Meet the “Justice Hub.”
The Rikers Island Correctional Facility, a complex of 10 jails and about 10,000 detainees located northeast of LaGuardia Airport, is a longstanding political flashpoint in New York City. For decades, civic leaders have debated shuttering the facility because of its notoriously corrupt reputation, brutal mistreatment of detainees, and inhumane conditions. Critics say it’s impossible to close, citing insufficient infrastructure–but proponents are pressing forward, with Mayor Bill De Blasio supporting a move to close the jail.