Neglect, Violence, and Systemic Failure in Rikers Island

For a long time, Rikers Island has symbolized some of the failures of NYC's criminal justice system. For decades, the jail complex has been the subject of investigations, lawsuits, and public scrutiny. While city leaders have promised reforms, the issues such as violence, medical neglect, mental health crises, and structural decay continue to resurface. Today, Rikers stands at the center of a call for not just reform, but for abolition altogether.

The problems  at Rikers aren’t just administrative, they’re structural. The island was expanded using landfill, creating unstable, shifting ground that contributes to foundation problems and failing infrastructure. In the facilities, staff and detainees report broken plumbing, mold, and sanitation failures.

One of the most persistent crises at Rikers is the treatment of individuals with mental illnesses. A 2024 report by the Brooklyn Eagle shows how dire the situation has become. The article states, “Individuals with mental illnesses are locked in and denied essential care, compounding an already dire situation for vulnerable detainees.” It also emphasizes the scale of the issue when it states, “Over half of the inmates at Rikers Island have been diagnosed with a mental illness, a systematic failure to provide meaningful care by the DOC.” This means that Rikers, with its insufficient staff, dangerous conditions, and habit of punishment over treatment, many detainees find themselves worse off than when they entered.

Rikers reputation for minimal medical care is well documented. A 2015 investigation by Prison Legal News highlighted a pattern of preventable deaths and negligence. One of the most striking cases described is about Jose Santiago, a 25 year old prisoner who sought medical attention for serious symptoms. Guards ignored him twice and he later collapsed and died. A jury awarded his estate $8.15 million. Stories like Santiago show that at Rikers, medical emergencies too often become fatal because of outright neglect.

This pattern of negligence continued into the modern era. In 2019, the death of Layleen Xtravaganza Polanco, a transgender woman in solitary confinement, revealed serious failures in medical supervision and housing decisions. The Advocate report of the autopsy results, stating that Polanco “died of an epileptic seizure, according to a recently released autopsy.” Her family's attorney, David Shanies, emphasized the preventability of her death, stating “Layleen died as a result of indifference and neglect… she could never have been alone unmonitored in segregation and the fact that a doctor signed off on this is shocking.” Her death became a rallying point for advocates who argued that Rikers can’t safely house medically vulnerable detainees.

Beyond medical issues, Rikers has a decades long history of physical violence, from both guards and detainees. Federal investigations and reporting describe a deep seated culture of violence that has persisted despite years of attempted reform. According to multiple journalism reports, in 2025, the crisis escalated to such a degree that a federal judge moved to take greater control of the facility, citing ongoing uncontrollable safety failures. Advocates argue that the problem is not a few bad actors, it's a toxic system where brutality has become normal.

Several factors undermine reform efforts at Rikers. These include understaffing, which leads units unsupervised, overcrowding which fuels violence and neglect, decaying infrastructure that makes safety almost impossible, and a culture that encourages force over rehabilitation. Attempts like monitoring teams, task forces, and federal mandates, have repeatedly failed to produce effective improvement, reading many experts to conclude that the facility is beyond repair.

In recent years, there has been momentum towards closing Rikers and replacing it with small facilities. However, funding delays, political obstacles, and disagreements within the community have slowed progress.

Today, Rikers continues to be one of the most controversial detention facilities in the country. Its record marked by the deaths of people like Jose Santiago and Layleen Polanco, and by the systemic neglect described in the Brooklyn Eagle shows a pattern of harm that is more structural than incidental. Until New York confronts this crisis, Rikers will continue to produce tragedies that could’ve been prevented.

Works Cited:

1. Abruzzese, Robert. “Brooklyn Defender Services Condemns Rikers Island’s Treatment of Mentally Ill Inmates.” Brooklyn Eagle, 9 Oct. 2024, https://brooklyneagle.com/284092/brooklyn-defenders-condemns-rikers-treatment-of-mentally-ill/

2. “Deep-Seated Culture of Violence and Abysmal Medical Care at Rikers Island.” Prison Legal News, 7 July 2015, https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2015/jul/7/deep-seated-culture-violence-and-abysmal-mdical-care-rikers-island/

3. “Manhattan U.S. Attorney Finds Pattern and Practice of Excessive Force and Violence at NYC Jails on Rikers Island That Violates the Constitutional Rights of Adolescent Male Inmates.” U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, 4 Aug. 2014, https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-finds-pattern-and-practice-excessive-force-and-violence-nyc-jails

4. Ax, Joseph. “US Judge Takes Control of New York’s Troubled Rikers Island Jail.” Reuters, 13 May 2025, https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-judge-takes-control-new-yorks-troubled-rikers-island-jail-2025-05-13/

5. Hager, Eli. “Inside the Battle to Close Rikers.” The Marshall Project, 22 Mar. 2019, https://www.themarshallproject.org/2019/03/22/inside-the-battle-to-close-rikers

6. “Layleen Polanco’s Death Due to Epileptic Seizure at Rikers Island.” The Advocate, 31 July 2019, https://www.advocate.com/crime/2019/7/31/layleen-polancos-death-due-epileptic-seizure-rikers