From New York Daily News:
When I was 16 years old, I was remanded to Rikers Island because I couldn’t pay the $1,500 bail on my shoplifting case, set by a judge who wanted to teach me a lesson. Three days later, I was stabbed four times in a grimy, overcrowded holding cell on my way to court. The staff laughed and gave me paper towels to stop the bleeding from my neck. Human dignity is not a thing at Rikers. My case was dismissed, but the punishment was in the process. The trauma from that experience hardened me. I found myself back at Rikers a few years later.
This time, I was older, and my girlfriend’s aunt was a captain on Rikers, so she made sure I was safe and treated humanely. I was handled respectfully by staff and housed in a unit where I had more freedom to move about the facility. Rikers’ food was often roach- and mold-infested, so I ordered fast food for myself and other detainees through the correction officers who reported to the captain. Continue reading >>>
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