4 ms·
There are a couple of factors aside from the fact that Rikers is a well-documented human rights abuse well beyond most jails: * the court systems are at the co
by bobthepanda 4y ago
There are a couple of factors aside from the fact that Rikers is a well-documented human rights abuse well beyond most jails:
* the court systems are at the county level, not city, and so everyone being at Rikers means that you have to transport people to court, lawyers and families have to travel far from their homes, etc. The county courthouses for each borough are much more centrally located than Rikers
* Rikers is simultaneously not near anything and also on prime land. LGA has really bad capacity constraints, Rikers is the next closest piece of land available and the East River between it is very shallow
- pasttense01 4y agoNew York City is a very small place: only 302 square miles. Nobody has to travel very far to get from one place to another in the City. Conversely the rural Midwest county with less than 19,000 people where I live has an area twice as big--and most of the counties in my state are roughly that size. As to transporting people to court they should switch to Zoom instead.
- aerostable_slug 4y ago> As to transporting people to court they should switch to Zoom instead. This is happening. Same with video visits. The reform movement for Riker's started well before these were realities for the majority of inmates.
- panzagl 4y agoWater makes travel take longer than the small area would indicate- there's a reason why anyone who drives through NYC is obsessed with bridges and tunnels.
- bobthepanda 4y agoAlso, heavy congestion. It can easily take an hour to drive from Rikers to Downtown Brooklyn or Jamaica, where two of the five courthouses are.