Rikers Island is the largest correctional facility in the world.

Rikers Island is the largest correctional facility in the world, a prison island in the East River strait, belonging to the city of New York, the boroughs of Queens and the Bronx. The distance to the opposite shore is 80 meters.

The island was named after Abraham Riker, a Dutch settler who arrived on Long Island in 1638, and whose descendants owned Rikers Island until 1884, when it was sold to the state for $180,000. Since then, the island has been used as a prison (originally as a raw material annex to the neighboring prison), costing American taxpayers $860 million annually.

During the Civil War, the island was used as a training ground. Since 1884, farms were established there to feed prisoners held on the neighboring Blackwell's Island (Roosevelt Island). In 1932, a prison was opened, to which most inmates from Blackwell's Island were transferred. Until 1954, the island's area was 0.36 sq. km, but after landfill work, it increased fivefold.

The island is a complex of ten separate prisons, which, besides inmate housing, also include schools, playgrounds, chapels, gyms, shops, barbershops, a bakery, a power plant, a bus depot, and even car washes. During prison overcrowding, some inmates were held on a special 800-bed barge, the Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center, commissioned in 1992.

From the 1970s until December 2005, the prison had separate blocks for inmates with non-traditional sexual orientations, but these were eliminated "for security reasons." The only land connection to the mainland is an unmarked bridge not shown on printed maps. Until 1966, the island was accessible only by water.

In 2009, the permanent population of Rikers (mostly inmates) was 11,350 people. The island's infrastructure is designed to accommodate 14,000 inmates, 7,000 law enforcement officers, and 1,500 civilians simultaneously. On average, about 20,000 people are present on the island during working hours.

Since 1965, a Salvador Dalí drawing hung in the main dining hall of the prison complex in the most prominent place. Dalí painted it as an apology to the inmates for not being able to attend their art lecture as promised. In 1981, the drawing was moved to the lobby "for safekeeping," and in March 2003 it was replaced with a forgery; the original was stolen. Four employees were charged in connection with the theft. Although three pleaded guilty and the fourth was acquitted, the original has never been found.

Several scandals involving the brutal treatment of inmates by prison staff have been publicized and received widespread public attention. Famous inmates of Rikers prison include:

Tupac Shakur. He was imprisoned on charges of sexual assault and corruption of minors. The rapper tried every way to prove his innocence, but the court remained firm.

Lil Wayne. This rapper was jailed for illegal possession of a weapon and drug possession. He served 8 months in prison, serving his sentence in a separate cell where he could enjoy privileges forbidden to other inmates.

Sid Vicious. He was in Rikers twice. The first time, the bassist of the Sex Pistols ended up there after the mysterious death of his girlfriend; the second time, the musician served time for injuries he inflicted on a man during a nightclub fight.

Mark David Chapman. He was imprisoned in 1980 for the murder of John Lennon.

Foxy Brown. Another rapper who ended up in Rikers in 2007 for violating probation terms assigned to her for assaulting employees of a nail salon.

Sonny Rollins. The living jazz legend was sent to Rikers for armed robbery.

DMX. This rapper can "boast" an impressive list of convictions – for illegal possession of weapons, possession of illegal drugs, drunk driving, animal cruelty, and so on.

The last time Rikers prison was mentioned in the media was in 2011, when then-IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn was detained there (suspected of sexual harassment).

Sources:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikers

https://stoneforest.ru/look/places/prison-rikers/#zaklyuchennye