As guards sick out, their colleagues find themselves having to work double shifts. The systems of accountability for guards who call in sick that do exist have not been working. Stabbings and slashings have gone up at rikers. A lot of that is directed by inmates against other inmates. And so and so guards are fearful of their safety. After years of steady decline, the population of rikers has actually was going up quite considerably.
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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