Criminal justice activists, experts and authors are making their opinions known on RIKERS. Here is a look at what we have heard so far.
Reactions to the Film
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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?
Michelle Alexander
Professor and Author of The New Jim Crow
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
JoAnne Page
President & CEO, The Fortune Society
This stunning documentary exposes the soul-searing experience of mass incarceration in America — the world's largest jailer. At the Fortune Society, we have always raised up the voices of the incarcerated. As mass incarceration is now being challenged from many directions, we know this powerful film will help us advocate for reform of our criminal justice system.
There is nothing quite as powerful as seeing and hearing the firsthand accounts of people who have spent time at Rikers. RIKERS captures the tragic, unjust human experience of individuals held at our City’s largest jail facility and fuels the need for a new blueprint for the future of criminal justice in New York City.
JONATHAN LIPPMAN
JUDGE AND CHAIRMAN OF THE INDEPENDENT COMMISSION ON NEW YORK CITY CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND INCARCERATION REFORM
Jeremy Travis
President, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
We can only grasp the urgency of the need for fundamental criminal justice reform if we listen to the experiences of those who are touched by our institutions. RIKERS does this with brutal honesty.
RIKERS uses the power of testimony to expose the abhorrent living conditions of former detainees on Rikers Island. It is a pioneering and sacred mosaic of survivors telling their own story, in their own idiom.
Reverend Andrew Wilkes
ASSOCIATE PASTOR OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND YOUNG ADULTS, GREATER ALLEN AME CATHEDRAL OF NEW YORK