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New York: Videos from the controversial prison apparently show the security guards losing control

2022-01-13T17:28:56.396Z


Inmates are said to have been forced to take part in a "night of battle": The "New York Times" publishes footage showing how little influence the staff apparently has in some places at the Rikers Island prison.


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Rikers Island: Prison to be closed in the coming years

Photo: Jeenah Moon / dpa

The New York Times has published footage from New York's Rikers Island prison, which is said to show that the guards have partially lost control of the hotly disputed prison.

You can see, among other things, how a gang leader forces other prisoners to fight against each other without them being stopped.

A recording shows a security guard watching what is happening but not intervening.

According to the newspaper, a court had ordered the release of one of the prisoners who had been forced to take part in the "fight night" because the correctional facility had failed to protect him.

According to the article, which relies on CCTV footage, court documents and an interview with a former inmate, staffing shortages are one of the reasons the situation at the notorious prison is out of control. There is a high level of sick prison guards and not enough staff to put the inmates in their place. According to the newspaper, a gang in one part of Rikers has de facto decision-making powers, at least temporarily, over who can eat and when and who can use their phone.

Rikers Island in the East River between Queens and Manhattan has long been considered a symbol of a dysfunctional US prison system and has spiraled deeper into crisis since the beginning of the corona pandemic.

Thousands of prisoners are locked up in Rikers – 15 of them died last year alone.

The new mayor, Eric Adams, described the facility as a "national embarrassment."

He wants to close it by 2027.

bbr / dpa

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2022-01-13

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