A jail in Denver offers some lessons for criminal-justice reformers
As New York’s incarceration rate falls, the city is casting around for smaller jails to copy
ON JUNE 7TH Layleen Polanco, a 27-year-old transgender woman, was found dead in her cell at Rikers Island Jail. She was being held on $500 bail for a misdemeanour prostitution offence and the lowest-level drug charge, and she was being kept in solitary confinement for fighting. The death was not unusual in a jail renowned for corruption and cruelty, where mostly poor defendants can languish for years while awaiting trial. Bill de Blasio, New York’s mayor, plans to shut Rikers by 2026 and replace it with four smaller jails near courthouses in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens. Among other things, this fresh start offers a chance to rethink prison architecture in the city.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Boutique slammers”
United States June 29th 2019
- A jail in Denver offers some lessons for criminal-justice reformers
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- The president stands accused of rape, again
- Will transparent pricing make America’s health care cheaper?
- Where female athletes are more popular than male ones
- The idea of reparations for slavery is morally appealing but flawed
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