History of Rikers

In the July of 1884, the city of New York bought Rikers island from the final descendant of the Rikers family to own the island, John T. Wilson for $180,000. They had intended on building a workhouse. The island was left alone for the next 30 years. In the 1920s, the city of New York decided to build a jail on the island to replace Blackwell’s Island Penitentiary on what’s now Roosevelt Island. They decided that Rikers wasn’t big enough so they built it up with trash. Finally, seven years after the first debate about putting a jail on Rikers, Rikers Island Correctional admitted its first inmates in 1932. In the years since, Rikers name has only become better known and gained its bad rep as home to gangs, violence, and sometimes merciless guards.

“NYCHS Presents Virtual Tour of 1930s Rikers Island .” Evolution of NY's Prison System, www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/nycdoc/1930s-Rikers-aerial/1930sRikers-aerial-view.html.

In the year of 1957, a Northeast Airlines jet departing from LaGuardia airport heading to Miami crashed in a storm near the island. Many of the inmates were quick to help passengers escape the wreckage. The press labeled them as heroes and many received shortened sentences.

Wright, Andy. “The 1957 Rikers Island Plane Crash That Made Inmates Heroes.” Atlas Obscura, Atlas Obscura, 1 May 2017, www.atlasobscura.com/articles/rikers-island-plane-crash.

In the year of 1959, a school was created by the city on Rikers, PS 616.

“Anna & Austin's '600' School Opened on Rikers 4 Decades Ago.” Evolution of NY's Prison System, www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/ri_academy/ps616.html.

In the year of 1965, Salvador Dalí couldn’t make it to a talk about art for the prisoners so he donated a drawing to the jail. In the year of 2003, that same drawing was stolen from the wall of Rikers and replace with a fake. A group of employees were charged with theft although the original was never found.

Dean, Michelle. “7 Rediscovered Paintings by Famous Artists.” Flavorwire, Flavorwire, 10 Sept. 2013, flavorwire.com/414089/7-rediscovered-paintings-by-famous-artists/2.

Violence rates were only raised during the 1980s and 90s crack epidemic with rival drug gangs fighting over territory. Time and time again there have been reports of violence from correction officers. Mayor Bill De Blasio released his plan to change all of this in the June of 2017.