Inside Rikers: How Knicks Finals Fever is Sparking Unexpected Drama Behind Bars
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Pictured above: A group of men in the common area of a housing unit in the George R Vierno Center watch as the Knicks play their first NBA finals game since 1999. Pictured below: Most of Wednesday’s attendees have gone six months or longer without an infraction, qualifying them to receive snacks and to remain out past the normal 9pm lock-in.
The Guardian was granted access to Rikers Island by the New York City department of correction and was accompanied during its visit by the agency’s deputy commissioner for public information.
The reward for good behavior on Wednesday night looks more like a Super Bowl spread than standard jailhouse fare: bags of chips and cookies, platters of fruit and cheese, bottled soft drinks and a large sheet cake frosted with three words that, for a night at least, unite nearly everyone in attendance: Let’s Go Knicks! Some of the items are similar to what people in custody could buy through commissary, though one DOC staffer notes that the name brands represent an upgrade from what’s offered during a typical movie night. A tinsel curtain frames the entrance while the remnants of an unfinished balloon arch lie scattered across the sealed concrete floor.
The Game 1 watch parties on Rikers extend far beyond this one. Correction officials say incarcerated people in roughly 44 housing units across the complex are taking part in some form of gathering for the game, reaching almost 2,000 people in all. Some facilities host viewings in dedicated program spaces like the Peace Center in the basement of the Robert N Davoren Complex, a similar hub for incarcerated males aged 21 and under. Over in the Otis Bantum Correctional Center, another male detention unit located a half mile down the road, people are watching in a chapel.
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