These Walls Audiobook Libro.fm

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 thoughtprovoking journey into Rikers Island and the American justice system that reframes the debate the countrys incarceration crisis with a compelling focus on architecture as a path forward Tony Messenger Pulitzer Prizewinning author of Profit and Punishment

For nearly a century the Rikers Island jail complex has stood on a 413acre 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 ontheground reporting part deep social and architectural history These Walls is an eyeopening insightfulbracing look at how the nations jailsand the nation itselfought to be reformed Kirkus Reviews and a challenge to our longheld beliefs about what constitutes power and justice