10 Fascinating Facts about Rikers Island

One of the largest correctional institutions in the world sits on the East River between Queens and the Bronx in New York. Rikers Island is made up of 10 jails and can house close to 20,000 people, but there are usually around 6,000 at one time that typically spend less than one year on the island.

Rikers Island is set to close in 2026, though, after approval from the City Council in a move to improve jail systems and reverse mass incarcerations. The Rikers jail complex will be replaced by four smaller jails in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx. Although we do not know the future of Rikers Island, we do know that it has a long history, even before becoming a jail complex. Here are ten fascinating facts about the soon-to-be-closed Rikers Island.

Related: 10 Bold Escapes from Island Prisons

10 Secret Lounge

In 2020, New York City investigators discovered a secret lounge inside of a Rikers Island jail that was filled with leather couches, a large TV, and several Correction Department equipment items. Those equipment items included unused air conditioners, snow blowers, lockers, desks, and many other supplies that should have been used at the jail. The equipment found was totaled to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars that was purchased with taxpayer money.

The secret lounge was found in the James A. Thomas Center, which was a 90-year-old facility that was condemned for lead and asbestos contamination. Plywood was used to raise a floor in the building to create the room, and they even secretly tapped into water and electrical lines to create a bathroom in the secret room. The equipment was found in a false wall made from plywood. Correction officers are suspected of building the secret lounge, but it’s still largely a mystery that remains unsolved.^[1]

9 Was Once A Civil War Base

During the Civil War, Rikers Island served as a military training ground for the Union Army. The 9th New York Infantry, better known as Hawkins’ Zouaves, was the first regiment to use the island as a training ground in May of 1861. Other regiments followed and used the island for training, including the 36th New York State Volunteers, New York 76th, 162nd New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and the Anderson Zouaves.

Toward the end of the Civil War, Rikers Island was used as a prisoner-of-war camp for captured soldiers from the Confederate Army. The city of New York purchased the island in 1884 from the Riker family, who had settled it in 1638.^[2]

8 Has Its Own Bakery

Every morning just before 5 a.m., about 20 inmates arrive at the bakery on Rikers Island to make bread and other items. The bakery produces about 11,500 loaves of whole wheat bread each day to feed the inmates. The detainees also bake several other items, but nothing is as popular as the carrot cake.

The inmates bake roughly 2,500 loaves of carrot cake each year. They are made in 25-loaf batches that require 25 pounds of sugar, pre-whipped eggs, and shredded carrots each, and each loaf is full of raisins and walnuts. The carrot cake loaf weighs 9.5 pounds (4.3 kg) and feeds 20 people. The carrot cake is one of the few items that inmates ask for seconds.^[3]

7 Murals

Murals have been a quiet but important part of Rikers Island for many years. Some murals have been covered up, but new ones have been installed as recently as this year. Many of the murals have been painted by those incarcerated, but some came from commissioned artists.

One of the first artists to be commissioned to work on a mural at Rikers Island was Ben Shahn. However, his proposal was ultimately rejected by the Municipal Art Commission for being too anti-establishment. Several other murals have been approved since then and were found in many buildings, including the chapel, visitors’ rooms, and hallways. Some of these murals have been painted over, but a few can still be seen.

In April of this year, a new mural by Dindga McCannon was revealed on the exterior wall of the Re-entry Service Center. The mural, titled “Towards a Brighter Tomorrow!” depicts a group of people leaving the prison to rejoin the community while carrying bags that are labeled “job,” resilience,” and “family.” Sunshine, musical notes, and flowers set the scene with words such as “courage” and “dreams” breaking the chains around the outer edges of the mural.^[4]

6 Community Garden

Inmates at Rikers Island Correction Facility have the opportunity to work for the Greenhouse jail-to-street program run by the Horticultural Society of New York. This program gives inmates the chance to work in a garden, classroom, and greenhouse space to expand their skills and confidence that they need for re-entry into the community.

The program is a collaboration with the Department of Education and the NYC Department of Corrections. It also gives inmates a chance to find healing power in nature and relief from the stress found at Rikers Island. The program has done a great job of helping people obtain gainful employment in the green sector after imprisonment.^[5]

5 Buildings Flood

It doesn’t take a natural disaster for the building on Rikers Island to flood during rain events. Many of the facilities on the island are old and dilapidated, allowing water to enter the buildings. Doors are damaged, window screens are broken or missing, and cracks are present in the foundations and walls of buildings.

The Legal Aid Society has received several complaints of flooding in several buildings, including the Robert N. Davoren Center (RNDC). During a 2015 Board of Correction meeting, a board member stated that the library in RNDC floods regularly and stops teenage detainees from using it. At a 2016 meeting, the roof of the RNDC school was also reported to be leaking.^[6]

4 Built on a Landfill That Leaks Methane

In 1884, the city purchased Rikers Island for $180,000 for use as a workhouse. The city expressed its desire to build a larger men’s jail at the site, and a foundation of garbage and landfill was brought to the island to expand the grounds. The jail first opened in 1932, but the landfill was still added to the site up until 1943. The island emitted a terrible smell, and it was plagued with rats. Many inmates claim that some days on the island are intolerable due to the strong stench that covers the buildings.

As the waste that lies beneath the Rikers Island buildings decomposes over time, poisonous methane gas leaks into the air. In high concentrations, methane gas can replace the oxygen in the air. During the scorching months in the summer, inmates and workers complain of a toxic smell hovering across the island. Many inmates and correction officers claim that the toxic chemicals are carcinogenic, and they filed a lawsuit in 2011.^[7]

3 Known as “The Oven”

The jail has earned several nicknames over the years, including Gladiator School and Torture Island, but when the weather is warm, it is better known as The Oven. Cinder block walls, steel doors, and concrete floors help absorb the outdoor heat and pass the horrid temperatures to the inmates. Many detainees reported that it literally feels like an oven (or hell).

Many of the buildings do not even have central air conditioning, and the other buildings are only partially air-conditioned. In 2015, air conditioning was started to be installed in the punitive segregation cells of the George R. Vierno Center. However, the solitary confinement building for the 18-to-21-year-olds was still without any air conditioning.^[8]

2 Famous Prisoners

There is no shortage of famous prisoners who have spent time serving at Rikers Island. Several famous rappers served their time, such as Lil Wayne, Bobby Shmurda, Tupac Shakur, DMX, A$AP Rocky, Ja Rule, and Foxy Brown. Other notable people to serve time also include musician Sid Vicious, NFL star Plaxico Burress, activist Emma Goldman, and John Lennon’s killer Mark David Chapman.

One of the most popular inmates wasn’t known for his music, acting, politics, or activism but instead for being one of the most notorious serial killers. The “Son of Sam” serial killer David Berkowitz embarked on a killing spree in New York City, where he took the lives of six people between 1976 and 1977. He claimed he was driven by demons as he terrorized the city and murdered and injured those in his way. He only spent a short time at Rikers before being transferred to another prison upstate.^[9]

1 Inmates Helped with Plane Crash

The runways of LaGuardia Airport sit close to Rikers Island, and Northeast Airlines Flight 823 crashed into the island on February 1, 1957, shortly after takeoff. The plane crash claimed the lives of 20 people and injured another 78 people. When the plane crashed onto the island, several workers and inmates assisted at the site to help rescue the survivors. There was a total of 57 inmates who assisted with the recovery, and 30 of them were released from prison immediately as a result of their heroic actions.

Sixteen other inmates were given a six-month sentence reduction. Governor Averell Harriman granted 11 men serving definite sentences a commutation of sentence. The cause of the crash was thought to be that the captain lost spatial awareness when entering the clouds after takeoff and didn’t detect the deviation of the aircraft from the desired path.^[10]

fact checked by
Darci Heikkinen