Rikers Island Today: Part Two. Will ‘3-3-3’ Be A Formula for Peace?
The New York City Department of Correction has a new commissioner, Louis A. Molina, with a resume that says he is well qualified for the job of straightening out Rikers Island. And just as with any new head of a large government agency, change is the order of the day. He has put in place a new policy that could – as he acknowledged at a recent City Council hearing – at least initially prove to be very dangerous for some detainees, even as its intention is to ultimately reduce the violence that has continued to plague Rikers.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, officials at Rikers Island decided to create what have been unofficially dubbed “gang houses.” A gang house is a housing area (cellblock) where the overwhelming majority of the detainees belong to one particular gang: For example, 1 Upper South – a Blood house; 4 Center North – a Crip house; etc.
From 2020 to February 2022, young adults held on Rikers who also belonged to a gang had some sense of safety based on their numbers and separation from other gangs. Gang houses were also attractive to Rikers administration, due to the fact that during the height of the pandemic almost half of the security staff was not working. Officials had to worry less about how to stop detainees from randomly slashing and stabbings each other while also keeping detainees and the remaining staff safe from infection. (But a downside effect of this policy was it could place officers at a disadvantage when an officer had to act on the misconduct of a detainee and his gang members might then get involved.)
In the effort to take back Rikers Island, Commissioner Molina has now implemented a new “3-3-3” policy. Correction officials house three members of three different gangs in the same locking area along with neutral detainees (not belonging to any gang). The theory is that while there will be an initial rise in violence, things will settle down, and guys will learn to live with each other.
Security staff quickly realized implementation of the new plan would produce violence unlike anything seen before on Rikers. The reason: Young gang members feel that the new policy forces them into a position of having to commit violent acts. In gang culture, it is considered weak if one gang allows a rival gang to live on the first gang’s turf. On the other hand, it is considered strong to take a rival’s turf. Gang houses had become the turf of the dominant gang, and the gang who wound up there first was now placed in a position to defend their turf. Young adults who do not belong to a gang also become the targets of a gang member who finds himself outnumbered in a rival house.
In response, staff working in the housing areas now lock all detainees in their cells until they find out who gets along with whom. Then they let those people out of their cells for recreation while the rival gang members remain in their cells. Every few hours they reverse this process. However, it is not always possible to be able to tell who gets along until it is too late.
Part of Commissioner Molina’s plan is also to use “credible messengers” to reduce or prevent violent incidents. A credible messenger, in a justice context, is a person who has experienced prison or jail and decided to change their life and uplift the community they come from. Credible messengers contribute to the community as mentors to at-risk youth, as violence interrupters, hospital responders, youth program facilitators, and educators.
Exodus Transitional Community Inc.’s credible messenger program on Rikers Island has a focus on de-escalation, as informal mentors employing a trauma-informed curriculum. The Exodus Credible Messenger Team (ECMT) is charged with going into the most active of the young adult houses and showing them the big picture of what is possible in their lives. Young adults see, in credible messengers, themselves in the future.
Is Molina’s plan working? The Robert N. Davoren Center (RNDC), where the majority of youthful detainees at Rikers are housed, is in the first stage of the plan. As predicted, the violence has revved up. But at the same time, ECMT is in the building. In the houses where credible messengers provide programming the detainees are receptive and eager for more.
The results: Early in the 3-3-3 plan, it seems to be going in the right direction. This approach, at least, has the young adults at RNDC listening.
Next week: Will new efforts to defuse conflict at Rikers Island work?