Law in Theory, Punishment in Practice: A Case Study of Rikers Island & Bail
By: Chrystie Pena
The infamous Rikers Island is a jail that holds terror in just the mere mention of its name for native New Yorkers. That terror is scheduled to finally come to an end in August 2027 with the planned closure of all jail facilities at Rikers Island. However, city officials have lagged in moving this plan along, making the timeline of moving Rikers inmates into renovated or new borough jails completely unfeasible (Kaye, 2025). After decades of corrupt corrections officers, inhumane conditions, and officials consistently prioritizing political interests and fiscal gain over constitutional rights and long overdue reform, the decision to close Rikers reflects the reality that many criminal justice systems fail to prioritize the safety of prisoners to rather preserve the safety and integrity of their officials. In theory, the criminal justice system was designed to ensure equal protection under the law and guarantee that a presumption of innocence is given to all people. In practice, Rikers Island reflects a major contradiction by turning poverty into punishment through pre-trial detention in a negligent and corrupt facility, spending over $500,000 a year to incarcerate people, more than any other jail in the country (Women’s Prison Association). Up to 93 percent of those incarcerated in Rikers Island are people who are awaiting trial and have not been found guilty of a crime yet, and a majority of those individuals are stuck in Rikers because they cannot afford bail, once again being punished by a system that was never made for them (Columbia Social Work Review).
By spending more and more money incarcerating people, the amount of money we can spend towards preventing people from entering incarceration in the first place is limited. Many people who are incarcerated were never given a true chance to live a life where they didn’t have to resort to crime. This funding could be allocated towards more free public programs, accessible public education, job and housing opportunities, mental health awareness and treatment, and making New York a city that chooses to rehabilitate and protect people rather than penalize them in the name of ‘public safety.’ No one is safer in the inhumane jails that this city has worked so hard to uphold.
Rikers Island is a persisting representation of the inefficient criminal justice system in New York City. Countless lives have been completely altered as a result of the time people have been forced to endure there. From Kalief Browder to Bradley Ballard, the loss of lives as a result of the corruption in Rikers are far too many. Until 2018, juveniles were allowed to be incarcerated in Rikers Island at judicial discretion. More than half of the inmates who make up the Rikers population are black or Hispanic (Blunt, 2019), with the majority being male pre-trial detainees. The common theme in many of these cases is that these individuals did not have the privilege to afford to pay bail if it was offered to them. Instead, they were stuck in jail for years awaiting trial, forced to endure solitary confinement, correction officer corruption, neglect, terrible conditions, and insufficient medical or psychological care. 87 percent of the women at Rikers and 58 percent of the men at Rikers have been reported to need mental health services as of October 2025, which are only among inmates for whom mental health concerns have been detected. Mental health is not by any means simple and does not present itself in the same way for everyone. Those who need services are held for a longer period of time than those who do not need services. In September of 2025, 15,823 people in New York City jails missed their medical appointments (Rempel et al., 2025). If people are not attending their appointments, how are they ever expected to improve? Granted, corrections cannot be blamed for every missed appointment, but 15,823 missed appointments is far too many. Even if people are given care, it is highly inadequate or it comes when the damage is already done and intensive treatment would be necessary for people to genuinely improve.
With the delayed closure of Rikers Island, a major concern arises: How many more lives will be lost on Rikers Island because of New York City’s corruption in corrections and policing? How many more people will reflect the city’s inability to keep incarcerated people safe? Regardless of criminality, no one should die because of the poor conditions in the jail they are placed in. The issues with Rikers Island are deeper than just negligence; they symbolize what New York City combats on a daily basis. Most of the people committing crimes or being accused of them were never given a chance to be anything other than accused. From the moment they were born, they were labeled. There was no chance to be anything else when opportunities were limited, when wages were not increased, when generational curses persisted, and when the city decided it valued protecting its police more than its people. When protecting humanity is no longer the goal of the city, a tragic reality is created.
Layleen Polanco, a 27 year old transgender woman with a history of a seizure disorder, died on June 7, 2019 in solitary confinement at Rikers Island. Polanco’s bail was set to $500 and she could not afford to pay for it. During her time at Rikers, she was sent to solitary confinement after altercations ensued. On her ninth day in solitary confinement, she suffered a seizure and faced negligence due to the lack of 15 minute supervision that is supposed to occur for inmates in solitary confinement. Polanco went 47 minutes without supervision and was tragically declared dead by medical staff (Brown, 2020). Her family filed a civil litigation against New York City and settled for $5.9 million. The mayor at the time asserted after her case that they “can’t bring her back, but we can make change so that no one else goes through such a tragedy,” but how many more people have to die at the hands of the NYPD for a change to occur (Goldensohn, 2020)? These are the same words repeated with every case, but nothing ever changes. Polanco should have never been sent to Rikers or solitary confinement for a misdemeanor charge, she should have never been given a $500 bail, and she should have never died. Polanco is one of many cases that exemplifies how New York City lives in a system that doesn’t care to rehabilitate people, but instead, it cares to repeat that same phrase again and again.
Rikers Island is more than a failed jail; it is a symbol for our flawed system. What the law promises us and what it actually delivers are two very different realities. And so the question persists– how many more people have to die for change to occur?
Works Cited
Blunt, R. (2019, October 20). Rikers Island: Tales from inside New York’s notorious jail. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50114468
Brown, M. (2020, July 23). My sister Layleen Polanco died alone in Rikers. solitary confinement is torture.NBCNews.com. https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/my-sister-layleen-polanco-died-alone-rikers-solitary-confinement-torture-ncna1234369
Closing Rikers Island: Why Community-Based Solutions Are Critical Investments. (2025, July 3).Women’s Prison Association. https://www.wpaonline.org/closing-rikers-island/#:~:text=The%20city%20spends%20$500%2C000+%20a,%2Dbased%20solutions%2C%20click%20here.
Dholakia , N., Bryant, E., McCann, S., & Heller, B. (2026, February 20). Tracking deaths in NYC jails since 2022. Vera Institute of Justice. https://www.vera.org/news/nyc-jail-deaths
Goldensohn, R. (2020, August 30). NYC to pay Layleen Polanco’s family record $5.9m over Rikers Island Solitary Death. THE CITY - NYC News. https://www.thecity.nyc/2020/08/30/layleen-polancos-nyc-record-lawsuit-settlement-rikers-island-solitary-death/
Kaye, J. (2025, September 10). With 2027 out of reach, council passes bills to move Rikers’ closure along. Queens Daily Eagle. https://queenseagle.com/all/2025/9/10/with-2027-out-of-reach-council-passes-bills-to-move-rikers-closure-along
McMahon, K. (2020, June 23). New York City Board of Correction The Death of Layleen Xtravaganza Cubilette-Polanco 1991-2019. https://www.nyc.gov/assets/boc/downloads/pdf/Reports/BOC-Reports/2020.06_Polanco/Final_Polanco_Public_Report_1.pdf
Rempel, M., Rodriguez, K., Bock, K., Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay College, Zeitz, Y., & Katal Center for Equity, Health, & Justice. (2025). Rikers Island and Mental Health: Pathways Toward Community-Based Diversion and Jail Population Reduction (By Independent Rikers Commission, Z. Katznelson, New York County Defender Services, Project Connect at the Church of Gethsemane, D. Kralstein, L. Lebron, New York State Office of Court Administration, New York State Unified Court System, Center for Justice Innovation, New York City Council, & Rikers Commission). https://datacollaborativeforjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Katal_DCJ_Report_.pdf
The Data Behind Rikers: Why New York Doesn’t Need New Prisons. (2023, May 10). Columbia Social Work Review. https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/cswr/announcement/view/632