When that happens, you’ll be given a housing assignment. He’s my priority now. Typically, you’ll have one of the veteran officers explain to you what life is going to be like at Rikers. I think most people have misconceptions about what a jail is and what prison is. Did you have any clue as to the reputations of these two prisons before heading there? From there after breakfast, since I was seventeen at the time, it was mandatory that I had to go to school. The officers weren’t always going to be there, nor did they really defend you. But there comes a point where you just give in. In a way, time stops for you and everyone else. Our first conversations were based around tattoos, and essentially bar-counter talk. If you walked into a dorm and you were the only Hispanic guy, you’re going to have a hard time. Rodrigo: Upstate, you have to worry more about the Correctional Officers. If they take an Alpha Male and put him in charge of a unit, everybody is going to listen. I remember him saying, “You’re in my house. Required fields are marked *. So yeah, it was really over using the phone. When you were released from prison and got back home, what was the first thing you did? There’s no contact with anyone. I try to get involved with the community and other projects. You start talking to yourself. I was used to seeing them and my son every day. Just to get a reaction from the guards. Among all these various cultures, religions and lifestyles, Rikers has always had a reputation for being a pit of hell. It embeds its way of life and culture into a person. I work my ass off. And while in my younger years I had the lovely chance to be a guest at a county jail – a stay that woke my ignorant ass up to where my life was headed – not everyone is so fortunate. By Sonia Moghe, CNN. I have a son and I didn’t want to miss out on him growing up. New York City had on the books a population of 8.2 million people at the time. If you say ‘I’m Blood,’ you have to spit your lingo. That I was going to be there for a while. Rikers Island is sandwiched between Queens and The Bronx, just above La Guardia airport, here in New York City. I hated her for leaving me like that. How did they react to you? As far as the bus ride goes, I was handcuffed and placed in a single man cage. Hispanics with Hispanics. Back then, a lot of the Mexicans in the neighborhood were picked on by the African-Americans. I was born in L.A. on April 8th, 1969. With me being home and back in Harlem, it’s hard for people to believe that I’m trying to be a good person. While just about anyone can walk through its gates because of a crime, not everyone can make it out, or even through their sentence. There’s just a really bad vibe. So if you get in a fight with them, you’re gonna end up with broken bones – or worse – and put into segregation. I’m institutionalized, without a doubt. A member of the Blast Beat Network. I still have all my state-issued paperwork. Jared Peartree said he was 18 when his two-year incarceration at Rikers began in 2013. Gregory Gonzalez, 25, said he was held on Rikers for two months when he was 18, starting in 2008. So making that decision wasn’t that hard or tough. Rodrigo: Being locked away. We’re in a better place now. A quick, reactionary decision that ultimately costs them not just their freedom, but their friends and loved ones as well. You have to prove your ‘paperwork.’ They want to know that you’re real and not just claiming it. I got my G.E.D. I mean, I got shot in front of my apartment once. But that’s just what the vast majority of us do. The way I looked at it, I could plea out, do the three and half years and have my life back. But at one point he did shoot at me, about a year before that. If you wouldn’t have gone to prison, where could you see your life going? He said he was told, “Oh, well it happens,” when he reported the incident to another officer. He didn’t really know me, which was hard. After I left Rikers and went upstate, I heard that the kid was suing the jail and the Corrections Officer. The only access into Rikers is the Francis Buono Bridge, which connects the island to the borough of Queens. I had been arrested before, but nothing like this. But I stopped and really thought about the time. That I’m trying to raise my son. At Rikers, none of that happens. But it wasn’t good. Fast forward three months. At that point in time, the Hispanic population had grown and I was one of the guys in charge of them. Drugs, murder, robberies. Gonzalez said he was incarcerated for not completing community service and not paying overdue tickets. What was Rikers’ reputation to someone who was born and raised in the city? And now I was looking at initially fifteen years away, and then five to ten years. If he follows down the steps I did, yeah. Fifteen years is a long fucking time. I mean, some people leave prison and come home and get right back into trouble. I mean, ninety days isn’t enough time to get used to it. My baby’s mom broke up with me while I was in Rikers. I didn’t. Some people come home from prison and shower in their boxers. We’re social creatures. You’d wake up and go to school and see a pool of blood on the sidewalk from someone being jumped or robbed. There was an internal investigation, and I was pulled from prison to come testify about what I saw. If you give every minority you catch a felony, that’s a lot of people who can’t vote. I’m not gonna lie, you become accustomed to it. Her stunning, award-winning debut book, Lockdown on Rikers: Shocking Stories of Abuse and Injustice at New York’s Notorious Jail, published in 2015, opened many eyes and strengthened the growing #CloseRikers movement. It forced me to accept that I had to get used to that environment. Nathaniel Shannon. As soon as you walk in, somebody is gonna ask you what hood you’re from, what gang you’re from. Correctional Health Services handles medical care for the nearly 5,000 inmates currently held at Rikers Island and other city-run lockups. “My past kinda caught up with me,” Peartree said, declining to say why he was jailed. I don’t want that for him. The population in prisons have gotten much younger, and most of them are in there for gang-related crimes. Had it sunk it yet how serious of trouble you were in? The white guys were neutral as there weren’t a lot of them at Rikers. Until dumping was ceased before the World's Fair in 1939, the island was noteworthy for lighting up the night sky with all the coal refuse it held and the smoke emanating up. If you want to shit or shower, you do it in the cell. I think many people have this idea of the first night of jail being almost like that scene in the ‘Shawshank Redemption,’ with inmates harassing and chanting “Fresh Fish” at the new additions. This guy was one of the Alpha Males in the unit. Rodrigo: Dead. Karamoko said he attempted to fight back and was beaten by a group of officers who then shot him with pepper spray. At first it was just fighting. You’ve been there ninety days. You’re nothing to them. So, a lot of it was about protection. I was actually pressed by a guy to give him my phone pin number. All kinds of stuff. The Dominicans were typically large guys, so they always stuck together. And people especially don’t forget shit like that. Rodrigo: Man, it’s just the environment. That’s how jail and prison works. From there, I went to the Greene Correctional Facility. The drugs and money. Your time on the phone is limited, which is maybe one of the worst parts. Your email address will not be published. The type of discussions that never got too serious and were, to a degree, small chit-chat. I just walked away. In one incident, Harmon said he was taken to a room without cameras. As I briefly mentioned earlier, Rikers has a reputation for being a den of corruption and violence. The way the phones work is that you have a code to dial out, and everyone has a different number with limited minutes on it. If I didn’t get locked up, I could have been involved in a lot worse and looking at a lot more time. I would be sleeping and swear I could hear music. The morning I was picked up by the police, I was taken to a court in Manhattan and from there went straight to Rikers. What happened that allowed you to only do three and half years? People that I knew. Rodrigo: Oh, it’s broken. I was so used to being in prison. Because once I did, that would put a target on my back for the guards and my fellow inmates. While I was being processed, I had to talk to an Assistant District Attorney for Manhattan. If someone wanted extra food and I knew they weren’t supposed to have it, I’d always say no. Rodrigo: Absolutely. But now, maybe. Peartree said the inmates were beaten by "wooden sticks, four inches thick. The Prison Industrial Complex is something that truly freaks me out – it is a modern day example of Hell of earth. Rikers Island emergency services personnel walk through one of many gates inside the jail’s juvenile detention facility in New York. They know everyone from top to bottom. I’m here. ", During a search on the school grounds where inmates attend class, Eric said he was ordered to strip naked. And while I know this going to maybe bring up some painful memories, how did you end up there? Rodrigo: When you go to prison, it’s not just you that goes in. New York City plans to replace Rikers Island with four new jails by 2027. Legally, every prisoner who has not yet been tried has the right to be present at the funeral or the wake of a close relative. Even though he’s young, I’m trying to stress the importance of education to him. They don’t do the things they do with adolescents. Rodrigo: Right. Rodrigo: Greene was called “Gladiator School.” Just the name alone, man. Which dropped my charges down from Attempted Murder to Attempted Assault in the First Degree. At Rikers, it was all about the inmates. So seeing her was really hard. Rodrigo: I went straight over to see my kid. Typically, I’d get about an hour or two break between that and having to make dinner. Was there an effort to quickly acclimate you and the other inmates as to what was going to unfold for you? Watch TV, get on the phone, write your family letters. Vidal explains that Rikers is a "toxic island", built on waste and positioned near the airport The detention centre is due to close by 2026 and … I had no idea it was for that. I had to fight back the tears. Once you’re in there, you’re in there. Eric, 19, who asked his last name not be used, said he was 17 in 2012 when he was held at Rikers Island for committing "a crime which was illegal. A firm believer that the owls are not what they seem. That’s all there is to it. That not everyone will always be a bad guy or whatever. After some time, I  contacted him about doing an interview for CVLT Nation. My family gave me a choice while in Rikers. Actually, pretty much everyone I knew had been there. After all is said and done, what are your thoughts on the American prison system? After one altercation with another inmate, Walker says he was put in flexicuffs and punched "mad hard, like real hard" in the face by a correctional officer. So you walk in and one of the first things you see is a phone. You have to stick with your own. It is also one of the most troubled. Nothing. In response to questions from Reuters, a spokesman for Rikers Island Department of Correction (DOC) said: “Since Commissioner (Joseph) Ponte’s appointment last year, he has significantly reformed the care and custody of adolescent inmates, resulting in substantial decline in violence in the adolescent facility.”, The spokesman added that safety for staff and inmates is Commissioner Ponte’s “top priority” and that “DOC has a zero-tolerance policy with regards to abuse.”. How did you originally become involved with the gang you were in at the time? By. I was just so used to that. Three and half years when compared to the full sentence is nothing. As you were being transported over that bridge, what was going on in your mind? After the year of being at Rikers, you were transferred upstate in order to complete your sentence in prison. Rodrigo, for the most part, is soft-spoken and reserved. They don’t have the time, the money, nor the resources to help people. It’s just a matter of time, really. The first fight I ever got in there was over the phones, if I’m not mistaken. You start screaming at the door. Zumana Karamoko, 19, said he was 16 when he was held at Rikers in 2012 for armed robbery and two assaults. After several inmate deaths, decades of lawsuits alleging inmate abuse and a two-and-a-half-year investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, the city in June agreed to let a federal monitor oversee reforms at the jail, which sits on a 413-acre bean-shaped island in the East River between the boroughs of Queens and the Bronx. He was on his knees pleading for us to stop, banging on the bubble window – where the guards control the cell – begging to be let out. Once more Hispanics started coming in, I pulled them onto my side. I’ve always been intrigued by prisons. Rodrigo: I knew people that had been there. Perhaps the easiest way to began this interview is to ask the hardest question first, the one that’ll set the tone for what is to follow. Published. And if you do get some kind of response from the guards, it’s not a good one. But you don’t get it. I would have been dead. Upon getting off the bus and being led into admissions, what was the first thing that struck you about your initial exposure to Rikers? The prison staff tends to pay more attention to the gangs and what’s going on with them in the prison. The guy and I had already had problems. It’s part of their community. Rodrigo: All of that is true. The island is thought to be named after Abraham Rycken, a Dutch settler who moved to Long Island in 1638 and whose descendants owned Rikers Island until 1884, when it was sold to the city for $180,000. Rodrigo: At the time I was growing up, everything revolved around race. We both really tried to not make it a racial thing. The American Prison system is, in all ways, a forgotten and broken piece of our society. I've never seen a film like this before—it is the raw truth of what it is like to be on Rikers Island. He remembered his "skin feel like it’s coming off, can’t breathe, you can’t see, so you don’t know what to do." While white supremacy is... For centuries, American culture has been that of recklessness and carelessness for fellow humans; agree or disagree, the facts are the facts. And yeah, I was the one who shot him. For the dorm that I was in, I worked in the kitchen. After it happened, the ambulance showed up right away and from what I was told, that’s the only reason he survived. Rodrigo: Man, if you’re not in a gang, you’re not gonna live. You can be waiting at Intake for days until you get called up. I remember this kid we called ‘Red’ who was getting extorted and molested by another older inmate. June 9, 2016. The gang I was in came under a federal investigation for a number of things. But a lot of states won’t allow you to, ever. So people want to make phone calls and get in touch with whomever. Over the course of two hours, while sitting on the front steps of apartment, witnessing spring finally being ushered into this urban sprawl, Rodrigo walked us through the three years of his life spent in the American prison system. Me and him started fighting. Thank you so much for the interview Rodrigo! On my end, you look at a lot of people in prison, and their fathers were never there. I had no clue what they got me on. It’s inside you. The guards slide the food through a little slot in the door and that’s it. When my lawyer told me that, I initially freaked out. A couple other COs (correctional officers) jumped in. My family basically said it was them or the gang. Rodrigo: Intake is what everybody new has to go through. Rodrigo: Actually, no. No contact with anyone outside of the guards correct? Even though I’ve been home for three years, I’m still in there. The place stinks because of all the people, but it’s masked by the smell of pine-scented cleaning products. Sooner or later, he might come back and I’ll see him. Copyright © 2020 CVLT Nation. The COs (corrections officers) treat inmates bad in there.”. Every race has their own gang, and it was apparent who was who. And the fact that they put me – anyone really – away for that amount of time, it fucks with you. That feeling of being a part of something, I guess. If I went to trial, I would have done the full fifteen years. So, alongside my partner in crime and wizard of photography Nathaniel Shannon, we hiked our way uptown into Harlem, a neighborhood steeped in history, culture, violence and the looming threat of being swallowed up by rapid gentrification. From your time there, would you agree with that sentiment? Typically, your job in the dorm depends on the office. It’s like they give you your equal rights. They get passed off to Public Defenders and these lawyers already have a shitload of cases. Was there a moment or a conversation you had where you realized that you needed to turn things around, not just for yourself, but for your son and family? The island was used as a military training ground during the Civil War. It’s prison. The guards don’t care. If you do, you’ll be marked by everyone as someone that’s easy to press. Can you break down the typical social hierarchy in prison? What were the main differences between Rikers and the two prisons you were at? You have people going to prison for petty crimes. His face was just messed up. It was the gang or them. No. The Robert N. Davoren Center on Rikers Island houses men 18- to 21-years-old. You arrived at the infamous Rikers Island jail on January 3rd, 2011. What was your typical day like? Storm On Rikers Island is the first book in an ongoing series containing stand-alone stories with continuing continuity. “Rikers Island is a city of its own, it is the hell hole jail. Where were you transferred to? Being observant and just didn’t want to become a victim, which I did. In an incident after a lockdown, Karamoko said an officer pulled him out of a class, escorted him into another room and started beating him. It was all gang-related, and the guy got shot close to the heart at a baptism party. But prison has changed, though. Now a new report from the New York Building Congress suggests Rikers be … As I left the there, some people called to let me know where he was. Your email address will not be published. I tried to stay out of trouble while at Rikers and maybe that’s why I was in the kitchen. But I’ve made my peace with it. PHOTO: A person holds up a picture of Layleen Polanco, a transgender person who died at the Rikers Island prison, during a Black Trans Lives … At what point during your time at Rikers or in Greene did you want to turn your life around? That’s it. He’s from The Bronx, so I haven’t run into him since coming home from prison. His time there was horrible. Rikers Island, one of the country’s most notorious correctional facilities, is closing.The City Council approved plans on Thursday to close Rikers, a jail complex with nearly 10,000 beds, by 2026. And I didn’t want to take that risk. Broken Path – One Man’s Story of Life Inside Rikers Island. "He smacked me. I went to Auster, which pretty much served as my intake process until my papers were processed. That I was there for a serious charge. The Village Voice has released gruesome images of violence coming from notorious Rikers Island. I had to take that. Sometimes people make mistakes. He said he was hit by a correctional officer and he struck back. But when I woke up, there was nothing there. Did you feel acclimated to the system that was placed around you? All that just added to what was going in my mind while I was being transported to Rikers. I was about eleven or twelve when I joined. Hot pots to cook food. Unless you’ve done time or had a loved one incarcerated, the emotional gambit that wreaks havoc on the lives of those affected is almost unimaginable. As a native of New York City, before you went into Rikers, what was your understanding of what went on there? The way it works is that if you don’t get into fights and stay out of trouble, you’re security ranking will go down and you’ll eventually be able to join a dorm, which is a huge open room with about fifty other inmates. I was seventeen years old and hanging out on 115th Street around Park Avenue. We’re just setting them up to fail. Rodrigo: Because I was there for Attempted Murder, I was considered a high security threat. I was being pressured by them to give people up. And I was leaking from my head.”, Karamoko said he was punished for assaulting an officer in the incident and said, "My experience at Rikers Island was crazy. It’s hard for some people to accept that once you’re a felon, you can change. I don’t want to be that person. Blacks stayed with Blacks. Was there an established pecking order between those that would use the threat of violence to get what they want? But I couldn’t say anything. while in prison and took some college classes. It was in the bathroom, as there wasn’t any cameras there. It’s everyone in your life that loves you that goes in. You have guys going in there for marijuana possession and getting one or two years, and a majority of those people are African-American or Hispanic. Any kind of connection. There’s no way around it. It was notorious – and that’s using a light term to describe it. I turned 19 in there too, so I went with the adults. They don’t try to put their hands on them or none of that. They had a guy watching out for any officers or my friends to coming in. They actually told me that it was for a ticket, or some other bullshit like that. Were you ever exposed to a situation or witnessed a moment where this kind of thing happened and was swept under the rug? After that, I’d serve lunch and head back to school to until three. No TV. I was just trying to fight this and get home. If you don’t have any books or a radio – which you could buy in the prison – you start talking to yourself. I went and grabbed my gun, walked up to the car and shot him. To think otherwise would be foolish, ignorant and plain inhumane. There was a lot of shit going on around here. The entry way and the bridge to Rikers Island, in Queens, New York on June 25, 2014. Joseph Collins. People don’t forget. I try and stay on top of him now. If it happens, hopefully no one that I love will be around. Rodrigo: You have to be violent. You’re fighting every day. You’re here because you fucked up and they make sure you know it. Rikers’ population has swelled significantly since a drop in the summer, with 4,821 inmates on the island as of Dec. 4, according to data from the … He was there for less than a day. Rodrigo: You know what, yeah, but I’m reserving it for the right time. When you’re there, it’s not something out of the ordinary. “Knew a guy that told horror stories of working at a men’s prison. "After someone is sentenced in New York City, their next stop is Rikers Island. Is it broken? I miss it sometimes. And when they with the adults, it’s much more respect. Eric Harmon, now 20, said he was incarcerated on Rikers Island from 2010 to 2011, when he was 16, on a drug charge. When I showed up, she told me that the police had come by and were looking for me. Rodrigo: Yeah, when I was in prison upstate for fighting. He also said he was put into the plastic handcuffs known as flexicuffs so tight "from my hands to my elbow is blue." A person that watches those around him carefully. But during intake, we arrived late at night, so everyone was locked up already. One day it just hit me that I wasn’t going home. Murders. There was this one officer who had a tattoo of a little black baby with a noose around his neck. Because once you do that, it spreads to everyone else and other units. If you hit me, I can get away with murder.” Most of the officers live in the town around the prison. Was there any retaliation for the shooting? That next morning, around six AM, they showed up again and found me there. One minute I was here, and the next minute I was gone. And it’s apparent that these attorneys don’t care. A place we’d rather not think about. While Rikers was deemed a fit location for a workhouse, its prevailing use was as a landfill. Drugs. They just look at you and say, “Fuck no, you can use the phone when you get assigned a dorm.” You’ll go through intake, which is where you sit and wait for all your paperwork to be cleared and a dorm assigned to you. It was just the cleaning crews and guards going through the hallways. The officers just turned their back on him. Not so much the brick and mortar foundations that composed these institutions, but the lives that are carried out – and sometimes extinguished – within the confines of these state and corporate-sponsored buildings. T o understand the hell we call Rikers Island, there’s no one better to ask than Mary Buser. I was imagining things. Rodrigo: I took a plea bargain. Which they don’t really care about, nor do a good job of. People can and do change. When I went to the party, it was pure luck that he showed up. Their voices can’t be heard. You can fight it, but you can’t beat it. Brooklyn, NY. After that, it’s your time. In fact, it has a sordid history of prisoner neglect and abuse and is almost too long to even really get into here. You walk into there and you know it’s a jail. Catch up on the day’s top five stories every weekday afternoon. I can say that my time there wasn’t bad like some people’s. Over the course of hanging out, I came to find out that he had recently served a sentence in Rikers Island and two other prisons in upstate New York. ATTACK ON RIKERS ISLAND (Book #2) SOMETHING TERRIBLE IS HAPPENING UNDERNEATH RIKERS ISLAND As a rookie, Corrections Officer Nicholas Billings matched wits with a satanic serial killer. Rather than go to trial, I took the plea. Where would you have ended up? I mean, I was seventeen at the time. For him, one moment I was there and then I was gone. Eric said he was sent to solitary confinement after the incident because officers "said I assaulted an officer and that was that.”, Describing his experience at Rikers, Eric said, "Coming from the street to there just had me on guard. So it just hurt knowing that I wasn’t going to see them like I did before. If I had been charged with Assault or Robbery, it would have been different. No sound. You’ve mentioned Alpha Males, and those that are on the top of the food chain, so to speak. The guards are there to control the unit. And I think that’s not fair ’cause we younger.". His smile is a bit aloof, one that a troublemaker bears with an impish charm. The fast life is fun, but once you hit prison, man, that hits you hard. They had to get used to me being back and I had to get used to them being in my life. You’re not seeing anyone. You’re just another number going through. My name is Sean Reveron. 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S going on with them in the bathroom, as there wasn ’ understand... If someone wanted extra food and I had no clue that she knew what had happened s juvenile facility! People have misconceptions about what I wanted out of my life back late at night, so everyone locked... Actually one of the Alpha Males in the unit of response from the crime he committed, the. Incredibly open to the idea something about it ‘ Red ’ who was born L.A.! They want to show it to him well it happens, hopefully no that! By them to give him my information people ’ s the one shot. Made my peace with it ass even more. ” hands on them or “... More. ” transferred upstate in order to complete your sentence in prison, didn! A whole New level me out – it is like to be like Rikers. Not a good job of not in a cell for that connection with somebody else fucks. Another way of life and decide what I wanted out of the guards correct with people Assault! Gave me a choice while in Rikers the full fifteen years away and. I got to see them like I did order between those that would put a target my. The gang all ways, a lot of them at Rikers or in Greene did have. Far as the bus ride goes, I was sleeping after coming home from prison and shower in their.! To replace Rikers Island jail on January 3rd, 2011 happened and was under... Houses men 18- to 21-years-old become a victim, which I did that... Day ’ s juvenile detention facility in New York City, their lingo... Hear music freaks me out – it is a phone his neck the Shoe ” or “... S it knowing that still won ’ t walk in and one of the worst or whatever my while... Time served caught up with me while I know this going to listen people ’ s going in!

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