Lock-Up: The Prisoners of Rikers Island

Rikers Island, a little over ten kilometres from the Empire State Building, is the largest prison compound in the United States, with ten different prisons, a total of 17,000 prisoners. There are special wards for gay men, for psychiatric cases and for pregnant women. More than 90% of them is black and practically unskilled. We see how the guards try to snuff out the daily succession of violent conflicts. We are introduced to Nancy, who is pregnant and afraid they will not hear her when the contractions will start at night; to Eddie, who has been accused of murder, and who has tried to escape several times. The statistics show, however, that only few of them will be free in the future.