Press & Event Resources

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.

RIKERS: AN AMERICAN JAIL – Come face to face with men and women who have endured incarceration at Rikers Island. In searing testimonials, they describe their experience from the trauma of entry to assaults and solitary confinement in this riveting documentary from Bill Moyers about the human toll of mass incarceration.

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RIKERS: AN AMERICAN JAIL – From Bill Moyers, this documentary provides a chilling window into the human toll of mass incarceration in America. Searing testimonials from men and women formerly detained at Rikers Island describe the deep-seated culture of systemic violence and corruption that has plagued the notorious NYC jail adding a powerful authentic voice to reports of violence and abuse at the jail. Of the 7,500 people incarcerated at Rikers on any given day, almost 80% have not yet been found guilty or innocent of the charges against them.

Available here.