Inside Rikers: Stories from the World's Largest Penal Colony

by Jennifer Wynn

Rikers Island-just six miles from the Empire State Building-is one of the largest, most complex and most expensive penal institutions in the world, yet most New Yorkers couldn't find it on a map.

Jennifer Wynn, the director of the Fresh Start program at Rikers, takes readers into the jails and then back out-to the communities where her students were born and raised. She chronicles their journeys as they struggle to "go straight" and find respect in a city that fears and rejects them.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, True Crime, New York

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This book made me sad deep down in my soul.

Even though the author tried to end it on a positive slant, all I could wonder is if the penal and judiciary systems of this country can ever be reformed in a way that will benefit society as a whole. I believe that putative measures absolutely have their place in our penal system. I also believe putative measures wholly fail on their own and must be buttressed with preventative measures. A convict coming out of prison who hasn’t been reformed benefits neither the convict nor society.

A person who commits a crime to pay for drugs they are addicted to, who doesn’t receive any drug rehabilitation cannot honestly be expected to change their behavior once they are released. They are likely to become habitual offenders. When was the last time you tried to break a habit? Let there be no doubt about it, a criminal habit is no different from any other bad habit, like say smoking. They are difficult to break, few people are able to stop cold turkey, especially without support. We’ve all seen images of smokers inhaling a cigarette through their tracheotomy hole. That’s how difficult it is to break a habit.

For all the money we as a society through at punishment, I don’t understand why we can’t divert some of that money to helping convicts turn their lives around. What would you rather have released back into society? An Ex-Con with an untreated drug addiction, that is uneducated, unable and unprepared to earn an honest living, who now has the knowledge to commit crimes better or an Ex-Con who’s clean from drugs, has gotten an education to help get a job so they can earn an honest living? I’d pick the latter, every sane person would. The only way that will happen is if we start spending money on positive, reformative, preventative initiatives as well as putative. Otherwise we are in an adversarial death spiral between the erstwhile prisoner and the rest of society.

[Elyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting look inside Rikers Island. My enjoyment of the book was curtailed by the author's poor ethical boundaries with current and former inmates/clients, i.e. inviting them to her apartment and blurring the lines between counseling and advocacy with social interactions.

[Dan Stern · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the book, Inside Rikers, the author combines statistics with insightful stories of inmates she met while inside Rikers Prison. The stories of inmates are highlighted with social commentary and emphasize the need for social and prison reform.
A compassionate advocate for prison reform Wynn writes from the perspective of her experience while teaching at Rikers Prison and while visiting the homes and neighborhoods of the inmates, whose stories she tells. These stories are well written and come across as genuine.
The roller coaster ride of those caught up in the drug cycle, poverty, crime, and arrest is oppressive and disturbing. I especially appreciated insight the author provided into the Methadone "Keep Program". This is only one area of great concern and needed investigation Wynn exposed. The success stories of those who were able to rise above the circumstances are both inspirational and encouraging.
Another insight I received was the tendency for a total lack of conscience experienced by the criminal mind.
I was sorry to come to end of the book. I was stirred to want to take action. I could only wish the author had given more specific suggestions for steps members of the community can take to accomplish some of the reform needs she advocates. The extensive bibliography at the end of the book may be the starting place for finding this help.
I recommend this book to be read and reread by everyone in a position of influence that can affect high-risk neighborhoods and communities.

[Sam B · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, I should state that I am a little biased before I got into this book. I read into the title more than the blurb as I selected it. Expecting a book more on the Prison itself, this was a book more on the system of incarceration that Riker's perpetuates. More stories of inmates difficulties with recidivism than with the day to day struggles of being on the inside. The stories from the guards are more about how the system is faulted to them as well rather than war stories of the jail. Not what I expected.

With that being said I stuck it out for the 206 pages, and enjoyed reading up on the plights of inmates. It made me think of all the problems with the recidivism rates in the penal system and possibilities that could be explored. With that in mind, this book was published a while ago and I would think that some these problems have been delt with (or added to), but I always enjoy reading of past problems and seeing how far we have come.

[Susan Olesen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit out of date at this point, but still a wonderful overview of the people inside Riker's Island Penitentiary, and the people outside who desperately try to help as many as they can turn their lives around. Some people are just screwed from birth, like the inmate whose mother used to put liquor in his baby bottle to keep him quiet, and was an alcoholic by six. Others have a dismal record of arrests from the age of 12, yet manage to turn their lives completely around.

In the style of Jonathan Kozol, Wynn explores the various reasons why people commit crimes, why some manage to escape the gerbil wheel of incarceration (NY released almost 400 prisoners a day, and drops them off at a donut shop at 4 am, so they don't scare people getting off the bus), and others never do.

This was a wonderful, compelling fast read, full of case histories and the information to support them. Exactly my kind of book.

[Melody Giannullo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had zero typos. Life is full of surprises.

[Elizabeth Nesbit-comer · Rating 3 out of 5]

*wants to smack head repeatedly on wall*

I'm always shocked and amazed at the amount of money we are willing to spend on jails and prisons, but not on schools or drug rehab programs. Why do we not have as much focus on mental rehab facilities when it is generally know that the majority of offenders suffer from some form of mental or drug problems?
Why in the world is Rikers supporting the KEEP program which is really just making prisoners even more dependant on heroin? Our prison systems are just making better criminals not better citizens and after reading numerous books from both inmates, counselors, death row wardens, and CO's, I don't think any one of them think that the system is working the way it's supposed to and yet.......where is the change. Why do programs like Redbird get seen as *radical* and yet cracking down on petty drug charges that cost us millions of dollars make sense.

[Ellis Amdur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jennifer Wynn entered Riker’s Island as a journalist, as a writing teacher, and then as the director of a wonderful rehabilitation program called Fresh Start.  Wynn is a woman who sees the good in the hearts of some hard-core criminals.  At the same time, she is a clear-eyed realist on how hard it is to leave the criminal lifestyle – outlining all the obstacles that our society has placed in the way of the newly released inmate, and also the seductions of the criminal lifestyle itself.  For a man without power, power itself, in any of its forms, is a terribly entrancing addiction.  One reads with joy about the men who succeed and despair at those who fail – despite given a last, best chance. Finally, Wynn clearly illuminates the sociological side of crime – for many of these men, such as one whose mother mixed liquor in the baby bottle along with his milk, one can only ask:  How could they – or you - have turned out any differently.

[Leanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rikers is considered to be one of the worst jails not only in New York State, but the nation as a whole. Inside Rikers provides a detailed overview of the intricacies that helps get the penal system up and running - by recollecting the stories of ex-incarcerated individuals and even correctional staff. Wynn does a thorough job of telling their stories and providing the research studies to back them up.

[Tammy Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected more and was very disappointed. The stories of the inmates alone would have been a much better book than the herky-jerky style with statistics etc thrown in. It was never able to get into a "flow" the makes reading a pleasure.

[Jamie Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but ultimately depressing. Its about prison! And not the nice cosy, PlayStation providing, Butlin's camps that masquerade as prisons in the UK. Real Scary Lock-you Up American prisons, where it seems there are not really any happy endings...

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disturbing. Eye opening.

[Everett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains interesting historical and current facts about this famous correctional facility. The author presents very interesting and eye opening narratives.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting look at prison life, and what happens after parole

[Marc Zirogiannis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting look at Rikers Island