Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

marshall_project OP t1_iu59p75 wrote

In this Life Inside essay, former New York City jails commissioner Vincent Schiraldi writes about why Rikers is "Exhibit A for why we need to end mass incarceration.”

18

drpvn t1_iu5n1wd wrote

The people in Rikers are by and large there for pretty serious offenses.

15

Rottimer t1_iu6ekdb wrote

you mean charged with pretty serious offenses because we have reduced the number of people we keep behind bars awaiting trial for misdemeanors. It most certainly wasn't the case before bail reform where far more people would be sent to the island for non-violent offenses.

Further, "by and large" still means that there are people sitting in Rikers for non-serious offenses. And some people are put there entirely illegally.

https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/nypd-illegally-jailing-people-at-rikers-without-seeing-judge

1

drpvn t1_iu6hkyd wrote

I’d have to check the data—surely there were a lot more people in Rikers charged with non-violent crimes, but I’m not sure how many. It’s knowable info from the DOC reports, though.

When you have a city of 8.5 million people, and bail reform prevents any jail time for non-violent offenders (regardless of how many repeat offenses), the 5,000 who are left in the system are very hard cases.

But yet all we hear from the progressive left is “mass incarceration.”

4

IKNWMORE t1_iu8mrrj wrote

No one is going to Rikers for Petit larceny. They might be going their for Petit Larceny + bench warrant etc. but they aren’t ending up in jail for non violent crimes.

0

Rottimer t1_iu8pcrc wrote

At least read the link. Your feeling don’t change what’s actually going on.

2

yankuniz t1_iu60cq0 wrote

Growing up in the area, this has not been my experience.

−2

drpvn t1_iu612fd wrote

In what area?

Your info is bad and/or outdated. Here is the most recent breakdown of the charges for the average daily population in Rikers.

The most common charge: murder/manslaughter.

9

Extension_Gap2319 t1_iu6j7wb wrote

Actually the game is to charge people with the highest possible crimes, have the remanded to Rikers for weeks, usually 6 to 8 months, then release them on reduced pleas with "time served". So, what they are charged with sounds way scary then what they served time for and are released back to the public.

2

yankuniz t1_iu67btp wrote

I just know a number of people who have spent time there for non violent crimes. Granted, not so much recently but within the last decade

−5

Grass8989 t1_iu6dlvz wrote

Did they have any priors or were the “non-violent crimes” their only offenses?

1

yankuniz t1_iu6f9v7 wrote

Not sure but I am sure their only offenses were non violent offenses and they were not a flight risk

1

NetQuarterLatte t1_iu5i9cf wrote

>In this Life Inside essay, former New York City jails commissioner Vincent Schiraldi writes about why Rikers is "Exhibit A for why we need to end mass incarceration.”

NYC jail population has been declining fast and is extremely low now.

14

mission17 t1_iu5vwar wrote

Yet still the jail is seeing record deaths this year. Really speaks well to our ability to incarcerate well when this is what life pre-trial looks like.

6

MinefieldFly t1_iu6336o wrote

Mostly true, but it looks like decline has slowed and either leveled out or reversed. There are more people on rikers today (5500) than in 2021 (4900), and almost as many as the average daily population in 2020 (5800).

Obviously 2020 was a weird one, but had ~4 normal months too. We are not back at 2019 levels yet (7,938) but we will see what happens next year.

1

drpvn t1_iu68p2g wrote

At any rate, the jail population is near historic lows. And yet . . . did you know that the plan to replace Rikers would have a maximum bed capacity of only 3200?

5

Grass8989 t1_iu6e1i0 wrote

Well, crime is on the rise so that does kind of make sense.

4

stork38 t1_iu5kni3 wrote

Another quality De Blasio hire

−2