{"id":15872,"date":"2016-11-05T15:24:58","date_gmt":"2016-11-05T19:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rikersfilm.org\/?page_id=15872"},"modified":"2017-08-16T10:34:38","modified_gmt":"2017-08-16T14:34:38","slug":"bill-moyers-on-rikers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/rikers\/bill-moyers-on-rikers\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Moyers on Rikers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row row_type=&#8221;row&#8221; use_row_as_full_screen_section=&#8221;no&#8221; type=&#8221;grid&#8221; angled_section=&#8221;no&#8221; text_align=&#8221;left&#8221; background_image_as_pattern=&#8221;without_pattern&#8221; css_animation=&#8221;&#8221;][vc_column width=&#8221;2\/3&#8243;][vc_column_text]Over the years I have landed at New York\u2019s LaGuardia Airport knowing that the island just off and below the tip of the right wing was Rikers, the city\u2019s largest jail, isolated in the East River within sight of the Manhattan skyline and separated from the borough of Queens by a single bridge. Looking across at the stark jumble of buildings, I had often thought of Alcatraz, on the other side of the continent: penal colonies framing America\u2019s gateways.<\/p>\n<p>Alcatraz, however, has long been closed and is now a favorite tourist destination. Rikers remains chock full of detainees awaiting their day in court or, once convicted, a bus trip to an upstate prison. From time to time reports of abuse and cruelty against detainees, or of violent confrontations between them and their guards, or brawls among gangs\u2014aroused curiosity among the \u201cmainland\u201d public, but rarely for very long.<\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243;][vc_raw_html]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[\/vc_raw_html][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_type=&#8221;row&#8221; use_row_as_full_screen_section=&#8221;no&#8221; type=&#8221;grid&#8221; angled_section=&#8221;no&#8221; text_align=&#8221;left&#8221; background_image_as_pattern=&#8221;without_pattern&#8221; css_animation=&#8221;&#8221;][vc_column][vc_column_text]Then, in recent years, the trickle of reports became a torrent. Some brilliant journalism coupled with growing awareness and outrage by local activists, including the advocacy group #CloseRikers, prompted attention from the city\u2019s independent commission, a federal investigation and intimations of reform. But reports persist of terrible things happening there. As I have followed the news, some research revealed that television had given no extended attention to what was happening on Rikers and that video could add an important dimension to the coverage by giving the public a chance to hear directly from the inmates themselves, face to face.<\/p>\n<p>Along with my producing collaborator Judy Doctoroff at Public Square Media, I reached out to some longtime colleagues\u2014the independent and oft-awarded filmmakers Marc Levin and Mark Benjamin at Brick City TV, joined by producer Rolake Bamgbose\u2014who were soon at work, identifying scores of former detainees and interviewing many of them on camera for hours.\u00a0The result is a vivid arc of life on Rikers as told by the people who experienced it\u2014from the trauma of entry, the conflicts with other inmates and corrections officers, the stabbings and beatings, and the torture of solitary confinement to the psychological challenges of returning to the outside world.<\/p>\n<p>The stories of Rikers Island Jail are far too common in jails across America, where similar violence, abuse and corruption makes local headlines and the same issues that stand in the way of swift and appropriate justice turn jails into warehouses that detain the guilty and the innocent without distinction.<\/p>\n<p>This documentary originally premiered on Thirteen\/WNET in New York City in November, 2016. RIKERS: AN AMERICAN JAIL also premiered\u00a0on PBS stations across the country in May, 2017, and our hope is that through these stories you will come to understand the depth and breadth of our mass incarceration crisis and the urgency of finding solutions that better serve us all.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row row_type=&#8221;row&#8221; use_row_as_full_screen_section=&#8221;no&#8221; type=&#8221;grid&#8221; angled_section=&#8221;no&#8221; text_align=&#8221;left&#8221; background_image_as_pattern=&#8221;without_pattern&#8221; css_animation=&#8221;&#8221;][vc_column width=&#8221;2\/3&#8243;][vc_column_text]Over the years I have landed at New York\u2019s LaGuardia Airport knowing that the island just off and below the tip of the right wing was Rikers, the city\u2019s largest jail, isolated in the East River within sight of the Manhattan skyline and separated from the borough of Queens by a single bridge. Looking across at the stark jumble of buildings, I had often thought of Alcatraz, on the other side of the continent: penal colonies framing America\u2019s gateways. Alcatraz, however, has&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full_width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-15872","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bill Moyers on Rikers - RIKERS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/rikers\/bill-moyers-on-rikers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bill Moyers on Rikers - RIKERS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[vc_row row_type=&#8221;row&#8221; use_row_as_full_screen_section=&#8221;no&#8221; type=&#8221;grid&#8221; angled_section=&#8221;no&#8221; text_align=&#8221;left&#8221; background_image_as_pattern=&#8221;without_pattern&#8221; css_animation=&#8221;&#8221;][vc_column width=&#8221;2\/3&#8243;][vc_column_text]Over the years I have landed at New York\u2019s LaGuardia Airport knowing that the island just off and below the tip of the right wing was Rikers, the city\u2019s largest jail, isolated in the East River within sight of the Manhattan skyline and separated from the borough of Queens by a single bridge. 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