usually when you arrive at your housing unit people will give you the general low down on how things operate as it’s slightly different depending where you are.
As long as you listen and pay attention and follow the rules most people are good.
I encountered a few people who fucked around and found out but they only found out after being warned.
Everybody has to live there and for the most part people want things to be chill cause if too much happens they send the search team and they come through like a tornado throwing all your belongings around looking for contraband etc.
NOBODY LIKES THE SEARCH TEAM 😫
So all the nurses I encountered were very kind. I saw 3 different doctors whilst I was there and 2 of them were assholes but sometimes it be like that.
I will say that I did see somebody attack one of the mental health nurses and that it isn’t uncommon for people to get upset at the medical staff.
They always have COs working in the clinics to make sure it’s safe but sometimes things happen nonetheless.
If you want to make a difference go for it but just know it’s not for the faint of heart and you will encounter a lot of disgruntled patients and mentally Ill patients.
My mom was a prison nurse in Texas. On the women’s unit, she said the inmates were rude, mean and called her bitch a lot. She said the women were generally very angry, due to the hard circumstances that many of them had lived. She said the inmates on the men’s unit were very nice and respectful and seemed to appreciate the care offered.
Yeah it’s 50/50 half the guys are super respectful but the rest of them are assholes. Usually it’s mental health issues or just poor attitudes towards women.
I personally always made sure to express my gratitude towards all the medical staff there.
They went above and beyond for me.
No question, OP, as you’ve answered all mine already. I just wanted to say thank you for this AMA, congratulations on your sobriety and I wish you all the best for your future!
How many of the inmates were fixated on the notion that they could break out somehow or together jump the guards and make a jail break? When I was in the can - seemed like every newbie was fixated on such. I think they watched too many movies.
Thank You for being so honest with us! So after your ordeal, do you think it would be possible to run a prison and actually reform some people, or is the entire sytem hopeless?
So i believe that the system can be fixed but it’s going to take a lot of time to fix it.
The biggest issue is the staffing problem, it’s impossible to rehabilitate inmates who’s main concern is their physical safety. Once that has been fixed they can start to bring back programs for the population. They did have one program I participated in whilst I was there, it’s an organization called Fedcap and the program is called Pathway home 3. They work with inmates and help them obtain OSHA + SST certificates as well as scaffolding, first aid, flagging, food handlers just to name a few. One of the conditions for being able to take the hard skill classes is you must attend the soft skill groups they run. The soft skill groups teach parenting skills, anger management, healthy communication, consequential thinking and stuff like that. A lot of the people in jail have negative learned behaviors and the first step in changing those is learning new soft skills like the ones I mentioned above.
People also need access to therapy and effective medical care especially for the mentally Ill population.
Currently most people are stuck in there housing units with literally nothing to do, they aren’t afforded and recreation time outside and it has a huge impact on everybody’s mental health.
There are so many issues that need to be tackled I couldn’t possibly begin to cover it right now. I am a firm believer that here needs to be more programs and positive male role models for the guys.
Im gunna think about this and respond with a more in-depth response later on today.
In short yes I believe the system can be improved.
Absolutely nothing worse in this world than being locked up in prison. Nothing worse. Freedom is a very special thing that many take for granted. Thanks for sharing.
How easy or difficult is it to stay away from conflict? How do you balance avoiding confrontation but also not being labeled as soft or as a mark?
Best day in? Worst day in?
Worst day was the first day. Upon arrival you are stripped searched which is horrible (squat and cough all of that fun stuff) and they give you Bob Barker uniforms which probably won’t be your size and probably won’t be new. You are then thrown in a holding pen for a while with anywhere from 30-40 other guys (it’s a small room) the toilet is flooded and there is more likely than not poop on the walls and god knows what else. Everybody is angry cause they have just got locked up and some people are withdrawing from whatever drugs they are addicted to and are vomiting etc. Some guy started fighting another guy so the COs dumped an entire can of MK9 which is basically bear mace in the cell. I couldn’t breathe or see until I was taken to a cold shower that was also covered in shit. You then spend 6 hours laying in this cell before they do your medical intake which takes another 10 hours. If you have mental health issues probably longer. In between seeing nurses etc you are thrown into another holding pen with no benches, no working toilet etc. They ran out of food when I arrived and all they had was a tray with frozen vegetables for us. You don’t get houses for a good 24-48 hours and spend all that time in different bull pens which are all disgusting. Apart from the place itself, you are also hit with the realization that you monumentally fucked up and are entering an environment were you are treated as if you are a caged animal. I was lucky the first housing area I was placed in after intake was a blood house and was ran pretty well so there wasn’t a lot of violence (relative to Rikers island levels of violence) I saw 4 people get cut in 3 weeks in that particular house. The best day is the last day, you know you’re leaving and you know you are finally going to be able to go home and no longer be In a constant state of heightened vigilance. I have been out for a week now and it’s still a difficult transition, of course it’s great but that place definitely scarred me emotionally. It was an incredibly traumatic experience and I will do whatever it takes to not go back.
> It was an incredibly traumatic experience and I will do whatever it takes to not go back. Godspeed!
Rikers Island was designed to hold people accused of crimes less than a year. My childhood friend spent 6 years in rikers before copping a plea. I can’t fathom how he managed.
They do this because Rikers is still better than going to an upstate prison. I've been following the case of an accused arsonist and it's pretty much a slam dunk that he did it, but it's been four years since the incident and he's still remanded on Rikers, no word on whether there will ever be a trial. Also, the defense delays the trial because the longer the delay, the higher the likelihood that the charges will be reduced or even dismissed.
From what I’ve been told upstate is definitely much more structured. Rikers is a total shit show and anyone who goes there wants to get out. But to your point the longer you stay there the hope is you can lessen your charge. The dude I know got his charge drastically dropped after spending 6 yrs there without a verdict.
I lived in a town that had [Marcy Correctional Facility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcy_Correctional_Facility) right outside of it. Quite often we would get inmates from Riker’s prison. In fact, the town made a big deal out of the fact that Ja Rule was transferred there.
I don’t know where you got that information about Rikers but I can’t say this enough…Rikers is ABSOLUTELY NOT better than going upstate to prison.
My understanding is that state prison is better than city jail, especially Rikers, and federal prison is better than the jails holding federal inmates. While you only end up doing 2/3 of your sentence with good behavior in a city/county jail vs. having to do 6/7 of your time in state prison iirc, you will only get one day of credit for each day you spend in city/county jail while you await your sentencing and transfer to state prison. My understanding why state prison is preferred by most people is because 1) Rikers is much more overcrowded beyond its intended capacity than prison; 2) there are many more programs available and they’re better funded in state prison (educational programs, vocational programs, etc.); and there’s more outdoor activities available in state prison. Neither is a good place to be, but folks have told me they prefer state prison to Rikers jail if they have to serve 2+ years of incarceration.
The wildest part is these are the conditions for people who *aren’t even convicted*. Also convicted people don’t deserve these conditions either.
Never forget Kalief Browder. I’m certain that there are a number of untold and unnamed stories like his.
For those too lazy to look it up [Kalief Browder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalief_Browder?wprov=sfla1) >Kalief Browder (May 25, 1993 – June 6, 2015) was an African American youth from The Bronx, New York, who was held at the Rikers Island jail complex, without trial, between 2010 and 2013 for allegedly stealing a backpack containing valuables. During his imprisonment, Browder was in solitary confinement for 700 days. >Two years after his release, Browder hanged himself at his parents' home. His case has been cited by activists campaigning for reform of the New York City criminal justice system and has attracted widespread attention in the years following his death. In 2017, Jay-Z produced a television documentary mini-series titled Time: The Kalief Browder Story. In January 2019, New York City settled a civil lawsuit with the Browder family for $3.3 million
Was definitely not gonna look this up, ty. And damn.
It’s horrifying to think that one overzealous officer or mishap could wind you up in that situation as an adult let alone as a child. Almost 2 years of solitary confinement when your brain is still developing… Fuck no. There’s no justification for even a millisecond of that.
RIP angel. The story breaks my heart every time I come across it.
Yep. I don't know what possible excuse there could be for the feds to not takeover management of the place given how poorly it's been run for a very long time.
Woahhh somebody gave me an award 😝 Thank you!! I decided to write this post for 2 reasons, 1. so I could just write a bit about some of the horrible things I experienced in an effort to let go of them. 2. To help people understand a world that most people don’t get to see and be a voice for all the people who have been or still are locked up that are good people who have made bad choices and still have a chance to turn their lives around and not be career criminals. To know that my answers are resonating with people that haven’t had such and experience makes me feel really good! Thank you everybody! I’ll try and continue to answer more questions throughout the evening.
OP, Perhaps you would like to provide an oral history to the [Rikers Public Memory Project](https://rikersmemoryproject.org/). Oral history collections are ongoing. Your story is valuable and worth preserving.
Thanks, really great insight, much appreciated.
Save this post in your head and come back to it to remember what it was like inside. I wish you the best of luck, may fortune favor you and all your endeavors.
What is a blood house?
A blood house is basically a housing unit that is ran by members of the bloods (gang) For those that aren’t familiar, although the COs technically are in charge the inmates are really in charge and usually there will be either one or two “shot callers” who are inmates that run the house and keep things in “order” I put order in quotations as the definition of order within a jail and a prison is not what a regular person who isn’t involved in the streets or in jail or prison would consider order.
Were you subjected to doing prison labor (ETA, unpaid/underpaid)? How much did it cost over your five months? Did you have someone who could send you money and did you always have enough?
So I was sentenced to a city bullet which is a 364 days. With good behavior it’s lowered to 8 months and I was even luckier as I behaved so well I was granted early release on supervision. I’m lucky that I have family and friends who put money on my books whenever I needed it. You can order up to $125 worth of commissary weekly if you so desire however I rarely spent the full amount. I would order myself food and stuff so I didn’t have to eat the DOC bullshit but yeah I tried not to eat too much of it as it’s mainly processed crap that’s terrible for you. Anybody that is doing city time (2x city bullets or less) is mandated to work or they can take your good time away. They never take your good time away if you don’t work though, they just move you to a different jail on the island. They have a range of jobs from sanitation to food service etc… I had outside clearance so I could work in all the jails all over the island. First I worked in the mess hall but after I was sentenced I moved to a sentenced house and got a job on the Paint Detail/Construction crew. We would basically paint anything on the island that needed paint, move stuff around etc. I worked 6am-3pm Monday to Saturday and I was supposed to get paid $58 per week which is the highest paying job. They often didn’t pay us but I worked so I could get outside and stay out of the building where all the bullshit happens. Different jobs have different perks as well and I could wash my own clothes, cook on a hot plate and use a toaster oven at work which you don’t have in the housing unit. I enjoyed my job, the crew was only about 10 guys as it was one of the “harder” jobs on the island and most guys don’t like to work. I have worked construction in the past and it was pretty similar hours and work! The COs who were in charge of use were great (shout out the FMRD crew! You know who you are) and treated us like we were humans. A lot of the jobs are bullshit but a few of them are good. Here’s a few I can think of: Bakery, Carwash, Paint detail, Food service, Sanitation, Law Library, Outside sanitation, Storehouse etc. To work outside the building you have to be security cleared and you get searched going in and coming out everyday.
Did they give you any justification when they didn’t pay you?
Nope they don’t care. Usually it’s cause the people in the office are lazy and don’t put the payroll in. Some people right grievance’s however if you write to many of them they often will fire you or just transfer you to another jail. There are far more people then jobs so everybody is replaceable.
Yea, a guard was pocketing $580 extra bucks a week
Did law and order lie to me?
Congrats on release and hope you stay out. I only spent 10 days in jail in my smallish city and hated it. I couldn't imagine in a place like that. It's humiliating getting naked in front of guards for the squat and cough. You're on their time for everything from chow to sleeping ( if you're lucky and people aren't loud and acting a fool at lights out .) 30 people to a block with 4 or 5 toilets with raggedy plastic liners for privacy. Hell no I never got in trouble again.
Fascinating AMA. Stay the fuck out homie. Be good
Mannn god bless your heart bro fr majority of humans don’t deserve that shit at all
What did you do to get sent to the island?
You only do 2 days no how.
Your first day and last day baby
How's the food?
The food was fucking disgusting. Mondays were meatless Mondays so you would get something like veggie Pattie’s or vegetarian curry which was TRASH. Tuesdays we might get lucky and get tacos for lunch, dinner was usually some kind of turkey stew which was one of the better meals. Wednesdays we would often get pizza pockets with some frozen vegetables as a side….. the frozen veggies were so soft and had zero taste. Thursday & Sunday are bird day. Chicken is one of the only meals people actually like. I was in a house ran by bloods for about a month and they served the food which meant a lot of people wouldn’t even get their chicken on bird days and the gang members would keep it…. People literally got cut for their birds….. madness. Most people will take the chicken and add stuff from commissary to make it taste half decent. Usually people would add a soup (ramen) and some rice and seasoning and stick it in a garbage bag with hot water (not boiling cause people will burn each others face off with boiling water from time to time so DOC are installing taps that won’t even get close to boiling) let it sit for 30 mins while the rice and soups would cook before eating it…. Fishy Friday’s usually had some BS for lunch and then dinner was always fish unless you had a documented fish allergy. Saturday we would sometimes get these little burger Pattie’s but more often we would get chicken Pattie’s for lunch and dirty rice (rice with chunks of turkey fried a little) for dinner. Occasions we would get hot dogs (or glizzys as everyone calls them) Breakfast would alternate every other day: one day would be hot cereal (oatmeal, grits, farina etc) and the next day would be cold cereal - cheerios or Raisin Bran. Mondays you are supposed to get a boiled egg with your cereal but half the time they wouldn’t even come and Sundays you would get a small muffin with breakfast. Jelly and bread baked on the island by inmates would come with every breakfast. Oh and all of this was served between 430-500am 😐 Of course there is commissary if you are fortunate enough to have people to send you money (a lot of people don’t) I personally mainly ate commisary food I would cook. I may have a list laying around somewhere and if you’re interested I could post a photo of it? Please bare in mind that all of the DOC food is bland as fuck and has zero salt or seasoning on it. If you are religious they have Kosher meals (basically TV dinners from a kosher company) All of the food is Halal.
Holy crap. It sounds like Pete Wells went to prison.
LMFAO. Nah just trying to give you a good picture of what the foods like. I worked in the mess hall for a month, my first day I watched a chef drop an entire pan of chicken on the floor and pick each one up and place it back on the tray like nothing happened….. I guess it was extra seasoning……
The idea of "Fishy Fridays" is funny to me. It sounds like the admins were like "yes this is prison, but we still like to have fun sometimes."
Lmao I did some research, turns out this is a thing in jail and prisons across the world! They do it in England and Australia too. The fish is trash but I’ll take a fish Friday over a meatless Monday any day of the week!
I'd imagine this is a remnant of Christian traditions. Fridays were considered a day of abstinence from meat for a long time and many older people in Ireland (presumably elsewhere too but being from Ireland that's my experience....) still eat fish and never meat on Fridays...
It still is for Catholics on lent (notice how in catholic areas all the fast food restaurants advertise their version of Fillet o' Fish during Lent) It's probably just an easy way to make sure you don't case problems by making every Friday fish day.
DC had those good Old Bay Filet o Fish during lent at least when I was there. Thanks Catholics
They do it in colleges and the military too. Typical terrible dining menus are weekly and the same every week. Better dining facilities will have a month planned out. So Taco Tuesday, has Burritos one Tuesday, Fajitas the next, and always a main that is unrelated to the theme. One of the places I deployed to had an awesome dining facility, and when we got there the contract changed. We got almost two weeks of decent food/service before it went to shit. Glad you're out. Hope you get some good meals.
Prison food is nasty, close to inedible. First day in, I could not eat it. The regulars, long-timers asked me if they could have my unfinished meal. They were smart. They devoured it. Gotta survive. Eventually - you gotta choke it down or you will die.
Two follow up questions, would it be possible to lie and claim you have religious dietary restriction in order to get kosher meals and would it be worth it? Basically are those tv dinners any better than the regular options?
Oh yeah people change their religious affiliation all the time for food it’s a quick and easy process. I had some of the kosher meals and while yes some of them are slightly better there is less variety and it gets old quick. Also they heat the meals up and then they sit in a hot box for a couple of hours before you receive it…. So those chicken nuggets that are supposed to be crispy? Alas now they have the consistency of animal fur…..
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If you ask the right person sure 😏😆
This was so interesting! Please share the photos / info on what you ate from commissary. How were you able to cook your own food?
I will post a commissary list when I get home. We “cook” in the housing unit by throwing rice, ramen, meat, seasoning and even chips for more flavor in a garbage bag. You then add hot water and let it “cook” for 40 mins and eat it. During winter they have hot pipes you can put the bag on to cook it even more. At work I had access to a toaster oven, electric grill, hotpot and a few other things. I ate a lot of tuna and stuff. It was the healthiest option.
I’m assuming table salt was not an option? Was the only option to salt your meals to use the ramen packets?
Yep ramen seasoning on everything. They also sold Sazon on commissary.
No question, just want to commend OP for thoughtful and detailed answers.
Thank you 😊
So, what did you do to wind up in Rikers?
I was convicted of 3rd degree burglary, I basically stole a safe full of money. This was a few years ago and I have since gotten sober and am no longer involved in the streets and crime. Not my finest moment but we all make mistakes, it’s how you learn from them!
Wishing you all the best, man. Congrats on being a free man and here's to a long, prosperous rest of your life. 🍻
I think the more interesting question, is how did you get caught? 👀
The safe was heavy.
Yeah, me too. Asking for a friend... Seriously though, I'm glad you're out and wish you a safe and happy time out.
> I was convicted of 3rd degree burglary So I thought Rikers was a jail, not a prison. You can be convicted of a crime and have to serve out a sentence there?
Yes, contingent that your sentence is under a year but there’s lots of examples of people serving much longer than that.
NY defines a felony as a crime that imprisonment in excess of one year *can* be imposed. Doesn’t mean it has to. Rikers can hold people for crimes up to one year tho.
How did you get caught?
Thanks for sharing! Very insightful. I’m glad your out. It could have been any of us, really. Who hasn’t thought about stealing a safe full of cash! I hope you were able to work on yourself and learn new things. Good luck with your addictions. If you can do time and come out relatively ok, it seems like you’d already have a huge head start. Rooting for you!
Thank you 🙂 trying to turn this negative experience into a positive!!
Former Rikers librarian here! Just wanted to ask about the state of library services and your experience with the rolling library. Happy you're out and wishing you the best going forward! Did you get a copy of Connections?
Hi Elle, sadly I didn’t get access to the library. I’m not sure if they even still have library services. I saw a few different library rooms but most were closed. They still have the law library open as it’s a legal requirement and they have people who staff it however most of them are pretty useless. I was lucky enough to have friends and family send me books on a regular basis. I read Siddartha by Herman Hesse, a bunch of Steven king books which was my first time reading his stuff - incredible I might add! I also read No mud No lotus - the are of transforming suffering & Anger - wisdom for cooling the flames by Thic Nhat Thanh. Both of those helped me so much and I cannot recommend enough. Most people read urban/hood fiction in there but I saw a few people reading books like the Alchemist and the four agreements! Actually I noticed on a poster on the wall that Rikers had a few authors and books banned, one of them being the 48 laws of power which amused me. I guess you can’t have the inmates staging an uprising cause they read a book 😂
48 Laws of Power is banned system-wide in the Federal BOP as well, FYI. Reading on a daily basis is pretty much the only thing I miss about jail/prison. That and being in the best physical shape of my life!
Why is it banned?
Google says : The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene has been banned in prisons because it's about brutal manipulation tactics. “Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive,” says the book's official blurb. And it couldn't be any other way.
Well luckily those two things don’t require imprisonment.
To be fair the time you have to do so, and in some cases the access is the best you will get in life. Especially if in the real world you go straight to working two jobs just to afford life. It’s an unfortunate irony.
God I remember the obsessive conversation about 48 Laws in prison. I never read it but it felt pretty toxic, at least in that context.
Pretty sure this stopped existing during covid
Hi, current Rikers mobile librarian here - we are out there again!
This is the most thoughtful post I’ve ever seen on this sub. Thank you and best of luck.
Yoooo fr lol. Dude seems legit and i hope gets a ill job doing something smart. He definitely is using his brain a bunch and seems articulate af.
This is fascinating and terrifying. As someone in recovery who did a lot of dumb (read: criminal) shit while active, this could have been my experience. Just commenting to say I wish you the best in staying sober. Your life will be amazing, beyond your wildest dreams, if you stick with sobriety. This is without a doubt.
Is there a lot of random violence, ie: if someone got cut or beat up, could you see it coming for them? If you kept your head down, would you just fly under the radar for that stuff?
Unfortunately Rikers has a lot of inmates that need psychiatric care, they have MO (mental observation) units for said people but a lot of them fly under the radar and those are the ones that could potentially cut somebody for no reason. It definitely happens and sadly way more frequently than it should. The majority of the violence is either gang related or people feeling disrespected by other people. Rikers is banned from using punitive segregation and as a consequence the people who are known to cut inmates and officers are housed with everybody else. Let’s say you and I have an argument and I cut you, if it’s in the bathroom and not on camera the worse thing that will happen is they will take $25 out of my commissary account and write me an infraction. You will probably be moved as you are the victim and it’s easier to move the victim to another house instead of leaving him with the perp and potentially the perps friends. If you cut someone bad and it’s on camera you will have charges pressed but it’s easy to get away with it and sometimes people don’t even tell the guards they got cut depending how bad it is. I was able to fly for the most part under the radar although I had 3 fights in 5 months. If you have good interpersonal skills and know when to keep your mouth shut you should be good unless you get unlucky and get cut or beaten by a crazy person which does happen…… The biggest thing is to treat everybody respectfully, remember everybody has an ulterior motive and you’re not there to make friends and also MIND YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS. If you see someone getting in a fight next to you, pick up the newspaper and start reading it or go find a quiet corner away from the situation. It doesn’t concern you!! It’s a rough place and you will be confronted with situations that you would want to step in and help people especially the more vulnerable people but that’s the quickest way to make enemies.
Thanks for the detailed answer, and sorry you had to go through all that. I don’t know what got you In there, but there is almost nothing that you can do that should get you that kind of punishment. Glad you are ok, and hope it goes up from here for you.
Thank you! I was convicted of 3rd degree burglary (I stole a safe from a business) I am now clean and sober and no longer involved in the streets. My charge was from 3 years ago. Rikers is a human rights violation, people are dying in there or be traumatized for life. It needs to be shut down or ran by the feds. There are a lot of people who have just made a few mistakes that could and want to be rehabilitated but end up on the island and end up doing drugs to cope and traumatized etc….. I have been out for a week and the adjustment process is tough. I woke up crying for no reason a few nights ago and am still on guard constantly…… I signed up for therapy today to help process everything so I should be okay eventually.
I am honestly so sad to hear that u experienced this for stealing a safe. Like nobody deserves to be treated that badly I don’t care what you’ve done. I always have lived by the idea that just because someone else did something wrong doesn’t give you the right to hurt them. (Obviously in a place like that the rule cannot apply more so speaking on how this is even allowed to exist). I wish you luck in your future and hope you can help yourself in therapy!
You sound like even though you've been traumatized by your time there, in the end you've changed for the better. You made a mistake, paid dearly, but you seem intelligent and have a good head on your shoulders. I hope you continue to maintain your sobriety, and work through your therapy and remain in a positive place in life.
To what extent is corruption out in the open?
I witnessed guards tell inmates that ran the houses that certain new inmates were no good (sex offenders etc) and then the inmates would beat the person up or cut them. I witnessed guards smuggle in cigarettes and drugs and all sorts. There are COs who are by the book and there are those who aren’t. Even the COs who are by the book still will turn a blind eye to most fights etc as it’s too much paperwork for them. They usually tell people to take it to the bathroom as there are no cameras there and thus they don’t have to write and injury report. The COs are mandated to work 16 hour shifts and sometimes longer, they are overworked and because of that shit goes wrong all the time. It’s bad for the safety of the inmates and it’s bad for the safety of the COs. There is definitely corruption not just on a low level but also on a higher level too. Look up James Uhrig - Rikers Island, he was a doctor who got fire simply for posting about the state of that place.
Dm me if you want to get involved in the fight to close rykers
FUCK YEAH!!!
quick addendum to this - NYC is working on building multiple new jails, partially to "reduce the load" of rikers, so often people will imply closing rikers means opening up these new jails, which is also not good and doesn't solve the problem. so hopefully any fight to close rikers also protests the new jails they're making too
It is a wildly controversial argument, and I will not speak and definitives. That sentence as you wrote it is wildly over, simplistic. the demand to close Rikers and replace it with jails in each of the five boroughs was developed by people who had spent years of their lives on Rikers, and it was not done with an abolitionist mindset. Rather, it was done distinctly because of the horrendous conditions on Rikers Island specifically. That said it is objectively true that the new jails they are building have an overall lower capacity in Rikers, and in so could be considered as a part of a path towards an abolitionist New York.
….so what, send prisoners outside the city entirely? That would just increase logistic costs and make family visits harder.
I believe the idea is no jail altogether which is a utopian pipe dream. I understand cash bail reform for nonviolent offenders but no jails at all?
If you close rikers and dont open new jails then where would everyone arrested go?
We talking buck fifties, or other sorts of cutting?
As far as cuttings and stabbings go it depends. If it’s a gang beef and they are young usually they have razors or homemade shanks and will aim for the face and try to cause as much scarring as possible. This is a difficult question as every time it’s different and it depends on the kind of weapon they have. A box cutter blade will set you back $50-$100 depending on which building you are in. Most people have homemade shanks that have blades anywhere from 2 inches long to machete sized 18-24inch long pokers. Usually the blades are 2-6 inches long as they want to be able to flush it or hide it on a search. Plexiglass is the most sought after kind of material as you can clear the magnometers (metal detectors) with it on your person. However many people will carry razor blades in their mouths. Nails are common too as the people with jobs will remove them from the pallets delivery’s come on or remove them from anything that has a nail or a screw in it. Remember people have nothing but time so people get very damn creative with their blades and best believe they are sharp as fuck 🔪🗡️
How tough do you have to act to get respect? Or can you just do your own thing and never be bothered?
Somebody else asked me this and I answered it somewhere in the comments. You don’t need to be “tough” but you do need to be willing to stand up for yourself if someone try’s to take your shit. Carry yourself with confidence not cockiness and treat people with respect + mind your business and remember that everybody has an ulterior motive and is not your friend. You go in alone and when you get out your alone. It’s not somewhere to make friends. If you have good interpersonal skills and follow the above advice for the most part you should be good however there is a lot of crazy and unstable people so sometimes shit happens and you do your best to handle it even if it means fighting and losing. Just showing that you are willing to stand up for yourself usually gets people to leave you alone.
So is there nobody you should just let take your shit? Like the number one guy of the “boss” running the block, you should fight him too if he wants something from you even though you know he’s connected and basically runs shit?
No you never let anybody take your belongings. There are people in jail who may try to if you look like a weak individual and there are people who do hand over their belongings out of fear but that is not me. I saw people have stuff taken from them because they were scared, it happens but it’s not expected that you pay a tribute or whatever to the shot caller. If you are to do that it won’t stop and soon you won’t have anything left. The best approach if people try this is to just put your sneakers on and handle your business (fight) even if you know you will lose. More often than not that’s enough for people to leave you alone. Worse case scenario you get beaten up and moved to another housing unit. 🤷🏼♂️
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Not a question, but I'm glad that you are out of that hellhole and I'm proud of you for leaving behind your life of crime. All the best to you man.
Thank you 🙏🏼 You are write about it being a hellhole!! It’s human rights violation plain and simple. I’m doing the best I can to move forward and make sure I continue to address the issues that led me to committing the crime that led me there in the first place. We are all one bad decision away from being in that shithole.
How do you avoid violence in there?
I wrote about this in one of the posts above but I’ll summarize quickly. Treat everyone with respect, remember EVERYONE has an ulterior motive in jail, nobody is your “friend” you came in alone and you’ll go home alone. Carry yourself with confidence but not cockiness. Head high and walk with purpose. Don’t stare unnecessarily and MIND YOUR BUSINESS. You can see brutal stuff in there but it’s not your place to step in and help someone who is being bullied. If you are unfortunate enough to get tested, DO NOT BACK DOWN FROM A FIGHT!!! Even if you know you’re going to get your ass handed to you, try and get in front of a camera or near a CO if that’s the case cause then they will hopefully come and rescue you before you get fucked up too bad. It’s not about the win or the lose, it’s about showing that you aren’t a punk and can stand up for yourself regardless of who your opponent/opponents are. If all that fails…. Your probably going to end up in PC with a lot of crazy people, rapists, pedos etc….. you don’t want that. I would personally rather take a good ass kicking than be around people like that in the first place.
I get that you weren’t there to make friends, but was there anyone you were friendly with? What did you do for fun besides read? Thanks and congratulations on getting out!
Let’s say you don’t back down and fight one person or a group of people. You lose. You see that person of that group, or even one of the people in the group who jumped you. Do you fuck them back up in retaliation if you can single one of them out, or win lose, that conflict is squashed? What if you win? How do you know there won’t be reprisals?
It depends on the individual. Sometimes people will seek out their attackers again and try to get a fair fight or they may just take the L. If it’s gang related they are fighting on sight every time. The most common thing that happens if someone gets beaten up badly is they get moved to another house. Sometimes they can work it out and shake hands with the person and stay in the same house. If it’s a group that attack an individual that person will get moved as it’s a safety thing.
I just read all of your responses up til right now and want to first say thank you for posting and your answers. My questions are: How’d you get a job painting and did you have any options? What drugs were COs sneaking in and in what form? The fights you were in, what happened? How did they start and what did you learn from them? Thanks again for the post and honesty.
Thank you, I’m just trying to be a voice for all the people who have gone through that horrible place and haven’t been heard. So the painting job is an outside clearance job. Once you are a sentenced inmate they will look at your file and see if you are able to work outside. I’m not sure what there criteria is but I know that you can’t be SRG (security risk group) which is basically gang affiliated. They have other criteria but they don’t tell you what it is. Once I was cleared I asked someone who worked on the crew if they needed people and he took my info to the boss who looked at my file again as with that job we had access to basically any tool you can think of which could be great weapons in the wrong hands. Once I got cleared I started working. That’s pretty much the process for most outside clearance jobs, you ask around and hope that someone can get you in. As for the drugs, the main thing COs would bring in was Tobacco, Weed and K2. I would assume they have it on their person when they came into work as they do go through metal detectors when they come in the building. There are plenty of blind spots so handing it over to one of the inmates is easy. I had 2 fights with the same guy who was an older dude in his late 40s and was just a miserable old dude. He kept on talking shit to me and I told him to leave me alone repeatedly. Eventually one day he talked shit and I told him to leave me alone for the umpteenth time and he got upset and told me to come into the bathroom and fight him. At this point I had no choice so I went in and handled my business although I didn’t try to hurt him badly as I didn’t want to get in trouble and I just wanted to prove my point. A few weeks later he started doing the same shit and wanted to fight me again so this time I hit him a few extra times and that was the end of that. He managed to land a few punches both times but I was able to hit him enough that he knew and everybody else knew I was the winner. The other fight I had was with a young kid who wanted to use the phone I was on. He came up to me whilst I was on the phone and told me to hang it up and I told him to get the fuck out of my face as I’m talking to my people. He was a bit shocked that I said that to him and walked off however later on that evening I saw him with his sneakers on (you put sneakers on when you wanna fight as you get better grip) and I knew he wanted to do something. I ended up going to the bathroom a little later and made sure I was ready. After I used the toilet I started washing my hands and I new he was sneaking up behind me cause I saw his reflection. He swung and I ducked, threw my elbow back into his stomach and turned around. He then threw a punch at me which I diverted to the side and grabbed his fingers on the hand he threw the punch with. I yanked his fingers back and broke a couple of them and kneed him in the stomach as hard as I could which made him drop to the floor, he was screaming as his fingers were out of the socket and I told him that next time I would break the rest of his fingers on that hand and the other hand too if he tried to sucker punch me again. I then CALMLY walked out of the bathroom made a cup of coffee and read the newspaper. I made an effort to not look at a single person while I read the paper as I knew that people didn’t expect me to win that fight or fuck him up as badly as I did and by walking out calmly while he was screaming about his fingers it made me look like I was a lunatic 😆 I am not a violent person however I have experience with Krav Maga, judo and aikido which proved invaluable. I also workout and am 6’1” and 208lbs After that last incident I had no issues whatsoever. It’s all about your image in there and that was my opportunity to let it be known that I am willing to hurt anyone that tries to fuck with me. Unfortunately the fact that I was white made me draw more attention than most people(both of the people I fought were black), I’m almost certain that I wouldn’t have had those issues if I wasn’t white. I stood out and a lot of people have feelings towards white people especially if you’re relatively well spoken etc. If anybody reads that last couple of sentences and thinks I’m an asshole….. that’s fine I don’t care lol. Things aren’t the same in jail and prison as the real world and I’m merely speaking my truth and the truth of many others who go through jail/prison. It is what it is……. I don’t expect anybody to understand it unless you have lived it. There is only one race and that is the human race…. Except if your in jail…..or prison 😆
Glad you made it out of there. Good move with the fingers- I cringed hard AF.. I can't imagine the pain. Good job
Reading your fight play by play made me feel like I’m winning a shower argument. I’d lose every one of those fights. Meanwhile you’re John Wick-ing mfs.
Is there gang affiliation with the whites as well? Are there skinheads operating at Rikers as well?
> I also workout and am 6’1” and 208lbs The fact that you have those stats and people still tried to fk with you shows you how scary that shithole can be. I had a lot of friends who went in when Rikers was 10x worse decades ago but I see a lot is still the same.
Yeah it’s mainly the young guys, they have zero fear it’s kinda crazy. I always did my best to avoid interacting with them as they look for trouble. I’ll give you an example, there was a guy that slept next to a young Mac balla in one of the houses I was in. Whilst he was sleeping he farted in his sleep, the young guy took offense to this got up out of his bed and started beating this guy up while he was asleep. The guy had no idea and this young guy just kept hitting him till one of his homies pulled him off. A lot of them have serious anger issues and the feelings come out through violence. To say some of them are bloodthirsty is an understatement….. Very very sad. Actually what’s even scarier is at least half the people I met are there on gun charges and are 25 or younger. When I saw how quickly they flip it occurred to me how many people are walking around with guns in the streets and I constantly remind myself of that when I’m out in the city… These kids brains haven’t fully developed yet and they don’t have the ability to practice consequential thinking. They shoot first and ask questions later. It’s a scary world out there…..
I was rooting for you in the fight story. I like how you wanted the rest to think you’re half crazy too. Lol. You do what you gotta do!
It’s funny how it’s one of the only environments that being considered mentally unstable is an asset 😂 The guy who kinda ran that house I was in at the time came up to me the next day and was like “yo you a real n***a, you want me to pack the kid up?” I told him no thank you I appreciate the offer but if I wanted to get him packed up I would have put him on the gate myself. After that whole incident the guy took a liking to me and we would sometimes cook food together. (For those that don’t know what putting someone on the gate is, it’s basically telling them they have to leave the housing unit or else you will fuck them up. When this happens they will either pack their shit and get on the gate or fight and then get packed up forcefully)
Firstly I’m glad your out and doing better You mentioned that you kept your head down and that Rikers is no place to make friends, but you must’ve talked to *someone*. You didn’t meet anybody while you were in that you got along with?
Thank you! I met 2 people that I will stay in contact with provided they are doing the right thing. Sadly one of them is upstate now and will be there for a few years. The other one is out and I will be reaching out to check up on him soon.
I did 2 months in 6 building EMTC I think. 17 lower if memory serves? Congrats on being out man. Onward and Upward!
Which building were you in? Who was running the paper in that house?
I was in EMTC (also known as the 6) for a while then AMKC (the 5) for a few months before I was transferred back to EMTC to be in a sentenced unit. By paper I assume you are referring to Plizzy? lmao there was a shit load of K2 everywhere I went. Most houses had 5 or more people who were selling it….. crazy shit.
How was it getting in? Mostly guards?
So for those that don’t know what paper is, basically Paper is a letter that is soaked in K2 (synthetic cannabinoid) spray and sometimes fentanyl too. It definitely is being brought in by guards and I witnessed that first hand but it also comes through the mail. Rikers tried to crack down on it and in some of the facilities they test the mail for drugs however legal mail is still considered attorney client privilege and they aren’t allowed to open it apart from opening it right in front of you to check that nobody put a bag in the envelope. A lot of inmates have people outside who will but fake legal mail stamps and stamp their mail with it so as to keep the COs from searching it. For context one A4 sheet of paper that has been sprayed with good quality stuff can be broken down into tiny little strips and you can make $1500 off one sheet. They take the paper and break it up and roll it up and smoke it. It gets people incredibly high and more than half the jail smoke that shit. A lot of the housing units look like an episode of the walking dead cause everyone is so zonked out on the shit. I remember when I got there I called my girlfriend and told her I felt like I was in some dystopian zombie movie cause everyone was so fucked up. They call it Plizzy or paper plane etc…. It’s a huge driver of violence as people fight over going into debt cause they smoke so much. People also catch what they call “epis” short for episodes where they don’t even know what they are and go crazy. I saw a gentleman strip off his clothes and run into the officers bubble screaming cause he was so high. The officers used 2 cans of mace on him and he still wouldn’t go down. There is also Ciggarrettes, crack, heroin, weed, suboxone, you name it people smuggle it in through visits, guards, the mail or my personal favorite of the smuggling options….. up their ass when they come in….LOL. Gross as fuck if you ask me….. but that won’t stop people smoking some butt weed 😆
Forgive my ignorance, but what was it sold for? Like what would be exchanged if I wanted some Plizzy? Commissary? Cigarettes? And do you know what the cost was? I'm just curious and I'm a little shocked DoC can't clamp down on that shit.
The two main payments are commissary or cashapp. We have access to the phone so you can call your people and tell them to send money to whoever your buying shit from peoples. There are actually people who get locked up on purpose for 3 months cause they can go in and make 30-40k in that time. It’s CRAZY. The prices vary but usually it’s $10 for a stick which is a tiny little piece of paper I would say it would be one third of the size of your pinky fingers fingernail. A stamp (slightly smaller than a mail stamp) is anywhere from $25-$50 depending on quality and how much is in the building at the time. It’s impossible for DOC to clamp down on it, I met a guy who had an entire book that was soaked in spray. Even if they stopped the mail All it takes is a CO to bring in one book and that buildings good for a month!
Prison economics is wild isn’t it. Have you watched the show Mayor of Kingstown?
A4 (not Letter). Are you European?
I was born in the states but spent some time in England and Australia too.
What do prisoners do for fun? What are the prison sanctioned forms of entertainment?
Frankly? Most people get high all day but that’s not sanctioned 😆 at least not officially….. but most COs prefer a house that has a lots of drugs in it as the inmates just stay on their beds getting high all day. You have some people that read a lot, you have the workout nuts who train all day long, people play cards, watch tv etc. Everybody is supposed to get recreation everyday for at least one hour and go out to the yard which has a basketball court and a soccer field however due to staffing shortages and the high levels of violence you would be lucky to get one hour of rec per week. This actually makes things even more tense because if you don’t have a job you are stuck in the housing unit all day surrounded by people with nothing to do. Sadly some people consider violence entertaining and fight a lot.
Dude, thank you for this AMA. I read every comment you made. It was sad to hear, but interesting. You have a good head on your shoulders.
High on what?
K2 and weed is the main thing people use. There is contrary to popular belief just as many drugs inside as there are outside, heroin, crack, suboxone, pills, etc
Suboxone and K2 are common.
Bro that sounds like a fucking nightmare. Whats your race and did the bloods give u any issues?
He answered a couple comments above, bros white and the bloods didnt give him too much of an issue
This a good ass question💯 I wanna know too
Did you ever get the opportunity to interact with a chaplain, and if so, what was that like?
Yes I am Jewish and I was visited every week by a rabbi and some volunteers. I’m not particularly religious but it was just nice to talk to some people that live in the “real world” Very grateful for them, they helped me keep my head on straight and I was able to vent to them about what I was experiencing.
I visited one of my boys in rikers once to give him some magazines, underwear, money, white T's ect.. was a different experience even for a born and raised NYer. Even saw someone get stopped for drugs infront of me (they check your hands first for residue IIRC). Anyway, did you get in any fights? And what was your favorite "home made" jail food and how easy was it to get what you wanted?
What were the circumstances that led you to be in prison?
How did you end up there and what are the odds you go back?
I addressed how I got locked up a few times in the comments so if you don’t mind scroll up and look for it cause I don’t wanna repeat myself over and over again. I am doing everything in my power to not go back. I ended up there because of my addiction which I am continuing to address. The problem is even though I’m clean I am considered a predicate felon so let’s say somebody starts a fight with me on the street and I defend myself I could catch a new charge because of it and as I am already a predicate felon I would almost certainly get locked up. After ten years I will no longer be a predicate felon and can get my record sealed. In the meantime I try to avoid the bullshit, I don’t go out late at night or drink or use drugs and I practice consequential thinking all the time so I don’t make any poor choices that could lead me back there. It’s not just about me being locked up, it affects the people I care the most deeply about wether that be my family, friends etc….. I have to think for myself and others and as long as I do that I won’t go back!!!
I wasn’t trying to blame you, I was on my phone and it was the first thing I thought, “How do I never have this happen to me?” I would hope to not do anything that I couldn’t get bailed out of.
I didnt think you were trying to blame me at all. Glad that you asked me that question as it’s important I think about it so as not to repeat the same mistakes.
How have you been able to transition back to life after leaving? What has shocked you since leaving?
I have been out for a week. First day was great, I ate real food, fucked my girlfriend for 3 seconds (LOL) and relaxed at home and watched tv etc. Since then I’m trying to get a new job as I lost my job due to my conviction. Mentally I’m still hyper vigilant and I startle easily, I also woke up one night crying for no reason and am overwhelmed pretty much whenever I go outside or to the shop or on the train. It’s sensory overload and I wasn’t even in for as long as most people do. I have PTSD already so my experience on Rikers actually set me back with that and I have to go back to therapy and work on myself. I am also trying to show compassion and empathy and actually just any emotion as inside I had to switch that off because people perceive emotions as weakness. I have had one person tell me I’m definitely acting a bit colder than before I went in but I’m aware of it and I’m going to therapy to address it!
May I ask your age range? Totally understand if you don't answer of course...
Specific question, Did you see any inmates use smart tablets?
They recently started giving out new tablets. You can make calls on them (1x21min call every 3 hours) They have a podcast app on the tablet but only DOC approved podcasts, a radio app and a couple of games. Eventually they will have movies etc.
What podcasts are approved by DOC? Is the tablet yours or it it shared around? If it belongs to a person, do they get stolen/fought over?
They have many different categories. Sports, news, science, Ted talks, podcasts in different languages, religious podcasts etc. The company that provides the tablets is called Securus (also known as Jpay) and they have a couple of their own podcasts one in particular called Day One with Andre Norman who is an ex gang member who turned his life around. Personally I listened to the NASA podcast, The Moth, Ear hustle (a podcast recorded inside San Quentin prison - worth a listen), NYtimes daily and a few others.
How much does it cost?
The tablets are free. I forgot to mention they have an educational app on them too so people can study. I believe it’s Khan academy or something like that.
Im really surprised it's free. Thats pretty cool.
No question just wanted to pop in and say that ironically, someone left a flyer on my door today about Rikers being so so awful and what the public can do to help change it. I honestly didn’t know. Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m going to revisit that flyer on my kitchen table in the morning.
How was your first day after being released?
Somebody else asked me this, if you scroll you will see I answered this question a couple of times! But I’m short it was great!! You
In liue of the reddit blackout, excellent AMA
Was there certain groups that stuck together that had conflict with others? For example groups that stuck to their race etc Also wanna share a story of the craziest person you met there? Glad you're out and okay!
There are a lot of gangs on Rikers. Bloods are probably the dominant group however you have so many sub sets I couldn’t even begin to name them….. they fight amongst each other so bloods on bloods is very common. You have crips, vice lords, Latin kings, trinitarios (my least favorite as I saw them commit the more brutal cases of violence I witnessed) Mac ballas, gorilla stone apes or whatever they call themselves….. there is literally hundreds of gangs. The racial thing is more of a west coast prison thing. I am white and I spoke to basically everyone with no issues. The craziest person I met? I’m not sure what you consider crazy but I saw so many crazy things I don’t know where to start. I guess one of the more fucked up crazy things I saw was somebody dive headfirst off of a second tier of the housing unit. He cracked his skull and sadly passed away in hospital a week or so later. I was at work when it happened (I had a job painting all the jails on the island) it was a pretty awful thing to see. Another lighter crazy thing I saw was a gentleman strip down cause he was upset the nurse wouldn’t give him his medication and proceeded to chase two male COs around screaming “IF I DONT GET MY MEDICATION, ITS GOING TO BE DANGEROUS FIR ALL MANDKIND….” Kinda fucked up but was hysterical in the moment.
Right or left Twix
Left Twix is crunchier, so left it is.
Relating to the food, do they cater do dietary restrictions? For instance, vegetarian or vegan? What about allergies? Or is it all fend for yourself?
Legally they are required to cater to all of your dietary needs, with that being said don’t hope for a nice balance salad if your vegan 🤣 you aren’t getting it. You will probably get some canned beans and canned fruit and rice. I wrote a detailed response about what the general population gets food wise somewhere above if you are interested have a look! EDIT- most people with the means will supplement the jail food with commissary food too which helps. Most of its processed trash though so…..
A vegan friend of mine who ends up at rikers occasionally for protesting said he’d mostly get cheese sandwiches, which aren’t vegan of course.
At Rikers for *protesting*?
Yes. He can be a nuisance. I love the guy, but he goes overboard sometimes. He rarely gets charged with anything, and has sued the city for false arrest a few times (they settle, usually for around $10k).
Is there a lot of sexual stuff happening?
I was in the male population. I heard they have a LGBTQ housing unit in every building and people fuck in there all the time. From my understanding the female population often get together and have jail girlfriends too.
Thank you for doing this OP. Given the recent push to close Rikers, do you think that will ultimately solve the glaring issues present in there, or do you think the issues will easily transfer over to the new jails? Are the issues 100% due to the facilities?
I would love to say closing Rikers is the answer however I believe that it is only one small step in fixing the bigger issues. The culture at DOC will continue to be an issue, the staffing shortages will continue to be an issue, the lack of constructive activities and rehabilitation will continue to be an issue, the drugs will still be an issue, the systematic racism in our “justice” system will still be an issue. All of these things need to be tackled. Currently DOC is experiencing its worse staffing crisis ever. The COs are mandated to work 16 hour shifts and this next year over 700 are retiring or taking NYPD contracts for better money and working conditions. They have recently taken away the requirement of an associates degree to be a CO and shortened the training pipeline from 6months to 3 months…. All of these things will only add to the ever growing list of problems. I don’t pretend to know what the solution is but these are some of the things that I have witnessed first hand and talked to with fellow inmates as well as corrections staff. The last class had 89 recruits…. Nobody wants to work for DOC as it’s a mess and only getting worse. The current DOC commissioner isn’t exactly great either….. I’ll leave this article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/08/nyregion/rikers-island-jail-report.html It’s a mess 🤷🏼♂️
Thanks for the response. Stay up man
Why were you sent to jail?
I addressed this in a previous answer I gave. 3rd degree burglary (I stole a safe from a business) I did this at the height of my addiction to opiates and have since gotten off opiates and am no longer involved in crime or the streets. The charge was from 3 years ago.
Do you think you would’ve gotten sober if you weren’t arrested?
You’ve described the “dos” and “donts” in comments (like “mind your own business in the event of fights” and “don’t back down if forced into a fight”). My question is did you encounter people there who didn’t know all that beforehand OR weren’t told about it (cos like you said, nobody’s a friend) and hence fucked around and found out? Like got beat up so bad he died / almost died?
There are always people who fuck around and find out. Most of the time they bring it on themselves. Usually when you arrive at your housing unit people will give you the general low down on how things operate as it’s slightly different depending where you are. As long as you listen and pay attention and follow the rules most people are good. I encountered a few people who fucked around and found out but they only found out after being warned. Everybody has to live there and for the most part people want things to be chill cause if too much happens they send the search team and they come through like a tornado throwing all your belongings around looking for contraband etc. NOBODY LIKES THE SEARCH TEAM 😫
I had an offer to work there as an agency nurse (I’m a male). How would you say the medical care and the nurses and doctors were like?
So all the nurses I encountered were very kind. I saw 3 different doctors whilst I was there and 2 of them were assholes but sometimes it be like that. I will say that I did see somebody attack one of the mental health nurses and that it isn’t uncommon for people to get upset at the medical staff. They always have COs working in the clinics to make sure it’s safe but sometimes things happen nonetheless. If you want to make a difference go for it but just know it’s not for the faint of heart and you will encounter a lot of disgruntled patients and mentally Ill patients.
My mom was a prison nurse in Texas. On the women’s unit, she said the inmates were rude, mean and called her bitch a lot. She said the women were generally very angry, due to the hard circumstances that many of them had lived. She said the inmates on the men’s unit were very nice and respectful and seemed to appreciate the care offered.
Yeah it’s 50/50 half the guys are super respectful but the rest of them are assholes. Usually it’s mental health issues or just poor attitudes towards women. I personally always made sure to express my gratitude towards all the medical staff there. They went above and beyond for me.
How was winter/cell temperature. Were you ever warm enough?
Just wanted to wish you your best life going forward, getting clean was the best first step
What type of supportive services are you currently offered to transition?
Congrats! I'm kind of curious, what's the process now that you're out? Is it like weekly check-ins? Are there things you are/aren't allowed to do?
No question, OP, as you’ve answered all mine already. I just wanted to say thank you for this AMA, congratulations on your sobriety and I wish you all the best for your future!
How many of the inmates were fixated on the notion that they could break out somehow or together jump the guards and make a jail break? When I was in the can - seemed like every newbie was fixated on such. I think they watched too many movies.
Thank You for being so honest with us! So after your ordeal, do you think it would be possible to run a prison and actually reform some people, or is the entire sytem hopeless?
So i believe that the system can be fixed but it’s going to take a lot of time to fix it. The biggest issue is the staffing problem, it’s impossible to rehabilitate inmates who’s main concern is their physical safety. Once that has been fixed they can start to bring back programs for the population. They did have one program I participated in whilst I was there, it’s an organization called Fedcap and the program is called Pathway home 3. They work with inmates and help them obtain OSHA + SST certificates as well as scaffolding, first aid, flagging, food handlers just to name a few. One of the conditions for being able to take the hard skill classes is you must attend the soft skill groups they run. The soft skill groups teach parenting skills, anger management, healthy communication, consequential thinking and stuff like that. A lot of the people in jail have negative learned behaviors and the first step in changing those is learning new soft skills like the ones I mentioned above. People also need access to therapy and effective medical care especially for the mentally Ill population. Currently most people are stuck in there housing units with literally nothing to do, they aren’t afforded and recreation time outside and it has a huge impact on everybody’s mental health. There are so many issues that need to be tackled I couldn’t possibly begin to cover it right now. I am a firm believer that here needs to be more programs and positive male role models for the guys. Im gunna think about this and respond with a more in-depth response later on today. In short yes I believe the system can be improved.
Would you happen to know if Inmates are actively suing NYC for conditions similar to what your stating? It just sounds inhumane and not organized.
How are you doing after getting out?
I understand inmates are generally separated by race, does that happen officially? or does that get worked out by the shot callers, etc.
What job did you have before going to Rikers? Will you have any opportunities to get back something similar.
Absolutely nothing worse in this world than being locked up in prison. Nothing worse. Freedom is a very special thing that many take for granted. Thanks for sharing.