The city planning commission of new voting overwhelmingly to open four replacement jails for the rikers island jail complex. That vision involved reducing the number of people locked up at any given time an in new york city jails. But it met resistance from a newly ascendant abolitionist movement that said jails are bad for people, and they don't actually solve the problemt they report to solve.
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.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained.
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