These Walls

The Battle for Rikers Island and the Future of America's Jails

By: Eva Fedderly

Narrated by: Eunice Wong

“A critical intervention in the high stakes debate about the social value of jails and what we could do instead to create safety and justice.” —Alex Vitale, author of The End of Policing

In the tradition of Locking Up Our Own and The New Jim Crow, a rarely seen, thought-provoking journey into Rikers Island and the American justice system that “reframes the debate the country’s incarceration crisis, with a compelling focus on architecture as a path forward (Tony Messenger, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Profit and Punishment).

For nearly a century, the Rikers Island jail complex has stood on a 413-acre manmade island in the East River of New York. Today it is the largest correctional facility in the city, housing eight active jails and thousands of incarcerated individuals who have not yet been tried. It is also one of the most controversial and notorious jails in America.

Which is why, when mayor Bill de Blasio announced in 2017 that Rikers would be closed within the next decade, replaced with four newly designed jails located within the city boroughs, the surface reaction seemed largely positive. Many were enthusiastic, including Eva Fedderly, a journalist focused on the intersections of social justice and design, who was covering the closure and its impact for Architectural Digest. But as Fedderly dug deeper and spoke to more people involved, she discovered that the consensus was hardly universal. Among architects tasked with redesigns that reconcile profits and progress, the members of law enforcement working to stop incarceration cycles in community hot spots, the reformers and abolitionists calling for change, and, most wrenchingly, the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people whose lives will be most affected, some agreed that closing Rikers was a step in the right direction, but many were quick to point out that Rikers was being replaced, not removed. On one point, however, there was firm agreement: whatever the outcome, the world would be watching.

Part on-the-ground reporting, part deep social and architectural history, These Walls is an eye-opening, “insightful…bracing look at how the nation’s jails—and the nation itself—ought to be reformed” (Kirkus Reviews) and a challenge to our long-held beliefs about what constitutes power and justice.

An enjoyable and compelling read

Journalist Eva Fedderly's first book, These Walls, started out as an exploration into the architecture of jails, but developed into a deep dive into the entire incarceration system.
Reporting for Architectural Digest, Fedderly was investigating the planned closure of Riker's Island jail in New York, but quickly found out that it was a very complex matrix of problems being approached simplistically by entrenched interests and patterns of thought. Through her extensive research, she found they were simply expensive band aids that would do nothing to solve the issues of recidivism, substandard prison conditions, violence and current prison culture.
She clearly did her homework. She interviewed justice architects, prison officials, city commissioners, neighbors and of course, the inmates themselves (now called incarcerated individuals). She even traveled to Arkansas, to tour the Garland County Detention Center, an award-winning jail that somehow evades the bureaucracy, to address the fundamental issues mentioned above.
Fedderly does a masterful job of integrating all of these viewpoints, facts and figures into a compelling and thought-provoking narrative. Early on in the book she interviews an inmate named Moose, a charismatic and positive character who has spent much of his adult life in the jail system. She keeps tabs on him throughout her research for the book, including his release and subsequent re-arrest and return to Rikers. His insights provide a human perspective and common thread to the story she narrates.
In the end this is an enjoyable read which also illuminates a very real problem that faces not only New York, but the entire country. She finds a way of providing an abundance of information and viewpoints without overwhelming the reader. Indeed, I found myself drawn into this book from beginning to end.

Eye-opening reflections on our incarceration system

I learned a lot about the jail system and how it has evolved and about the people who are trying to re-create a prison environment that includes true rehabilitation in many forms. it’s a good read and it’s an informative read. Thought provoking!