This is a special edition of nightline. Hidden america inside Rikers Island. Good evening. Im rebecca jarvis. Tonight diane sawyer takes us jail complex with unprecedented access. We meet the commissioner seeking to restore humanity to the broken system. Just last week adding new Safety Measures to protect city jail staff. Another look at this special report. Reporter come with us to Rikers Island, the biggest jail complex in america, a place haunted by its violent history. 8,000 inmates living in a kind of suspension, a shadow world. Island, you can survive anything. Id like to kill myself this is a badass place. Reporter one road in, across a bridge. The inmates have nicknamed this the bridge of pain. On one side of the car we can see the new york skyline, celebrating possibility and hope. And straight ahead, a world apart. Weve been granted unprecedented access. Hi, im sawyer with abc. Reporter our cameras will have seven days inside. 70 hours. Once we enter the first lesson of rikers, be ready for the unexpected. Stand by for one second, stand by for one second. Reporter during our time there, nine different alarms, lockdowns quickly. The numbers that are being deployed right now indicates something pretty big, doesnt it . Reporter on the other side of this maze of doors the question we came here to answer. Is it really possible to change this notorious, explosive place . We start with the treatment of the most violent inmates. The sound of solitary confinement. Across rikers while were there, 165 people locked up to 23 hours a day in concrete cells. Whatd you say . Reporter youre given a restriction, no interviews through cell doors. It could create heightened turbulence. This is the punishment for inmates who attack officers or each other. Fighting, slashing with hidden weapons. Turn on the lights [ bleep ], [ reporter as we said, their entire world is concrete walls, a toilet, a sink, no tv. Cut off from most human interaction. Its not even possible to see through the opening on this door. And the one hour spent outside for recreation . Locked separately into an outdoor cage. Unlimited isolation as punishment. Officers the only regular human contact for up to 50 men. Cell doors open, anything, you just want to make sure that youre going to be okay. Reporter as the officers serve lunch through a cell opening, a mk carton. The carton becomes a projectile, a giant spray of urine and feces. Come back, boom, boom im supposed to feed a guy thats throwing stuff out of his cell at me. Im supposed to feed him. Got to stale and do a job. Reporter at rikers its called splashing. Officer graham tells me every space around the cell door puts him at risk for the weaponized body fluids. Fill it halfway, wedge it in the door. When you walk past, they smash it. Reporter he says he knows people across the america have seen videos from likers in the past, officers using brute force. But he has a challenge. Everybody has an opinion about what goes on and stuff in here. But nine times out of ten, hes never even been in a facility. Reporter again, a fundamental question. Do long stretches in solitary make inmates less dangerous or more . I have a lot of years of solitary confinement. Reporter Rafael Figueroa says in the past he was locked a year and a half straight in solitary, which prisoners call the box. He says hes now a time bomb. How many fights . Over the years . I cant even count. Over i would say maybe 30, 40. Killed, exactly in this jail. Ive been more in prison than the streets. When i went to the streets i felt like i was in jail. Im so institutionalized, brainwashed, call it what you want to call it. Reporter he says hes changed forever. In here i feel comfortable by myself, im safe with myself, im safe. I cant function in society. Reporter inmates here are in a kind of purgatory, convicted of nothing yet, awaiting trials. Charged for nonviolent crimes. First time incarcerated . Yeah. Reporter aaron perry sent to rikers for stealing computers and phones. Ended up in the hell of solitary because of an angry outburst. He talks about the despair in this place. I see a lot of frustration. I see frustration. Reporter commissioner joseph potts says there is simply no evidence this kind of treatment reduces violence. And says, remember, inmates at rikers will eventually be back out in your town. He says he wants the officers to start striving for something better. We can change peoples lives. If you dont believe that, then youve got to say that these are throwaway people. Theyre throwaways, violent when they came in, theyre going to be violent when they go out, theyre going to be the next criminal that does 50 years for assault. Because these guys are getting out. Theyre going to be your inmates in solitary by 70 and put time limits on the stay. Hes created a unit where even highly dangerous inmates are out of their cells for seven hours a day in programs and treatment with extra security around. Hes also moved the seriously mentally ill into special units with intensive therapy. But his most controversial and even radical idea may be this one. To be the first jail in the country to get rid of solitary altogether for the younger inmates, 18 to 21 years old. Population, the most difficult to control. Onethird of the violent offenders . Doesnt that give you pause, getting rid its not easy. These are difficult, dangerous people that were dealing with. Im not saying this is an easy task for us. But its a much better hopeful outcome than what we were doing. Youve never been shake anyone that belief . I havent. Reporter we are walking in the part of solitary housing the [ bleep ] diane sawyer [ bleep ] reporter ponte says study after study shows the adolescent brain is still forming until the age of 25. Isolation could change the wiring. 21yearold richard delgado. Chained to the wall. Are you dangerous . No. I aint going to lie, when i first got locked up i was killing myself. The neighbor next to me heard that, yo, you bug, how old are you . Im 20. Go home, dont kill yourself, you got to be strong. Reporter delgado is in likelike er likers rikers for murder. In solitary for an alleged attack on an inmate. A lot ask, what happens to them when solitary is over about and they cant threaten the use of the box . Sign up to be a punching bag, test dummy. You go back to that housing area that that inmate assaulted you in and youre looking at him eye to eye. And hes looking at you going, ill do it again. Reporter the officers call it punitive segregation. Punitive segregation should not be dismantled for the 18 to 21yearolds. Not at all. Reporter we told the commissioner what some officers are saying. Were not here to be babysitters. The officers role has changed. Were lookingt can we change peoples lives . Whoever thought getting rid of solitary confinement was good idea, you need to pack up your stuff and go. Reporter consider what happened to officer ray calderon whos gone public, his face slashed by two 19yearolds last november. 22 stitches in my face. Okay . This could have easily been a funeral arrangement today. I think what happened to officer calderon was tragic. I dont want to in any way diminish what happened. Reporter in one sense what the 19yearold who slashed him had been in the box. It didnt stop them from attacking when they got out. If we believe we can change them and we stop you being harmed or me being harmed or family being harmed by the fact that we did some good with these individuals, we wont save them all, but i guarantee what weve been doing is saving nobody. What about the history of officers using brute force . Whats up, big boy . Meet the inmate who operates as a kind of rock star here at rikers. Is life about to change in ways he did not expect . Ix. By the time i was 30, i said thats it, im a smoker for life. I wanted to be a nonsmoker and i did it thanks to chantix. Along with support, Chantix Varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. Chantix reduced my urge to smoke some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking if you have any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. Tell your doctor about any history of Mental Health problems, which could get worse or of seizures. Dont take chantix if youve had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. If you have these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away as some can be lifethreatening. Tell your doctor if you have heart or blood vessel problems, or develop new or worse symptoms. Get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. Decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. Most common side effect is nausea. This is for real. Im a nonsmoker. Ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. I thought my bladder leakage meant my social life was over. Wearing depend underwear has allowed me to fully engage in my life and im meeting people. Unlike the bargain brand,ife new depend fitflex underwear is now more flexible to move with you. Reconnect with the life youve been missing. Get a free sample at depend. Com. Take on any road with intuitive allwheel drive. The nissan rogue, murano and pathfinder. Now get 0 apr for 72 months, plus 0 bonus cash. Tired of redosing antacids . Try duo fusion new, two in one heartburn relief. The antacid goes to work in seconds. And the acid reducer lasts up to 12 hours in one chewable tablet. Across 415 acres, the nearly 8,000 inmates of Rikers Island. Out of sight, often out of mind. I was dreaming of being a marine biologist. I want to be a lawyer. Reporter 55 black, 54 hispanic. Some of them kids who walked in this door the first time. Had you been away from home before this . No. This is the longest ive been away from my mom. Reporter 17yearold fr his father left when he was a baby, and like so many others here, hes a child of the sprawling projects of new york. Surrounded by poverty, gangs, drugs. I dont want to live in the projects forever. I want to move somewhere far, north dakota or something, somewhere nobody plans on going. Reporter there are thousands of inmates like franklin, sent here on nonviolent charges. Hes accused of possession and selling drugs. To go back to school, has written a letter to the judge asking for another chance. You write here, im a nobody. I learned from my mistakes. Theres a lot i look forward to in the future. Give me someone to talk to if i feel myself thinking negative thoughts. Reporter the new commissioner has given the officers of rikers a mandate. Get to know kids like franklin, help them. See where they come from, you kind of develop relationships. Widely accepted. Now were encouraged to interact with the kids and that makes everything so much easier. Reporter hoping to inoculate someone like franklin against whats been called the Gladiator School at rikers. In the past, videos have shown how even nonviolent kids had to learn to survive in a violent world. They are very unpredictable. Young adults, they act out, they attack each other. Reporter deputy warden switch and the guard would take that off and sharpen the edge and use that. Reporter this veteran of 31 years can read the smallest signs of trouble brewing in this population of 18 to 21yearolds. Overall at rikers, violence between inmates continues to increase. In here now everybody has on their sneakers. Everybodys dressed. So thats either they knew you guys were coming or somethings getting ready to happen. Theyre relaxed, the flipflops, theyre making soup. The shoes are code . Its not code. If i want to have a fight, i dont want to fight with slippers on. Are you all afraid in here . Why wouldnt you be . Reporter those projects where violence is just daily life. I see people get shot, i see people get stashed. I got cut on the neck. I see the scars. That happened on the streets . On the streets. A glass bottle. Reporter a room full of kids with nothing to lose, nothing to they have nothing to do. We did programming up until about 8 30 are. 8 00. It probably reduced our violence a lot. Reporter programming. New commissioner joseph ponte shows us one of his pilot projects. Units with 300 younger inmates who attend school, then spend up to five hours on everything from computer training to anger management to horticulture. Right here we got strawberries. Reporter in another part of the jail, 400 adult attend college classes, job training. We meet 50yearold Greg Ferguson who had to wait at rikers four years just to get a trial. I had nine different judges. 23 different adas on my case since ive been incarcerated. Reporter he says this part of jail has dramatically changed. This house weve been here since last year. August, no cuttings, no slashes, no stabbings. Reporter ponte says tres evidence the reforms work. But it takes time to expand to officers and staff. The ones who made rikers notorious with scenes like these. Brutal force on a young man who left this place and committed suicide. Brutal force on mentally ill inmates. The retraining teaches officers to defuse tense situations. And use tools like pepper spray instead of brute force. The use of pepper spray is up. But Serious Violence between officers and inmates is way down. And officers are ready to try to help. I grew true that nothing. I respect what youre doing for me. I see what you guys understand is a lot of us grew up from nothing. I grew upin south bronx. My family had no money. My mother was strict and we had to follow the rules. Body my parents worked. We had nothing. I think sometimes you look at us and think we had it all so we dont understand what you guys go through. And thats not true. Reporter like the story of up in a rough world. We noticed taylon murphy called bam bam had a charismatic hold on fellow inmates at rikers. Growing up, he had a superstar older sister sought after by colleges, named by espn as one of the best basketball players in the country. I looked up to her. That was my role model. She played basketball real well. Real good at basketball. I love basketball too. I wasnt as good as her. But i told her one day, im goin reporter but one night in the stairwell of the Housing Project where they lived, members of a rival gang came in and shot his sister three times. Inside, hes the king of resilience, encouraging everyone to focus on a positive future. It keeps a lot of stress off my mine, keeps me looking forward to i got plans, the goals that i set for myself. Im young. So prepare and ready for the girls, the females. Reporter hes been selected which means walking the halls at night. Check to make sure everybody alive and breathing and nobody got no suicidal thoughts in case they got something on their mind they want to talk about. Reporter the radio is playing, the Song Exchange by bryson tiller. . Do this favor for me . . Light out. There you go, brody. Reporter but we there is another part of murphys story. A rival gang member mocked the dead of his sister in a video. Prosecutors say murphy murdered him. When we first meet, the trial is under way. Conspiracy in the first. Conspiracy in the third. Murder in the second. Robbery in the first. A lot of charges. Im confused where they even come from. Reporter he says he is innocent. I put it all in gods when we return its 9 00. Everyone is locked in. Reporter and walk down the hall to see murphy whered he go . Do me a favor, wait back out here is it okay . Is there a problem . Reporter murphy put a sheet over the door. The jury found him guilty of murder. He is facing 25 years to life. Could i say hello . How are you doing . Just trying to clear my mind and stay positive. Youve walked the halls, taken care of everybody in these halls. I need somebody to te care of me. Reporter murphy is temporarily placed on suicide watch. Another night on rikers is about to end. The day began at 5 00 a. M. , is now about to end with the lights out. And as we leave, a goodbye from the young man hidden behind the murphy wishing us a safe exit from the island saying safe home, cant do it today, cant do it too much today. Well be right back. That means you get to try as much as you want. Of whatever flavors are calling your name. Seriously. Like new garlic srirachagrilled shrimp. Its a little spice. A little sizzle. And a lot just right. And try new parmesan peppercorn shrimp. Ss. And the classic. Handcrafted shrimp scampi. You cant get enough of . Still gonna floor you. It may be called endless. But that doesnt mean itll last. Im claudine and i quit smoking with chantix. Smokings a monkey on my back. It was, it was always controlling your time, your actions, your money. It had me. It had me. I would not be a nonsmoker today if it wasnt for chantix. Along with support, Chantix Varenicline is proven to help people quit smoking. Me people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. Some had seizures while taking chantix. If you have any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. Tell your doctor about any history of Mental Health problems, which could get worse or of seizures. Dont take chantix if youve had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. If you have these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away as some can be lifethreatening. Tell your doctor if you have heart or blood vessel problems, or develop new or worse symptoms. Of a heart attack or stroke. Decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. Most common side effect is nausea. Its me in control now. Taylon murphy jr. Was sentenced 50 years to life. The suspension of solitary confinement for the 18 to 21yearold population of Rikers Island has been delayed until the fall. Our thanks to diane and her team. Thank you for watching abc news. Good night, america. The last selfie. The nurse who fell off a cliff. And her farewell note to her parents when she thought she wasnt going to make it. My last note said, i am sorry with three exclamation points. Then the 6yearold kid who turned in his own dad
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