Did the Effort to Close Rikers Get Any Real Attraction?

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Jail officials hired inmates to keep an eye on their units and make sure nobody was trying to hang themselvesr do something like that. A report described breakers as a place more inspired by lord of the flies than any legitimate philosophy of humane detention. Part of the problem with rikers is that it's on an island, right? Nobody can see what's going on there. It's out of sight and out of mind'it's the hole that we throw our social problems into.

Twelve people at Rikers Island have died in custody so far this year. The pandemic is only part of the problem, explains Nick Pinto, who is covering the string of deaths for the Intercept.

Today’s show was produced by Victoria Chamberlin, edited by Matt Collette, engineered by Efim Shapiro, fact-checked by Laura Bullard and hosted by Haleema Shah.

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