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These Walls: The Battle for Rikers Island and the Future of America's Jails
“ These Walls reframes the debate the country's incarceration crisis, with a compelling focus on architecture as a path forward.” ?Tony Messenger, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Profit and Punishment
“A critical intervention in the high stakes debate about the social value of jails and what we could do instead to create safety and justice." ?Alex Vitale, author of The End of Policing
For nearly a century, the Rikers Island jail complex has stood on a 413-acre man-made island in the East River of New York. Today it is the largest correctional facility in the city, housing eight active jails and thousands of incarcerated individuals who have not yet been tried. It is also one of the most controversial and notorious jails in America.
Which is why, when mayor Bill de Blasio announced in 2017 that Rikers would be closed within the next decade, replaced with four newly designed jails located within the city boroughs, the surface reaction seemed largely positive. Not only would Rikers, a long-standing symbol of the ills of mass incarceration, be decommissioned, but the buildings erected in its place would be the product of more enlightened views and outlooks. Many were enthusiastic, including Eva Fedderly, a journalist focused on the intersections of social justice and design, who was covering the closure and its impact for Architectural Digest . In a world of the rhetoric of talking heads and empty political promises, here, finally, was action. Breaking down the structures that enable an unjust system would surely mean its eventual eradication—change. Wasn’t that a sign of progress?
As Fedderly dug deeper and spoke to more people involved, however, she discovered that the consensus was hardly universal. Among architects at megafirms tasked with redesigns that reconcile profits and progress, the members of law enforcement working to stop incarceration cycles in community hot spots, the reformers and abolitionists calling for change, and, most wrenchingly, the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals whose lives will be most affected, some agreed that closing Rikers was a step in the right direction, but many were quick to point out that Rikers was being replaced, not removed. There was frustration that the presence of new jails would disrupt neighborhoods, and that the city’s resources should be invested in effective crime prevention and rehabilitation in communities to stop the incarceration cycle. On one point, however, there was firm whatever the outcome, the world would be watching.
Part on-the-ground reporting, part deep social and architectural history, These Walls is an eye-opening look into how systems of inequity are constructed and a challenge to our long-held beliefs about what constitutes power and justice.
“A critical intervention in the high stakes debate about the social value of jails and what we could do instead to create safety and justice." ?Alex Vitale, author of The End of Policing
For nearly a century, the Rikers Island jail complex has stood on a 413-acre man-made island in the East River of New York. Today it is the largest correctional facility in the city, housing eight active jails and thousands of incarcerated individuals who have not yet been tried. It is also one of the most controversial and notorious jails in America.
Which is why, when mayor Bill de Blasio announced in 2017 that Rikers would be closed within the next decade, replaced with four newly designed jails located within the city boroughs, the surface reaction seemed largely positive. Not only would Rikers, a long-standing symbol of the ills of mass incarceration, be decommissioned, but the buildings erected in its place would be the product of more enlightened views and outlooks. Many were enthusiastic, including Eva Fedderly, a journalist focused on the intersections of social justice and design, who was covering the closure and its impact for Architectural Digest . In a world of the rhetoric of talking heads and empty political promises, here, finally, was action. Breaking down the structures that enable an unjust system would surely mean its eventual eradication—change. Wasn’t that a sign of progress?
As Fedderly dug deeper and spoke to more people involved, however, she discovered that the consensus was hardly universal. Among architects at megafirms tasked with redesigns that reconcile profits and progress, the members of law enforcement working to stop incarceration cycles in community hot spots, the reformers and abolitionists calling for change, and, most wrenchingly, the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals whose lives will be most affected, some agreed that closing Rikers was a step in the right direction, but many were quick to point out that Rikers was being replaced, not removed. There was frustration that the presence of new jails would disrupt neighborhoods, and that the city’s resources should be invested in effective crime prevention and rehabilitation in communities to stop the incarceration cycle. On one point, however, there was firm whatever the outcome, the world would be watching.
Part on-the-ground reporting, part deep social and architectural history, These Walls is an eye-opening look into how systems of inequity are constructed and a challenge to our long-held beliefs about what constitutes power and justice.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published October 24, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
October 31, 2023
I think this book was lacking in clarity. After finishing I didn't know what the thesis was and what the point was. The author is clearly not a jail expert, I wish she had stuck with the architectural justice angle which is unique and would have made her more of an authority. The book felt disjointed.
November 6, 2024
As a collection of resources, this book is fine. The bibliography is a good foundation for beginning to understand Rikers Island’s history and why it needs to close. This is why I gave it two stars instead of one. As a work of inquiry into the issues and challenges with Rikers’ in-progress closure (by law, it must close by 2027) and the construction of the smaller borough-based jail system replacing it (which are currently well behind schedule to be ready by 2027), Fedderly’s analysis is facile across the board, which leads her into some horribly misguided connections and sometimes outright false critical judgments.
Probably the most overarching flaw in Fedderly’s analysis is that she can’t accept that the movement to close rikers continues to be driven by the people most damaged by it. Throughout the book she invisiblizes organizers who have been imprisoned there and their loved ones, who started and continue the work of closing Rikers. She frequently pits impacted people as against the plan to close Rikers and bureaucrats who are building them, which completely omits the intense community arguments leading to the plan that continue into its implementation. I think this is mainly because she does this thing many journalists whose understanding of oppression is shallow do, looking to official sources—police, politicians, executive directors—as “experts” and the people with direct experience of that oppression as “examples.”
Another part that Fedderly somehow completely misses even acknowledging, much less exploring, the fact that the borough-based jail system is a decarceration plan, which will create a much smaller city jail system than Rikers. At one point she paraphrases a prison abolitionist as saying “this money would be better spent on decarceration initiatives and in local communities,” and astoundingly Fedderly doesn’t mention that the borough-based jails are the largest-scale decarceration initiative in NYC history, moving from the 20,000+ capacity of the jails on Rikers to 3,500-4,200 total beds in the four borough jails. This in fact is the biggest reason people like Nicole Gelinas and the Manhattan Institute oppose the borough jails: not, they say, because they’re too big, but because they’re too small.
Speaking of the Manhattan Institute: Fedderly only speaks of them once, in passing, which is missing the most powerful component, along with the racist jail officers’ unions and Mayor Eric Adams, in impeding the plan to close Rikers. This billionaire-funded pro-carceral, anti-antiracist think tank, besides funding the career of racists like Christopher Rufo, has a small army of “fellows” whose sole purpose is to foment backlash against bail reform, decarceration, and any initiative to reduce New York City’s carceral footprint, and their pet project is trying to poke holes in the plan to close Rikers and get weak-willed moderates like Eric Adams to go back on its legally mandated closure.
But Fedderly doesn’t even scratch the surface of their influence, instead devoting multiple chapters to lionizing isolated neighborhood groups and “No New Jails” activists who would rather keep an island penal colony open than have a smaller jail adjacent to the court in their neighborhood. Her framing of lower Manhattan as residents vs bureaucrats again totally disregards the voices of impacted people, who have been in continuing heated conversation with landlords like Jan Lee and his organization Neighbors United Below Canal. For a report from the ground on this argument between impacted people, residents, and abolitionists, I recommend reading Ashley Abadia-Santiago Conrad’s recent, easily googlable piece in City Limits, especially this: “It comes down to this: if you believe that a plan to close Rikers is acceptable only if it inconveniences no one, costs nothing, and solves every problem with the criminal legal system in one fell swoop, then no plan will ever suffice and we’ll end up with…Rikers.” And for a much deeper analysis than Fedderly’s of the historical stakes for the Chinatown community, I recommend a piece in Amsterdam News (also imminently searchable) by reporter Tandy Lau, who unlike Fedderly is Chinese-American with actual stakes in the community.
Finally, perhaps the book’s crowning underachievement is its lack of recency. It’s utterly inexcusable for a book on the closure of Rikers published in 2023 to have little to nothing about the plan since 2020. She interviews Glenn Martin, who hasn’t been on the campaign since 2017, references the organization Just Leadership USA, which has not been involved with the plan to close Rikers since 2020, and doesn’t interview even one of the impacted people currently driving the campaign. I understand books have publishing schedules, but this book was antiquarian before it was even released.
Probably the most overarching flaw in Fedderly’s analysis is that she can’t accept that the movement to close rikers continues to be driven by the people most damaged by it. Throughout the book she invisiblizes organizers who have been imprisoned there and their loved ones, who started and continue the work of closing Rikers. She frequently pits impacted people as against the plan to close Rikers and bureaucrats who are building them, which completely omits the intense community arguments leading to the plan that continue into its implementation. I think this is mainly because she does this thing many journalists whose understanding of oppression is shallow do, looking to official sources—police, politicians, executive directors—as “experts” and the people with direct experience of that oppression as “examples.”
Another part that Fedderly somehow completely misses even acknowledging, much less exploring, the fact that the borough-based jail system is a decarceration plan, which will create a much smaller city jail system than Rikers. At one point she paraphrases a prison abolitionist as saying “this money would be better spent on decarceration initiatives and in local communities,” and astoundingly Fedderly doesn’t mention that the borough-based jails are the largest-scale decarceration initiative in NYC history, moving from the 20,000+ capacity of the jails on Rikers to 3,500-4,200 total beds in the four borough jails. This in fact is the biggest reason people like Nicole Gelinas and the Manhattan Institute oppose the borough jails: not, they say, because they’re too big, but because they’re too small.
Speaking of the Manhattan Institute: Fedderly only speaks of them once, in passing, which is missing the most powerful component, along with the racist jail officers’ unions and Mayor Eric Adams, in impeding the plan to close Rikers. This billionaire-funded pro-carceral, anti-antiracist think tank, besides funding the career of racists like Christopher Rufo, has a small army of “fellows” whose sole purpose is to foment backlash against bail reform, decarceration, and any initiative to reduce New York City’s carceral footprint, and their pet project is trying to poke holes in the plan to close Rikers and get weak-willed moderates like Eric Adams to go back on its legally mandated closure.
But Fedderly doesn’t even scratch the surface of their influence, instead devoting multiple chapters to lionizing isolated neighborhood groups and “No New Jails” activists who would rather keep an island penal colony open than have a smaller jail adjacent to the court in their neighborhood. Her framing of lower Manhattan as residents vs bureaucrats again totally disregards the voices of impacted people, who have been in continuing heated conversation with landlords like Jan Lee and his organization Neighbors United Below Canal. For a report from the ground on this argument between impacted people, residents, and abolitionists, I recommend reading Ashley Abadia-Santiago Conrad’s recent, easily googlable piece in City Limits, especially this: “It comes down to this: if you believe that a plan to close Rikers is acceptable only if it inconveniences no one, costs nothing, and solves every problem with the criminal legal system in one fell swoop, then no plan will ever suffice and we’ll end up with…Rikers.” And for a much deeper analysis than Fedderly’s of the historical stakes for the Chinatown community, I recommend a piece in Amsterdam News (also imminently searchable) by reporter Tandy Lau, who unlike Fedderly is Chinese-American with actual stakes in the community.
Finally, perhaps the book’s crowning underachievement is its lack of recency. It’s utterly inexcusable for a book on the closure of Rikers published in 2023 to have little to nothing about the plan since 2020. She interviews Glenn Martin, who hasn’t been on the campaign since 2017, references the organization Just Leadership USA, which has not been involved with the plan to close Rikers since 2020, and doesn’t interview even one of the impacted people currently driving the campaign. I understand books have publishing schedules, but this book was antiquarian before it was even released.
September 21, 2024
This is a concise book about the American criminal justice system, focusing on jails and prisons. Running throughout is the NYC controversy over building new, more humane local jails in four of the city’s boroughs. This is supposedly happening, with Rikers Island jails closing in 2027. There are legal fights and protests over the new jail constructions. There are organized groups opposing any new incarceration buildings, instead spending money on programs to prevent crime and rehab offenders.
Three schools of thought are described; the lock-em-up group, the more humane prisons and jails group, and the anti- incarceration group.
The book is interesting, informative, and thought provoking.
Three schools of thought are described; the lock-em-up group, the more humane prisons and jails group, and the anti- incarceration group.
The book is interesting, informative, and thought provoking.
July 27, 2025
When this book was described as being about the architecture of jails, I wasn’t very interested, but it turned out to be so much more. Something I loved about this book was that she didn’t just point out problems with the justice system, she shared possible solutions. One line that really struck me was, “You can’t build jails and then think that these kids won’t fill them… If you build it, they will come.”
June 25, 2024
Very good introduction to the problems of the American jail system and possible solutions, with an interesting focus on the impact of architecture.
Conclusion: the solution is prevention and abolition if we strive for a more safe and humane future.
I was positively surprised on the American Institute of Architects evolved stance on not partaking in the creation of the unethical jail/ prison system.
Conclusion: the solution is prevention and abolition if we strive for a more safe and humane future.
I was positively surprised on the American Institute of Architects evolved stance on not partaking in the creation of the unethical jail/ prison system.
February 23, 2025
This would have been much more interesting if it focused on the architectural aspects of incarceration...instead of taking a totally woke turn at the end.
January 15, 2024
This is not a comprehensive book on Rikers or the American prison system but a great short read introducing history and background on varying perspectives. This is a great starting point for someone looking to learn more about either of these topics. Especially, if some lengthier non-fictions books might overwhelm you.
As someone who knew very little about Rikers and the prison system in general, this book was extremely eye-opening. My knowledge was fairly limited to prison portrayals in shows and movies, the school to prison pipeline, ACAB and some viral news media stories. This book gave me some history to understand it's beginning stages and current developments. The unique architecture perspective was interesting and one of the reasons I picked up the book. From sharing key data points like how the cost of someone spending one year in Rikers is roughly $550,000 to horrific details like the jail not even having proper heating and cooling. There was a lot of jaw-dropping information.
My main takeaways are we need to stop funding new jails and instead fund more resources for people in the prison system and re-entering the free-world. I appreciated the tangible actions focusing on building your community, for example, offering child care or checking in on people are all ways to abolish the prison system. Lastly, those designing policies or buildings for incarcerated persons should definitely not be so out of touch they completely ignore the needs of incarcerated persons or workers and others in the system.
The book also cited organizations and books i'm interested in learning more about: Designing Justice + Designing Spaces, Cops & Kids, No New Jails NYC, JLUSA, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison.
As someone who knew very little about Rikers and the prison system in general, this book was extremely eye-opening. My knowledge was fairly limited to prison portrayals in shows and movies, the school to prison pipeline, ACAB and some viral news media stories. This book gave me some history to understand it's beginning stages and current developments. The unique architecture perspective was interesting and one of the reasons I picked up the book. From sharing key data points like how the cost of someone spending one year in Rikers is roughly $550,000 to horrific details like the jail not even having proper heating and cooling. There was a lot of jaw-dropping information.
My main takeaways are we need to stop funding new jails and instead fund more resources for people in the prison system and re-entering the free-world. I appreciated the tangible actions focusing on building your community, for example, offering child care or checking in on people are all ways to abolish the prison system. Lastly, those designing policies or buildings for incarcerated persons should definitely not be so out of touch they completely ignore the needs of incarcerated persons or workers and others in the system.
The book also cited organizations and books i'm interested in learning more about: Designing Justice + Designing Spaces, Cops & Kids, No New Jails NYC, JLUSA, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison.
March 4, 2024
I’ll admit that because of the author, I was skeptical about this book. How could a journalist from Architectural Digest accurately describe the prison abolition movement within the context of the proposed closing of Rikers Island? Once I finally removed that pressure to perform about halfway through the book, what emerged was an excellent introduction to the cause for prison abolition. Fedderly provides an easy entry point for folks new to this conversation. I learned several new things about the history of jails and prisons. The book also brought attention to several local conversations around justice and society.
August 5, 2025
Starting as an exploitation of Rikers and the Close Rikers Campaign, Eva’s research evolved into the origins and histories of jails themselves. Armed with sobering statistics and personal anecdotes, it is clear the criminal justice system is broken. As an interviewee aptly said “The only thing unbroken is the cycle”. Jails and prisons are meant to break, not rehabilitate.
Although the system is broken, there is hope we can build and forge a new system that values community and prevention. Eva highlights the Cops & Kids boxing program that has successfully kept kids out of organized crime and build confidence.
TL;DR: jail & prisons are rooted in slavery and racism. They are not only inhumane but nonproductive.
Some stats
- US is one of two countries that has a bail system.
- US has the highest recidivism rate in the world. Over 76% of people arrested will be arrested again.
- NYC is spending $8 billion dollars to build four NEW jails
Although the system is broken, there is hope we can build and forge a new system that values community and prevention. Eva highlights the Cops & Kids boxing program that has successfully kept kids out of organized crime and build confidence.
TL;DR: jail & prisons are rooted in slavery and racism. They are not only inhumane but nonproductive.
Some stats
- US is one of two countries that has a bail system.
- US has the highest recidivism rate in the world. Over 76% of people arrested will be arrested again.
- NYC is spending $8 billion dollars to build four NEW jails
December 27, 2023
I appreciated this succinct overview of problems relating to American jails and especially Fedderly's care to distinguish between jails and prisons. As she says, that distinction is not well understood by the general public and leads to incarcerated people who have not yet gone to trial to be treated and seen as criminals (not that we should mistreat criminals either). If I'm being honest, I haven't really thought all that much about the time a defendant would spend incarcerated while they are waiting to be tried before reading this book. Also, the conditions in American jails are horrendous, but it is so easy for me, on the outside, to forget about it/treat as business as usual when it should be considered a crisis.
For all its heavy subject matter, this book is not a hopeless book. Fedderly explores the perspectives of a wide variety of stake holders and offers pathways forward to addressing the current broken system.
For all its heavy subject matter, this book is not a hopeless book. Fedderly explores the perspectives of a wide variety of stake holders and offers pathways forward to addressing the current broken system.
May 16, 2024
A fine, if general summary of the causes/motivations between prison abolition. I think the one interesting point was that making prisons humane does not affect the issue of mass incarceration. There was mentions that prison abolitionists often have the same spirit but not the same path. I really wish there was more about what reinvesting in communities really looks like. And how you bridge the gap between our current system and a harm reducing future.
July 20, 2024
this book was a little all over the place. part history of the prison system in the US, part an investigation into justice architecture, and part critique on eric adams, this book bounced a lot where i wish it had stuck to one thing. though i love a good evisceration on adams as much as the next person, i actually wish it had dug deeper into justice architecture and the architecture of prisons in general because it's not a topic i see written about a lot but is one that's incredibly important.
November 19, 2024
I read some of the negative reviews of this book on this site and was honestly baffled. I thought it was an accessible, highly engaging look at the carceral system in the United States, using New York City as a lens. Grounded in solid history, the book also brings in the theme of architectural design (the author also writes for Architectural Digest) and consequently got me to think about the carceral system from a new point of view. I strongly recommend it.
November 4, 2023
If the idea of coming to prison abolition through the lens of architecture is interesting to you, you might enjoy this engaging book. It wasn't too long or in depth, but covered its topic well, and brought you along on the author's path to write the book, interview sources, etc. A quick read, enlightening, and educational.
December 18, 2023
3.5. My first dip into justice architecture, which I actually wish was explored a little more (but I get it’s pretty niche and still think Fedderley did a great job). Overall it was a bit of repeat stuff if you’re already familiar with books about the prison industrial complex/policing etc but still a super cool angle and so immediately relevant.
December 31, 2023
While this book offered a great and expansive background on various inequalities present in the justice system, I felt it lacked a continuous plot. I would have liked to see the author focus more on one of the inequalities and flesh it out entirely. Nonetheless, I enjoyed learning about some of the niche aspects surrounding incarceration such as justice architecture.
November 22, 2025
I think theres a lot of interesting reporting in here, but unfortunately i thought from the blurb it would focus more on the construction / architectural side. When really its mostly a primer for those just starting to become informed on prisons. I think a good introduction, but unfortunately not really what i was looking for.
January 23, 2024
I really appreciated this architecture perspective on prison abolition. Honestly had never particularly thought about it or the power of organizing architects to refuse any carceral projects. This was a great complement to previous prison abolition learning!
December 12, 2024
Great book on a subject most don’t want to think about. The tragedies of mass incarceration, the uneven application of justice and the lives ruined. Discussion of alternatives including restorative justice and justice architecture.
December 31, 2023
solid read if this is your first read on rikers
good luck
good luck
January 1, 2024
i wish it had more detail, but for my first foray into justice architecture and prison abolition, it was interesting enough.
⪼ 4 stars.
⪼ 4 stars.
June 11, 2024
A thoughtful, grounded critique of one of the U.S.’s most notorious jails--more focused on architecture than I anticipated, but still really interesting.
July 1, 2024
As many point out, there isn’t much new about prison abolition but it wasn’t a bad book
July 20, 2024
Unclear what the author's main points were until the last two chapters. Interesting view on architecture that I liked. More of an overview of the subject rather than in depth.
December 13, 2024
Love that the author previously wrote for Architectural Digest, which gave such a unique take on the prison system design.
October 25, 2023
(Thank you @avidreaderpress, @librofm, @simon.audio, and @evafedderly for the #gifted copies)
These Walls provides a detailed account of Riker’s Island in New York City, where several jails sit on top of a landfill. The book also describes the role of jails in America and their role in our ongoing mass incarceration crisis.
I thought These Walls was very well written and researched. The points were clear and explained well. I very much appreciated the broad overview of jails vs. prisons, because these terms are typically used interchangeably (but they aren’t interchangeable, and it’s a pet peeve of mine 😅).
I’ve read many books about mass incarceration, but These Walls is unique with its focus on jails. I learned quite a bit about the extent jails play into mass incarceration.
Building more jails won’t solve America’s incarceration problems. We need to focus on re-entry programs, mental health services, education, etc. Fedderly explains this point really well.
Highly recommend this non-fiction read!
These Walls provides a detailed account of Riker’s Island in New York City, where several jails sit on top of a landfill. The book also describes the role of jails in America and their role in our ongoing mass incarceration crisis.
I thought These Walls was very well written and researched. The points were clear and explained well. I very much appreciated the broad overview of jails vs. prisons, because these terms are typically used interchangeably (but they aren’t interchangeable, and it’s a pet peeve of mine 😅).
I’ve read many books about mass incarceration, but These Walls is unique with its focus on jails. I learned quite a bit about the extent jails play into mass incarceration.
Building more jails won’t solve America’s incarceration problems. We need to focus on re-entry programs, mental health services, education, etc. Fedderly explains this point really well.
Highly recommend this non-fiction read!
November 7, 2023
Really impactful work of narrative nonfiction. Manages to touch on the past, present, and future of jails in NYC (as well as jail architecture in general) all in a concise package. Very well-done and would definitely recommend.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews