| | "For most of us, places like Rikers Island and the jails in American communities are out of sight and out of mind, foreign countries we never visit. What happens to the people inside is done in our name, with our tax dollars, and reputedly for our safety, but we are often blind to what goes on." —Bill Moyers
The United States is facing a crisis of mass incarceration with over 2.2 million people packed into its jails and prisons. To understand the human toll of this crisis, Rikers Island is a good place to start. Of the more than 7,500 people detained at Rikers Island on any given day, almost 80 percent have not yet been found guilty or innocent of the charges they face. All are at risk in the pervasive culture of violence that forces people to come to terms with what they must do for their own survival.
This new documentary from Bill Moyers brings you face to face with men and women who have endured incarceration at Rikers Island. Their stories vividly describe the cruel arc of the Rikers experience -- from the shock of entry to the extortion and control exercised by other inmates, the oppressive interaction with corrections officers, the beatings and stabbings, the torture of solitary confinement, and the many challenges of returning to the outside world.
Watch the the Newsroom interview with Bill Moyers, and listen to his interview on Forum. | | |
|
|
|---|
| |
|---|
|
