One of the first bullet points made by the article is that no one should be held in jail just because they cannot afford the financial needs to make bail. As this turns into a ransom for people to get themselves out of jail. As stated in the article 70% of people are waiting inside of New York jails are still not guilty of any crimes as they are still awaiting their trails. I believe with much of the corruption that has came out of Rikers Island over the years. This allows the State of New York and the people of New York to begin a fresh start to improve their lives to get over what existed in the past to create a facility that will make differences. This also allows for transformation in staff for the criminal justice officials just a new start for the community to get what’s best for their state as their able to overcome many of their past issues. This allows for a current levant of everything to establish foundations that will overcome any of the past problems from overtaken what could have been new policies and producers. Also, with wiping away this prison from New York this allows for the state to have more focus on programs sent towards rehabilitate offenders that may be in new of new opportunities or also giving tax money into the state to the state to use it to benefit the citizen and local and city governments existing within the state as well. New York also wants to stand as the first one to go against the jail complex and overtake it putting a stop to a lot of the turmoil that these jails are creating by coming up with a system focused less on bounds and more of being a issue of how they can use this oppuriity in order to better serve their city. eagle789
I agree with you when you say that if that prison gets taken out of New York, more programs can be put into place that focus on rehabilitating offenders rather than punishing them. By doing this, the state could potentially lower their overcrowding problem and help more people and get them back into society. This prison needs to be wiped out as soon as possible. I say this because you don't want this prison to turn into a prison incident like the one in Attica (even though it seems that this prison is heading towards this direction). This prison needs to be shut down and more rehab programs need to be put in to help New York with this prison problem. -Fozz789
I definitely agree that people should not be held in jail without being convicted for long periods of time in most cases, In some cases people are flight risks, or if they were convicted of a violent crime they may be a risk to the public if released. As far as closing prisons down and opening rehabilitation centers up in their stead I wholeheartedly agree with this article just like the blog assignments in the past I think that warehousing people as a punishment is both barbaric and wasteful to the tax payer, and the inmate it solves no problems and creates future obstacles. -Rudedogg8357
I agree with you when you make your point of emphasizing that 70 percent of people are waiting inside New York Jails for their trial and that is not right because u should be innocent until proven guilty. I also agree with the statement that getting rid of Rikers island allows the city of New York to have a fresh start and to create better facilities. By doing this they can focus more on rehabilitating offenders rather than punishing them. This will help with overcrowding and it will reduce how much taxpayers have to spend on keeping these people incarcerated. -RHB789
This article described how the jail/prison problem throughout the U.S. does not look like it is getting better anytime soon. I say this because someone who was interviewed for this article said it perfectly as to what is going on with our prison system. This person said that people are held in prison/jail because they can't come up with the money for bail. This is true for people all across the country. A person is in prison on bail but doesn't have the money to bail out. So, they are basically being forced to stay in jail with no way out anytime soon. Another thing discussed in this article relates to the problem of overcrowding found within our prison system. A stat saying that nearly 70% of people held in New York State jails have not even been convicted yet. This is a major factor in the overcrowding issue. People are being put into prisons without even actually being convicted of any sort of crime at all because the law doesn't know where to put them, so they just stick them in prison. An alternative way of handling this situation has to be put into place before the overcrowding issue becomes way too out of hand. A final thought about this prison mentioned in the article is that it does not seem to have a very good reputation around the state of New York, according to some of the citizens. Some citizens mentioned in the article that there have been reports of civil rights violations, corruption, violence, and excessive use of force in this prison. Despite being possibly overcrowded, prisons need to treat the inmates correctly. By treating inmates worse, the prison is going to get hit with more criticism and may even have to deal with some legal issues if they don't work with the law and inmates properly. -Fozz7989
I agree with that we need to start treating inmates correctly because in turn it will cause so much criticism and legal issues for those jails, and not just those but any jails in general. Think of it as treat people how you want to be treated. Yes they are criminals and they give up their rights one incarcerated but in an inferred type of way they still have some “right” because most will do what they are told and respect you only if you respect them, and I think that's what most people in this field dont understand. They think force fixes everything but in reality it can only cause so many more problems in the criminal justice system. Hollywood789
It is seen that 70 percent of the people of New York are held in jail because of bail money I hope it’s the time for New York to stand up and look for a new solution. It sounds s even more worse that some of this people are not even guilty of any crime. I also do believe that to end corruption that has taken place in rikers island will be a better idea. For my opinion this system which allows people to be held in jail even if they have not been convicted of crime, so long as they are poor, is unproductive and unconstitutional. The state should take a step or bill to eliminate cash bail for crimes especially the misdemeanors cases. To my understanding sometimes in additional to putting people still presumed innocent behind the bars, cash bail may sway defendants to take guilty pleas so they can avoid sitting in jail until their trials. And this looks like wasting time and money holding this people in jail. Another thing is that if a suspect is arrested for allegedly committing a crime, placed in jail scheduling for arraignment if prosecutor decides to press charges is better than holding this person in jail for long period of time waiting to be bailed out. Today defendants in New York city are disproportionately people of color and the one who remain incarcerated are often poor or suffering from mental health or substance abuse issues. Bail is not intended to be used to punish these individuals, and is not supposed to be set higher than necessary to preserve public safety where this process favor the wealthy, it screws the poor. Those who can’t afford bail end up paying instead with time behind bars. Taxpayers spend a lot of money each year to keep innocent under lock and key because of bail instead of improving schools and transportation. GUSII 789
The article states that over 70% of people in New York state prisons are people who have not even been convicted of a crime yet but yet are wasting away behind bars simply because they cannot afford to pay their bail. We have seen in previous instances that housing people in prisons is a very expensive process and often times is not very effective. Having overcrowded prisons with people who haven’t even been convicted yet is a huge financial burden not only on the court system but also on the citizens of the state where the inmates reside. The call to find better way to deal with people who are awaiting trial is mostly because Rikers island is often times overcrowded and is one of the worst prisons in the United States. Weeding out the corruption in the criminal justice system is something that will do a lot of good for the state of New York and their current situation. This also allows for transformation in staff for the criminal justice officials just a new start for the community to get what’s best for their state as their able to overcome many of their past issues. This allows for a current levant of everything to establish foundations that will overcome any of the past problems from overtaken what could have been new policies and producers. This will also help them get rid of the racial prejudice and violence that has occurred in the prison over the many years that it has been in operation. Changing the system to make it fairer and just to everyone and not just those who are rich enough to afford it should be the number goal for anyone. Pack789
It is crazy to think that like you mentioned, 70 percent of the people in the New York prison are people who have not been convicted. These people just can not afford the bail set so they are forced to just be held up. Since the system takes such a long time to convict people, it is possible to have someone who did a tiny crime and be held for a long time for their case to be settled. And like you mentioned, it is very expensive to house these people. I also agree with your statement of weeding out corruption would help their situation out. I think corruption might have a big role in the overcrowding and abuse in this prison. - ST789
“No one should be held just because they can’t come up with the money for bail,”......“It’s become a ransom people have to pay to get out of jail.” This statement said by Marilyn Reyes-Scales is beyond true. Holding people for bond only works when the person has the money to pay it. Wealthier people do not have a problem with paying bond because money is not an issue for them, whereas people who do not have a lot of money may have quit a hard time trying to come up with the money to get out. They are wanting to close down the jails at rikers island for it has ranked in the worst 10 jails in the United States. I do not know exactly what abuse went on that they mentioned in the article. It did mentioned that at one point it housed 20,000 inmates, which they now only house 6800. To me that is a huge difference. The people there must really have built up hate for that prison because at one point in the article is mentions that someone said it was a “stain on our great city’s reputation.” Another point the article made was that judges are to blame for this too and that they can change a person's life. This statement made is very true. They can set bail sometimes way to high and trap people. Judges can also incarcerate people for crimes that they really just need help for. Some judges need to be a little more relaxed on the sentencing for some things that they have control over. Some people come in for parole violations and judges justs end them right back to where they were. The people in the article said they want to see change in the way the parole system is ran as well. - ST789
I agree that people should not have been held in prison because they don’t have enough money for bail. Other wealthy people could afford to be bailed out of jail for a bigger crime, then a poor person who does not have enough money in order to get out of jail that did an unharmful crime like a ticket that they did not pay for. I also agree on the part where judges should be more lenient on the years they have to serve that really affects the population on prison all the years that people have to serve add up which becomes an overload which they won’t have control of. -Justice789
One of the first things talked about in this article was bail. One stat that was crazy to think about was the 70% of people that are held in the New York State jails are not convicted. A lot of people are held in these prisons until their trial because they can not come up with bail money. This also can be looked at all over the world and not just New York. They are forcibly keeping people in jail based on amount of money that they can not come up with. Which is crazy to think about because that is one thing is causing overcrowding in jails. I liked the saying he said which was, “This isn't Monopoly….they are playing with real peoples live”. Which is so true because the criminal Justice system acts as if this is a sort of game of how much money can we get out of people. Which to me seems quite ridiculous. Anyways it also states that New York state jails such as Rikers Island do not have a good reputation. People have reported and mentioned that there was civil rights violations, corruption, violence and excessive use of force. By people knowing this it is only going to negatively affect these persons by doing so because that can be hit with several legal issues and possibly even create a riot because of all the harshness being put upon the inmates. Despite the overcrowding these jails really need to just focus on treating the inmates correctly because that is causing more problems than anything else. If they are able to get that under control then the problem of overcrowding can be fixed but that just in itself could take some time by how much overcrowding there is. Ultimately we need to just look at the prison system as a whole and show people what they are doing wrong. Hollywood789
The jail at Riker’s Island was one of the top ten worst prisons in the United States and has gain a reputation for being a hell on earth. This is where people were put for being unable to post bail, the action of paying money to get out of a stay at jail. Those who could not afford this were treated just like prisoners and often for crimes that were trivial at best. This, in my opinion, is something that should not happen to these kind of people. Especially, those who have not had a trial yet. Innocent until proven guilty seems like it does not apply at Riker’s Island and I often wonder what other kind of horrible things happen in that correctional facility other that the repeated stories of excessive use of force, beatings, violations of civil rights, corruption, etc. These things all worked in unison to give the Riker’s Island compound the reputation that it currently holds. Fortunately for those who hate the Riker’s Island compound, it is beginning on a long journey to the eventual shut down and disuse of the facility. One of the Island’s part just shut down and over time the correctional facility will be completely phased out of use. These atrocities, however, happen in more correctional facilities than just Riker’s Island and are often overlooked by the local community. This should change and the public should become more away of these things that are happening. If the public was more aware of these things, it may change. In my own opinion, one man may make a difference but it is a group that makes a change. This is something that should be addressed and perhaps fixed for the better in the future. One can only hope that it will get better in time. Perhaps I can help make a change when I go into the criminal justice system. –TheMarshall789
With reading this article telling how the jail/prison problem in the US is not going to get better anytime soon as it looks right now. When they interviewed someone for this they told everybody what is going on in prison/jail. They said that people are being held in jail because they can’t pay their bond. There are forced to stay in our system just because they can’t pay out of it. One of the other things that they talked about is the overcrowding in our prison and we already know that we have this problem a long time ago. There was a state that they said in this and it was nearly 70% of people held in New York State jails have not been convicted yet. Therefore, we have a problem with our prison systems. If you look at that state, you can see we have so many people that are convicted but have not have trial yet so we just through them into prison because that the only spot to put them. The thing is there crime could be little but since they haven’t had trial, yet we are supposed to keep them, so they don’t do anything worse when they are on the streets. Now I know people don’t want to end up in prison but let’s talk about how they are getting mistreated in the prison. They say that they are breaking violations and there is violence in the prisons that we don’t see. You see if we don’t get ahold of thing like this that are going around then people will start getting hit with names and it will not end up good for the stat of New York. Gator789
I agree with what you are talking about in the prisons. I think that it is terrible if people are being mistreated, and I feel as if the staff there should have to pay for mistreating the inmates, because they are responsible for mistreating them. I also think that it is awful that a lot of people are sitting in jail because they do not have enough money to be able to get out. Bond should be a thing to make sure people stay for trial, and not just something to keep people in the jail. It is also amazing to think that most of the people in the jail have not even been convicted, and that some of the people in the jail are innocent. dp789
I think that it was a great idea to close the Rikers Island jail. I think it is especially a great idea if there were activities going on in the jail that should not have been going on. They talked about how it was ranked as one of the top 10 worst jails in the United States. I think that since the people wanted the jail to be closed so bad, that the state of New York did not have any other choice than to shut it down. I think that maybe a better option would have been to maybe shut it down for a little bit, and work on fixing the jail, and the staff that worked there, than reopening, and perhaps under a different name. That way they could still have a jail there, and hopefully it would not still have the bad reputation of the jail before. I am not sure this would work however because some people could think that it needs more than just a new remake, and it needs to be done with for good. I think the reputation of the jail had a lot to do with the people wanting to get rid of the jail completely. The jail had a history of abuse problems, and people also wanted to know of the horrors that had went on inside of the jail. People did not want to only get rid of the jail, but they also wanted a change in the way that things were handled. Many people voiced their opinions and some thought that bail should not be a problem because, “No one should be held just because they can’t come up with the money for bail,” and along with this thought people said that the bail had become a “ransom”. People also did not like the system because around 70 percent of the population of the jail had not been convicted, and the people said that it could ruin other’s lives. dp789
This is a perfect example of how prisons are being runned today in society. This is why our correctional system is in danger and being corrupt today. The people in rakers island were mistreated and see how it would be a mix of emotions of other people because of they were being hurt and not the bail reform is set to higher standers and people would not get out any time soon. So we need to so better by the time bing. SO yes. - LILPUMP789
This article points out the problem we have with bail in correlation people sitting in jails for way too long. I really like the quote in this article that says “ no one should be help just because they can’t come up with money for the bail.” “ it’s become a ransom people have to pay to get out of jail.” I totally agree with this quote unless the person would be a threat to society or a threat of fleeing then they should have the chance for bail and not have to pay for that bail if they are truly not able to. The statistic that 70 percent of the people how the New York State jails have not been convicted is absolutely crazy. I think is just the state trying to get bail money for these people in jail. There’s also isn’t fair to the taxpayer because we are the ones who have to pay for the state to house these people awaiting trial. With all of the problems that Rikers Island years I think it is a good thing for the city of New York to close the jail down. It would allow for the people of New York to start fresh to and to make the necessary forms to their system and to improve upon their facilities. With this reform towards lower bail and less time for people in jail the government can shift spending elsewhere. The money could be used for things like rehabilitation that way offenders can get the help they need and stay out of jail and present because as we all know that is a vicious cycle and the mass incarceration is out of control. One thing that did surprise me and it also surprised many other people according to the article is that it would take 10 years to completely phase out Rikers island. I might be wrong but to me that seems like an awful long time for a phasing out project. -RHB789
This article largely seemed to be about two different things to me, Bail Reform and the facilities on Riker’s Island. Many people think that Riker’s island should be shut down because of the way it has been run in the past. This does not seem like a suitable solution to me because closing a facility does not change anything about the New York justice system as a whole. The people and groups responsible for the violations of rights and codes should be removed and replaced, after that, all that remains is the infrastructure. I cannot personally understand why the physical buildings themselves would have to be closed in order to effect positive change. The other major theme of the article was bail reform. I have mixed feelings about bail reform as I do believe that worse circumstances should result in higher bail postings, but that precedent causes a situation in which the poor are more likely to be jailed than the rich. This is not something that can be fixed by adjusting bail to income because bail is not only available to a specific party. I very strongly believe that a jail holding those who are not yet proven guilty should never go over capacity when people cannot afford bail. In these instances, people whose bail is the lowest should be allowed to remain outside of prison until their trial. This would mean that people arrested for particularly egregious criminals would still be isolated from the public minimizing risk. The article quotes someone saying that the issues at Riker’s island run too deep by being fixed with a fresh coat of paint. I think it is wrong to equate reform with something so trivial. I think that demolishing the prisons and jails at riker’s islands only to open up new facilities elsewhere would be a profound waste of time and resources. It is likely that without the necessary reforms taking place, the same issues would arise at new facilities. I do think that some Bail reform is definitely, however. Rudedogg789
Great article again! We are talking about bail reform and Rakers Island. I believe no prison should be run if its being overthrown by its self. I mean really, running a prisons that activities are going on. Nobody is going to have the money to bail of someone from prison or jail right? At least not within hours because its cost a lot of money. But, in this situation it seems like things were getting extremely unprofessionally handled since it was really just at the point were the prison was getting overthrown at that point. The people in the jails are sitting their way to long which was the problem stated in the article. This were the article states that 70 percent of the people are not even yet convicted but still being held until proven guilty because that what the criminal justice teaches us. I think this is wrong, I believe that there are alternatives to help those and get them back into society so now I see why there is a mixture of emotion s in the riskers island termination and especially since people had problems of being abused or being handled. Now, its just shows as one of the worst prions to be at that moment. Even some countries have a better prison system being ruined by indivudlas. And I am o surprise because our correctional system is again as I said multiple times a mess, and motion that around 2009 all they way to 2012 we were building various prisons, so this what it correlate back to rakes island and being bailed out of prison. So, now this is a perfect example why our prison system should be better into coming our years. Especially to the future because who knows what else can happen. - LILPUMP789
After reading this article, I realized that our American jails have a big problem when it comes to bail. Many people can’t afford to pay their bail sentencing, which is harder for people to get out of bail. Nearly 70% of people in New York’s jail have never been convicted of a crime. The new york mayor said, “all because of Rikers Island activists has changed the criminal justice policies on bail system”. Rikers Island helped out people get a fresh start and not stay in jail for not having enough money. The civilians have spoken in this article about how they didn’t have been reports of civil rights violations, corruption, violence, and excessive use of force in this prison. Another thing also is that they were talking about overcrowding prisons because the can’t pay that way they have to stay in which adds up the population of people in prison. The rikers island helped many people with them to get out of jail financially. It also by helping them with their bail, it helps our prisons with decreasing the amount of population in Prisons. Decreasing our amount of money we are taxed based on the people in Prisons. The Rikers Island is overlooked by many of the communities and if many of the people were more aware of their services. It could make a difference with people who need help. By changing the system, we could reduce the amount of people continuing the cycle of criminalizations, which causes less amount of people flowing into the jail systems. Our criminal justice systems need to limit the amount of supervision in probation's and probation sentences, so people on probation can have a less likelihood of breaking their probation. Another important problem, is the money for bail is extremely high, which makes it harder for people in prison to bail themselves out. -Justice789
Everyone could agree that our criminal justice system is far from perfect, but who’s to say what perfect is? Most of us have no idea what being locked behind bars is like and have no desire to. I couldn’t imagine some of the inhumane things you’d have to go through. Riker’s Island has been so overcrowded before housing 20,000 people. Could you imagine how you’d get treated if you were living with that many other people? You’d get treated like property. Think about how it would be trying to feed 20,000 people a day. So many people are in jail over such petty crimes but don’t have the money or family to come bail them out. I think that’s not fair and everyone should get the same rights regardless if they have the money or not. We’re overcrowding our probation officers, parole officers, prisons, jails, etc., with people who would be fine to let back into a high functioning society. We need to think about the kinds of people were locking up. Does someone who smokes a little bit of weed deserve to be locked away for a couple years? Not in my opinion. We should be locking away sex offenders, murders, etc., instead of wasting our resources, time, and money on all these petty crimes. These detention centers need to all be shut down if they’re not treating these people locked up humane. Regardless of the offense, everyone deserves to be treated fairly and like they’re a person! To me, no one is any less of a person than I am so I’ll never treat them as such. I feel like as a society we knock people for things we’ve all done before. There are people that deserve to be locked up behind bars but there are also a numerous amount of people who are locked up but don’t deserve it. Cheer123
If we have 70 percent of people in jail/prison just because they don't have enough money to get out. This is a reason our prison/jails are overcrowding. Shutting down the jail is probably a bad idea for the town. Having overcrowding of people? This is a problem but knowing gangs could be in the same jail is kind of scary. I think these people should be separated the people on bail and the non people on bail. If we just split them up. It wouldn't be so crowded in the jails. Why don't we find a new system around this and not always going straight to prison or jail. Our criminal justice setters are not perfect. We still have problems with race or even what you believe. It's sad to know that people like this could get mistreated for doing nothing just because the other person is higher up than the other person. Me personal, there's a lot of people that are in jail or prison because of small ofenneses like smoking a little grass in the park or doing something dumb while your drunk. Seeing people go to jail or prison is kind of just free money for these prisons because usually a lot people pay for bond and that's how they get out. But our taxpayer money is building these new huge jails or prisons. We all should be able to come to the conclusion that all men should be treated equal. If a black person makes the same crime as a white person they should be treated equal. This is a lot of favoritism in certain officers in the prison or jail. conrad123
I agree completely with what you’re saying! We have a bunch of innocent people who don’t deserve the kind of inhumane treatment they are receiving. Bail screws so many people who don’t have money but benefits the richer people because they can buy their way out! This topic makes my heart heavy because I feel for those people locked away. I couldn’t imagine living with that many people and every daily task have to be touching people shoulder to shoulder. These detention centers need to be SHUT DOWN! There is no need for them any longer and the world will be a better place without them. Cheer456
Jail is supposed to be somewhere for bad people. Growing up we always have read books learning that jail is a place that cops take bad guys, so why are there millions of innocent people being put behind bars when that’s the last place they belong. We should not have issues where jails are being overcrowded. If someone does a crime that’s more on the petty side why would we take them to jail! You can usually tell when someone made a mistake and will learn from it than someone who is a repeat offender and keeps messing up time and time again. Not only are these inmates getting treated poorly, our tax dollars are paying for this. If I’m going to pay money to the jail systems I want these jails to be efficient, clean, and overall well rounded. It’s really heartbreaking to me that we have childrens’ mothers and fathers locked up over small crimes that could be fixed with something other than putting them behind bars. We have kids out there in foster care because the breadwinner of their family is locked away due to a petty crime that could have been fixed in many other ways as well. Could you imagine how you’d get treated if you were living with that many other people? You’d get treated like property. Think about how it would be trying to feed 20,000 people a day. So many people are in jail over such petty crimes but don’t have the money or family to come bail them out. I think that’s not fair and everyone should get the same rights regardless if they have the money or not. We’re overcrowding our probation officers, parole officers, prisons, jails, etc., with people who would be fine to let back into a high functioning society. Cheer456
Why don't we find a new system around this and not always going straight to prison or jail. Our criminal justice setters are not perfect. We still have problems with race or even what you believe. It's sad to know that people like this could get mistreated for doing nothing just because the other person is higher up than the other person. Me personal, there's a lot of people that are in jail or prison because of small ofenneses like smoking a little grass in the park or doing something dumb while your drunk. Seeing people go to jail or prison is kind of just free money for these prisons because usually a lot people pay for bond and that's how they get out. But our taxpayer money is building these new huge jails or prisons. We all should be able to come to the conclusion that all men should be treated equal. If a black person makes the same crime as a white person they should be treated equal. Make jail to be where there isnt violence just hell dont let the people in there run these jail or prison we need to run them right and properly.conrad456
So the poor get the short end of the stick because our system is set up so people can feed the mass incarceration machine. This is a sad fact here in America and one that needs to change. As the article stated were holding people ransom. It’s very inhuman and shows how far we still need to go as a country. This article is a positive thing in that it shows that we are noticing these things and wish to change them. Shutting done places Rikers Island is a good idea. There a few statements in here that speak of the harsher than normal treatment of prisoner and the civil rights violations, this cannot stand. Have people not learned from our past, Attica! There is a lot of growth that still needs to happen but I believe a path is being set now. Take our class for example; we are seeing the changing of mentalities from tough on crime to rehabilitation right before our eyes. I believe that there is a change coming and things such as this taking down of Rikers and bail reform a further proof of that. Seventy percent of people being held in Jail were not convicted yet, that’s really jarring. If you can’t pay, then you can’t pay. To sit there and toy with someone’s life is horrible to say the least. It does show how little some people care. It is bad to be ranked at the top ten worst jails in America; that really says something. City Comptroller Scott Stringer called out the judges also in this article which I thought was pretty nice to see. Another thing I enjoyed in this article is that they called out probation and parole as tools that the criminal justice system uses to trap people and keep them in the system. pj789
One of the first bullet points made by the article is that no one should be held in jail just because they cannot afford the financial needs to make bail. As this turns into a ransom for people to get themselves out of jail. As stated in the article 70% of people are waiting inside of New York jails are still not guilty of any crimes as they are still awaiting their trails. I believe with much of the corruption that has came out of Rikers Island over the years. This allows the State of New York and the people of New York to begin a fresh start to improve their lives to get over what existed in the past to create a facility that will make differences. This also allows for transformation in staff for the criminal justice officials just a new start for the community to get what’s best for their state as their able to overcome many of their past issues. This allows for a current levant of everything to establish foundations that will overcome any of the past problems from overtaken what could have been new policies and producers. Also, with wiping away this prison from New York this allows for the state to have more focus on programs sent towards rehabilitate offenders that may be in new of new opportunities or also giving tax money into the state to the state to use it to benefit the citizen and local and city governments existing within the state as well. New York also wants to stand as the first one to go against the jail complex and overtake it putting a stop to a lot of the turmoil that these jails are creating by coming up with a system focused less on bounds and more of being a issue of how they can use this oppuriity in order to better serve their city. eagle789
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you say that if that prison gets taken out of New York, more programs can be put into place that focus on rehabilitating offenders rather than punishing them. By doing this, the state could potentially lower their overcrowding problem and help more people and get them back into society. This prison needs to be wiped out as soon as possible. I say this because you don't want this prison to turn into a prison incident like the one in Attica (even though it seems that this prison is heading towards this direction). This prison needs to be shut down and more rehab programs need to be put in to help New York with this prison problem.
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I definitely agree that people should not be held in jail without being convicted for long periods of time in most cases, In some cases people are flight risks, or if they were convicted of a violent crime they may be a risk to the public if released. As far as closing prisons down and opening rehabilitation centers up in their stead I wholeheartedly agree with this article just like the blog assignments in the past I think that warehousing people as a punishment is both barbaric and wasteful to the tax payer, and the inmate it solves no problems and creates future obstacles. -Rudedogg8357
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DeleteI agree with you when you make your point of emphasizing that 70 percent of people are waiting inside New York Jails for their trial and that is not right because u should be innocent until proven guilty. I also agree with the statement that getting rid of Rikers island allows the city of New York to have a fresh start and to create better facilities. By doing this they can focus more on rehabilitating offenders rather than punishing them. This will help with overcrowding and it will reduce how much taxpayers have to spend on keeping these people incarcerated.
Delete-RHB789
This article described how the jail/prison problem throughout the U.S. does not look like it is getting better anytime soon. I say this because someone who was interviewed for this article said it perfectly as to what is going on with our prison system. This person said that people are held in prison/jail because they can't come up with the money for bail. This is true for people all across the country. A person is in prison on bail but doesn't have the money to bail out. So, they are basically being forced to stay in jail with no way out anytime soon. Another thing discussed in this article relates to the problem of overcrowding found within our prison system. A stat saying that nearly 70% of people held in New York State jails have not even been convicted yet. This is a major factor in the overcrowding issue. People are being put into prisons without even actually being convicted of any sort of crime at all because the law doesn't know where to put them, so they just stick them in prison. An alternative way of handling this situation has to be put into place before the overcrowding issue becomes way too out of hand. A final thought about this prison mentioned in the article is that it does not seem to have a very good reputation around the state of New York, according to some of the citizens. Some citizens mentioned in the article that there have been reports of civil rights violations, corruption, violence, and excessive use of force in this prison. Despite being possibly overcrowded, prisons need to treat the inmates correctly. By treating inmates worse, the prison is going to get hit with more criticism and may even have to deal with some legal issues if they don't work with the law and inmates properly.
ReplyDelete-Fozz7989
I typed my username wrong, it's Fozz789
Delete-Fozz789
I agree with that we need to start treating inmates correctly because in turn it will cause so much criticism and legal issues for those jails, and not just those but any jails in general. Think of it as treat people how you want to be treated. Yes they are criminals and they give up their rights one incarcerated but in an inferred type of way they still have some “right” because most will do what they are told and respect you only if you respect them, and I think that's what most people in this field dont understand. They think force fixes everything but in reality it can only cause so many more problems in the criminal justice system.
DeleteHollywood789
It is seen that 70 percent of the people of New York are held in jail because of bail money I hope it’s the time for New York to stand up and look for a new solution. It sounds s even more worse that some of this people are not even guilty of any crime. I also do believe that to end corruption that has taken place in rikers island will be a better idea. For my opinion this system which allows people to be held in jail even if they have not been convicted of crime, so long as they are poor, is unproductive and unconstitutional. The state should take a step or bill to eliminate cash bail for crimes especially the misdemeanors cases. To my understanding sometimes in additional to putting people still presumed innocent behind the bars, cash bail may sway defendants to take guilty pleas so they can avoid sitting in jail until their trials. And this looks like wasting time and money holding this people in jail. Another thing is that if a suspect is arrested for allegedly committing a crime, placed in jail scheduling for arraignment if prosecutor decides to press charges is better than holding this person in jail for long period of time waiting to be bailed out. Today defendants in New York city are disproportionately people of color and the one who remain incarcerated are often poor or suffering from mental health or substance abuse issues. Bail is not intended to be used to punish these individuals, and is not supposed to be set higher than necessary to preserve public safety where this process favor the wealthy, it screws the poor. Those who can’t afford bail end up paying instead with time behind bars. Taxpayers spend a lot of money each year to keep innocent under lock and key because of bail instead of improving schools and transportation. GUSII 789
ReplyDeleteThe article states that over 70% of people in New York state prisons are people who have not even been convicted of a crime yet but yet are wasting away behind bars simply because they cannot afford to pay their bail. We have seen in previous instances that housing people in prisons is a very expensive process and often times is not very effective. Having overcrowded prisons with people who haven’t even been convicted yet is a huge financial burden not only on the court system but also on the citizens of the state where the inmates reside. The call to find better way to deal with people who are awaiting trial is mostly because Rikers island is often times overcrowded and is one of the worst prisons in the United States. Weeding out the corruption in the criminal justice system is something that will do a lot of good for the state of New York and their current situation. This also allows for transformation in staff for the criminal justice officials just a new start for the community to get what’s best for their state as their able to overcome many of their past issues. This allows for a current levant of everything to establish foundations that will overcome any of the past problems from overtaken what could have been new policies and producers. This will also help them get rid of the racial prejudice and violence that has occurred in the prison over the many years that it has been in operation. Changing the system to make it fairer and just to everyone and not just those who are rich enough to afford it should be the number goal for anyone. Pack789
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy to think that like you mentioned, 70 percent of the people in the New York prison are people who have not been convicted. These people just can not afford the bail set so they are forced to just be held up. Since the system takes such a long time to convict people, it is possible to have someone who did a tiny crime and be held for a long time for their case to be settled. And like you mentioned, it is very expensive to house these people. I also agree with your statement of weeding out corruption would help their situation out. I think corruption might have a big role in the overcrowding and abuse in this prison.
Delete- ST789
“No one should be held just because they can’t come up with the money for bail,”......“It’s become a ransom people have to pay to get out of jail.” This statement said by Marilyn Reyes-Scales is beyond true. Holding people for bond only works when the person has the money to pay it. Wealthier people do not have a problem with paying bond because money is not an issue for them, whereas people who do not have a lot of money may have quit a hard time trying to come up with the money to get out. They are wanting to close down the jails at rikers island for it has ranked in the worst 10 jails in the United States. I do not know exactly what abuse went on that they mentioned in the article. It did mentioned that at one point it housed 20,000 inmates, which they now only house 6800. To me that is a huge difference. The people there must really have built up hate for that prison because at one point in the article is mentions that someone said it was a “stain on our great city’s reputation.” Another point the article made was that judges are to blame for this too and that they can change a person's life. This statement made is very true. They can set bail sometimes way to high and trap people. Judges can also incarcerate people for crimes that they really just need help for. Some judges need to be a little more relaxed on the sentencing for some things that they have control over. Some people come in for parole violations and judges justs end them right back to where they were. The people in the article said they want to see change in the way the parole system is ran as well.
ReplyDelete- ST789
I agree that people should not have been held in prison because they don’t have enough money for bail. Other wealthy people could afford to be bailed out of jail for a bigger crime, then a poor person who does not have enough money in order to get out of jail that did an unharmful crime like a ticket that they did not pay for. I also agree on the part where judges should be more lenient on the years they have to serve that really affects the population on prison all the years that people have to serve add up which becomes an overload which they won’t have control of.
Delete-Justice789
One of the first things talked about in this article was bail. One stat that was crazy to think about was the 70% of people that are held in the New York State jails are not convicted. A lot of people are held in these prisons until their trial because they can not come up with bail money. This also can be looked at all over the world and not just New York. They are forcibly keeping people in jail based on amount of money that they can not come up with. Which is crazy to think about because that is one thing is causing overcrowding in jails. I liked the saying he said which was, “This isn't Monopoly….they are playing with real peoples live”. Which is so true because the criminal Justice system acts as if this is a sort of game of how much money can we get out of people. Which to me seems quite ridiculous. Anyways it also states that New York state jails such as Rikers Island do not have a good reputation. People have reported and mentioned that there was civil rights violations, corruption, violence and excessive use of force. By people knowing this it is only going to negatively affect these persons by doing so because that can be hit with several legal issues and possibly even create a riot because of all the harshness being put upon the inmates. Despite the overcrowding these jails really need to just focus on treating the inmates correctly because that is causing more problems than anything else. If they are able to get that under control then the problem of overcrowding can be fixed but that just in itself could take some time by how much overcrowding there is. Ultimately we need to just look at the prison system as a whole and show people what they are doing wrong.
ReplyDeleteHollywood789
The jail at Riker’s Island was one of the top ten worst prisons in the United States and has gain a reputation for being a hell on earth. This is where people were put for being unable to post bail, the action of paying money to get out of a stay at jail. Those who could not afford this were treated just like prisoners and often for crimes that were trivial at best. This, in my opinion, is something that should not happen to these kind of people. Especially, those who have not had a trial yet. Innocent until proven guilty seems like it does not apply at Riker’s Island and I often wonder what other kind of horrible things happen in that correctional facility other that the repeated stories of excessive use of force, beatings, violations of civil rights, corruption, etc. These things all worked in unison to give the Riker’s Island compound the reputation that it currently holds. Fortunately for those who hate the Riker’s Island compound, it is beginning on a long journey to the eventual shut down and disuse of the facility. One of the Island’s part just shut down and over time the correctional facility will be completely phased out of use. These atrocities, however, happen in more correctional facilities than just Riker’s Island and are often overlooked by the local community. This should change and the public should become more away of these things that are happening. If the public was more aware of these things, it may change. In my own opinion, one man may make a difference but it is a group that makes a change. This is something that should be addressed and perhaps fixed for the better in the future. One can only hope that it will get better in time. Perhaps I can help make a change when I go into the criminal justice system. –TheMarshall789
ReplyDeleteWith reading this article telling how the jail/prison problem in the US is not going to get better anytime soon as it looks right now. When they interviewed someone for this they told everybody what is going on in prison/jail. They said that people are being held in jail because they can’t pay their bond. There are forced to stay in our system just because they can’t pay out of it. One of the other things that they talked about is the overcrowding in our prison and we already know that we have this problem a long time ago. There was a state that they said in this and it was nearly 70% of people held in New York State jails have not been convicted yet. Therefore, we have a problem with our prison systems. If you look at that state, you can see we have so many people that are convicted but have not have trial yet so we just through them into prison because that the only spot to put them. The thing is there crime could be little but since they haven’t had trial, yet we are supposed to keep them, so they don’t do anything worse when they are on the streets. Now I know people don’t want to end up in prison but let’s talk about how they are getting mistreated in the prison. They say that they are breaking violations and there is violence in the prisons that we don’t see. You see if we don’t get ahold of thing like this that are going around then people will start getting hit with names and it will not end up good for the stat of New York. Gator789
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you are talking about in the prisons. I think that it is terrible if people are being mistreated, and I feel as if the staff there should have to pay for mistreating the inmates, because they are responsible for mistreating them. I also think that it is awful that a lot of people are sitting in jail because they do not have enough money to be able to get out. Bond should be a thing to make sure people stay for trial, and not just something to keep people in the jail. It is also amazing to think that most of the people in the jail have not even been convicted, and that some of the people in the jail are innocent. dp789
DeleteI think that it was a great idea to close the Rikers Island jail. I think it is especially a great idea if there were activities going on in the jail that should not have been going on. They talked about how it was ranked as one of the top 10 worst jails in the United States. I think that since the people wanted the jail to be closed so bad, that the state of New York did not have any other choice than to shut it down. I think that maybe a better option would have been to maybe shut it down for a little bit, and work on fixing the jail, and the staff that worked there, than reopening, and perhaps under a different name. That way they could still have a jail there, and hopefully it would not still have the bad reputation of the jail before. I am not sure this would work however because some people could think that it needs more than just a new remake, and it needs to be done with for good. I think the reputation of the jail had a lot to do with the people wanting to get rid of the jail completely. The jail had a history of abuse problems, and people also wanted to know of the horrors that had went on inside of the jail. People did not want to only get rid of the jail, but they also wanted a change in the way that things were handled. Many people voiced their opinions and some thought that bail should not be a problem because, “No one should be held just because they can’t come up with the money for bail,” and along with this thought people said that the bail had become a “ransom”. People also did not like the system because around 70 percent of the population of the jail had not been convicted, and the people said that it could ruin other’s lives. dp789
ReplyDeleteThis is a perfect example of how prisons are being runned today in society. This is why our correctional system is in danger and being corrupt today. The people in rakers island were mistreated and see how it would be a mix of emotions of other people because of they were being hurt and not the bail reform is set to higher standers and people would not get out any time soon. So we need to so better by the time bing. SO yes. - LILPUMP789
DeleteThis article points out the problem we have with bail in correlation people sitting in jails for way too long. I really like the quote in this article that says “ no one should be help just because they can’t come up with money for the bail.” “ it’s become a ransom people have to pay to get out of jail.” I totally agree with this quote unless the person would be a threat to society or a threat of fleeing then they should have the chance for bail and not have to pay for that bail if they are truly not able to. The statistic that 70 percent of the people how the New York State jails have not been convicted is absolutely crazy. I think is just the state trying to get bail money for these people in jail. There’s also isn’t fair to the taxpayer because we are the ones who have to pay for the state to house these people awaiting trial. With all of the problems that Rikers Island years I think it is a good thing for the city of New York to close the jail down. It would allow for the people of New York to start fresh to and to make the necessary forms to their system and to improve upon their facilities. With this reform towards lower bail and less time for people in jail the government can shift spending elsewhere. The money could be used for things like rehabilitation that way offenders can get the help they need and stay out of jail and present because as we all know that is a vicious cycle and the mass incarceration is out of control. One thing that did surprise me and it also surprised many other people according to the article is that it would take 10 years to completely phase out Rikers island. I might be wrong but to me that seems like an awful long time for a phasing out project.
ReplyDelete-RHB789
This article largely seemed to be about two different things to me, Bail Reform and the facilities on Riker’s Island. Many people think that Riker’s island should be shut down because of the way it has been run in the past. This does not seem like a suitable solution to me because closing a facility does not change anything about the New York justice system as a whole. The people and groups responsible for the violations of rights and codes should be removed and replaced, after that, all that remains is the infrastructure. I cannot personally understand why the physical buildings themselves would have to be closed in order to effect positive change.
ReplyDeleteThe other major theme of the article was bail reform. I have mixed feelings about bail reform as I do believe that worse circumstances should result in higher bail postings, but that precedent causes a situation in which the poor are more likely to be jailed than the rich. This is not something that can be fixed by adjusting bail to income because bail is not only available to a specific party.
I very strongly believe that a jail holding those who are not yet proven guilty should never go over capacity when people cannot afford bail. In these instances, people whose bail is the lowest should be allowed to remain outside of prison until their trial. This would mean that people arrested for particularly egregious criminals would still be isolated from the public minimizing risk.
The article quotes someone saying that the issues at Riker’s island run too deep by being fixed with a fresh coat of paint. I think it is wrong to equate reform with something so trivial. I think that demolishing the prisons and jails at riker’s islands only to open up new facilities elsewhere would be a profound waste of time and resources. It is likely that without the necessary reforms taking place, the same issues would arise at new facilities. I do think that some Bail reform is definitely, however.
Rudedogg789
Great article again! We are talking about bail reform and Rakers Island. I believe no prison should be run if its being overthrown by its self. I mean really, running a prisons that activities are going on. Nobody is going to have the money to bail of someone from prison or jail right? At least not within hours because its cost a lot of money. But, in this situation it seems like things were getting extremely unprofessionally handled since it was really just at the point were the prison was getting overthrown at that point. The people in the jails are sitting their way to long which was the problem stated in the article. This were the article states that 70 percent of the people are not even yet convicted but still being held until proven guilty because that what the criminal justice teaches us. I think this is wrong, I believe that there are alternatives to help those and get them back into society so now I see why there is a mixture of emotion s in the riskers island termination and especially since people had problems of being abused or being handled. Now, its just shows as one of the worst prions to be at that moment. Even some countries have a better prison system being ruined by indivudlas. And I am o surprise because our correctional system is again as I said multiple times a mess, and motion that around 2009 all they way to 2012 we were building various prisons, so this what it correlate back to rakes island and being bailed out of prison. So, now this is a perfect example why our prison system should be better into coming our years. Especially to the future because who knows what else can happen. - LILPUMP789
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article, I realized that our American jails have a big problem when it comes to bail. Many people can’t afford to pay their bail sentencing, which is harder for people to get out of bail. Nearly 70% of people in New York’s jail have never been convicted of a crime. The new york mayor said, “all because of Rikers Island activists has changed the criminal justice policies on bail system”. Rikers Island helped out people get a fresh start and not stay in jail for not having enough money. The civilians have spoken in this article about how they didn’t have been reports of civil rights violations, corruption, violence, and excessive use of force in this prison. Another thing also is that they were talking about overcrowding prisons because the can’t pay that way they have to stay in which adds up the population of people in prison. The rikers island helped many people with them to get out of jail financially. It also by helping them with their bail, it helps our prisons with decreasing the amount of population in Prisons. Decreasing our amount of money we are taxed based on the people in Prisons. The Rikers Island is overlooked by many of the communities and if many of the people were more aware of their services. It could make a difference with people who need help. By changing the system, we could reduce the amount of people continuing the cycle of criminalizations, which causes less amount of people flowing into the jail systems. Our criminal justice systems need to limit the amount of supervision in probation's and probation sentences, so people on probation can have a less likelihood of breaking their probation. Another important problem, is the money for bail is extremely high, which makes it harder for people in prison to bail themselves out.
ReplyDelete-Justice789
Everyone could agree that our criminal justice system is far from perfect, but who’s to say what perfect is? Most of us have no idea what being locked behind bars is like and have no desire to. I couldn’t imagine some of the inhumane things you’d have to go through. Riker’s Island has been so overcrowded before housing 20,000 people. Could you imagine how you’d get treated if you were living with that many other people? You’d get treated like property. Think about how it would be trying to feed 20,000 people a day. So many people are in jail over such petty crimes but don’t have the money or family to come bail them out. I think that’s not fair and everyone should get the same rights regardless if they have the money or not. We’re overcrowding our probation officers, parole officers, prisons, jails, etc., with people who would be fine to let back into a high functioning society. We need to think about the kinds of people were locking up. Does someone who smokes a little bit of weed deserve to be locked away for a couple years? Not in my opinion. We should be locking away sex offenders, murders, etc., instead of wasting our resources, time, and money on all these petty crimes. These detention centers need to all be shut down if they’re not treating these people locked up humane. Regardless of the offense, everyone deserves to be treated fairly and like they’re a person! To me, no one is any less of a person than I am so I’ll never treat them as such. I feel like as a society we knock people for things we’ve all done before. There are people that deserve to be locked up behind bars but there are also a numerous amount of people who are locked up but don’t deserve it. Cheer123
ReplyDeleteIf we have 70 percent of people in jail/prison just because they don't have enough money to get out. This is a reason our prison/jails are overcrowding. Shutting down the jail is probably a bad idea for the town. Having overcrowding of people? This is a problem but knowing gangs could be in the same jail is kind of scary. I think these people should be separated the people on bail and the non people on bail. If we just split them up. It wouldn't be so crowded in the jails. Why don't we find a new system around this and not always going straight to prison or jail. Our criminal justice setters are not perfect. We still have problems with race or even what you believe. It's sad to know that people like this could get mistreated for doing nothing just because the other person is higher up than the other person. Me personal, there's a lot of people that are in jail or prison because of small ofenneses like smoking a little grass in the park or doing something dumb while your drunk. Seeing people go to jail or prison is kind of just free money for these prisons because usually a lot people pay for bond and that's how they get out. But our taxpayer money is building these new huge jails or prisons. We all should be able to come to the conclusion that all men should be treated equal. If a black person makes the same crime as a white person they should be treated equal. This is a lot of favoritism in certain officers in the prison or jail. conrad123
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with what you’re saying! We have a bunch of innocent people who don’t deserve the kind of inhumane treatment they are receiving. Bail screws so many people who don’t have money but benefits the richer people because they can buy their way out! This topic makes my heart heavy because I feel for those people locked away. I couldn’t imagine living with that many people and every daily task have to be touching people shoulder to shoulder. These detention centers need to be SHUT DOWN! There is no need for them any longer and the world will be a better place without them. Cheer456
DeleteJail is supposed to be somewhere for bad people. Growing up we always have read books learning that jail is a place that cops take bad guys, so why are there millions of innocent people being put behind bars when that’s the last place they belong. We should not have issues where jails are being overcrowded. If someone does a crime that’s more on the petty side why would we take them to jail! You can usually tell when someone made a mistake and will learn from it than someone who is a repeat offender and keeps messing up time and time again. Not only are these inmates getting treated poorly, our tax dollars are paying for this. If I’m going to pay money to the jail systems I want these jails to be efficient, clean, and overall well rounded. It’s really heartbreaking to me that we have childrens’ mothers and fathers locked up over small crimes that could be fixed with something other than putting them behind bars. We have kids out there in foster care because the breadwinner of their family is locked away due to a petty crime that could have been fixed in many other ways as well. Could you imagine how you’d get treated if you were living with that many other people? You’d get treated like property. Think about how it would be trying to feed 20,000 people a day. So many people are in jail over such petty crimes but don’t have the money or family to come bail them out. I think that’s not fair and everyone should get the same rights regardless if they have the money or not. We’re overcrowding our probation officers, parole officers, prisons, jails, etc., with people who would be fine to let back into a high functioning society. Cheer456
ReplyDeleteWhy don't we find a new system around this and not always going straight to prison or jail. Our criminal justice setters are not perfect. We still have problems with race or even what you believe. It's sad to know that people like this could get mistreated for doing nothing just because the other person is higher up than the other person. Me personal, there's a lot of people that are in jail or prison because of small ofenneses like smoking a little grass in the park or doing something dumb while your drunk. Seeing people go to jail or prison is kind of just free money for these prisons because usually a lot people pay for bond and that's how they get out. But our taxpayer money is building these new huge jails or prisons. We all should be able to come to the conclusion that all men should be treated equal. If a black person makes the same crime as a white person they should be treated equal. Make jail to be where there isnt violence just hell dont let the people in there run these jail or prison we need to run them right and properly.conrad456
ReplyDeleteSo the poor get the short end of the stick because our system is set up so people can feed the mass incarceration machine. This is a sad fact here in America and one that needs to change. As the article stated were holding people ransom. It’s very inhuman and shows how far we still need to go as a country. This article is a positive thing in that it shows that we are noticing these things and wish to change them. Shutting done places Rikers Island is a good idea. There a few statements in here that speak of the harsher than normal treatment of prisoner and the civil rights violations, this cannot stand. Have people not learned from our past, Attica! There is a lot of growth that still needs to happen but I believe a path is being set now. Take our class for example; we are seeing the changing of mentalities from tough on crime to rehabilitation right before our eyes. I believe that there is a change coming and things such as this taking down of Rikers and bail reform a further proof of that. Seventy percent of people being held in Jail were not convicted yet, that’s really jarring. If you can’t pay, then you can’t pay. To sit there and toy with someone’s life is horrible to say the least. It does show how little some people care. It is bad to be ranked at the top ten worst jails in America; that really says something. City Comptroller Scott Stringer called out the judges also in this article which I thought was pretty nice to see. Another thing I enjoyed in this article is that they called out probation and parole as tools that the criminal justice system uses to trap people and keep them in the system. pj789
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