PRODUCED BY MARC LEVIN, MARK BENJAMIN & ROLAKE BAMGBOSE
WINNER OF THE FIRST 2017 ROBERT F. KENNEDY MEDIA ADVOCACY AWARD
SYNOPSIS
The United States is facing a crisis of mass incarceration with over 2.2 million people packed into its jails and prisons. To understand the human toll of this crisis, Rikers Island is a good place to start. Of the more than 7,500 people detained at Rikers Island on any given day, almost 80% have not yet been found guilty or innocent of the charges they face. All are at risk in the pervasive culture of violence that forces people to come to terms with what they must do for their own survival. RIKERS: AN AMERICAN JAIL, a riveting new documentary from Bill Moyers, brings you face to face with men and women who have endured incarceration at Rikers Island. Their stories, told direct to camera, vividly describe the cruel arc of the Rikers experience—from the shock of entry, to the extortion and control exercised by other inmates, the oppressive interaction with corrections officers, the beatings and stabbings, the torture of solitary confinement and the many challenges of returning to the outside world.
No one understands the crisis created by mass incarceration and excessive punishment like the survivors who have endured the horrors created by our criminal justice policies. This is powerful journalism, transformational art and an unmistakable indictment of the American prison system. See this film!
BRYAN STEVENSON
ATTORNEY AND AUTHOR OF JUST MERCY
MANY PEOPLE IN JAILS HAVE NOT BEEN CONVICTED OF A CRIME.
78%
IN NYC JAILS
63%
IN JAILS NATIONALLY
I've visited two hundred correction facilities around the country and I can tell you, Rikers is every jail; and every jail is Rikers. I've never seen a film like this before—it is the raw truth of what it is like to be on Rikers Island. As someone who spent time on Rikers as a young person, I found that every single story rang true to me.
Glenn E. Martin
FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, JUSTLEADERSHIPUSA
89%
of the detainees in NYC jails cannot afford to post bail at arraignment
38%
of cases in NYC have bail set at $1,000 or less
Michelle Alexander
PROFESSOR AND AUTHOR OF THE NEW JIM CROW
A beautiful, yet deeply disturbing, film. Very powerful. RIKERS: AN AMERICAN JAIL shows a highly organized system of violence, where people are treated like they are less than human and leave detention more badly damaged than when they entered. How does this make us more safe?
AMERICA HAS MORE PEOPLE INCARCERATED THAN ANY OTHER NATION IN THE WORLD.
300,000
INCARCERATED IN 1970s
2,300,000
TODAY
You think you know that Rikers Island is a violent horror show? This stunning, haunting film tells you one simple and terrifying thing: You have no idea. RIKERS is a testimonial about one of the greatest human rights abuses of our time.
DR. BAZ DREISINGER
PROFESSOR, ACTIVIST AND AUTHOR, INCARCERATION NATIONS: A JOURNEY TO JUSTICE IN PRISONS AROUND THE WORLD