AAN Association of Alternative Newsmedia

Year-Long Village Voice Series is Followed by Multiple Indictments

By AAN Staff

january 23, 2009 02:48 pm

In July 2007 Graham Rayman revealed in the Voice that jail guards at Rikers Island were deputizing inmates "to beat up other inmates," sometimes paying them with cigarettes, and that internal reports were ignored, and at least one whistleblower was fired. "Young people tell me when they go in there, the culture is such that [youthful inmates] control the jail," a victim's lawyer told Rayman. When inmates beat 21-year-old Tyreece Abney to death, one of them was convicted of the crime -- but nothing changed, and in November Rayman reported on the death of 18-year-old Christopher Robinson by similar methods. Yesterday three guards were charged with conspiracy in Robinson's death. "I feel like I'm one step closer to getting justice today," Robinson's mother tells the Daily News.

View full article at The Village Voice