to my knowledge - rikers island is a nyc jail, not a prison so it's a place where folks are supposed to get held while they wait for trial, or if they can't bail out between court dates, or if they are remanded between court dates or if they are sentenced to less than a year in custody. (they should do their bid, after they are found guilty, at a prison or "upstate")
but nyc arrests so many people - rikers is totally overpopulated (not to mention corrupt). since it takes so long in between court dates, inmates get held there way longer than necessary. if they are found guilty and sentenced to over a year, it could take a long time before they are moved to the prison they are assigned to upstate.
or they could just be held at rikers for there whole sentence, even if it's over a year. why they get away with that, i don't know.
i really don't understand how Kalief got caught up there for three years without even being charged but then again, if they were counting on a court appointed attorney to help him out, well, that probably was pretty sad. in my experience with loved ones locked up in nyc who got court appointed attorneys, never ever spoke to those attorneys except at court dates, the they showed up. if they called or i called or other loved ones called, we would get no response. if we emailed, no response. and they often didn't show up to court so things had to be postponed once again. but my loved ones had been charged with crimes during this. they weren't uncharged so there's a little difference there. (in my experienced - usually you need to lock down a lawyer for like $5k to start taking your/your loved ones calls and actually act on your behalf and start negotiating with their prosecutor friends).
new york mag reported a few months ago that there are currently over 400 people locked up at rikers island that have yet to be convicted of a crime. that's insane but that's rikers island. if you know anyone who has been through rikers, they will tell you how corrupt it is - really because of the COs. from selling drugs to fucking the inmates to beating the shit out of them or stealing their stuff or setting them up - story after story is fuckin crazy and makes you think of the video posted above.
i have visited many jails and prisons around the country because of my job and had several loved ones locked up in the nys prison system and in my experience - rikers is the worst fuckin place to be locked up and the worst place to visit. my first hand experience is only with visiting and that is more demoralizing and disrespectful then any other jail/prison i've been to and that includes other jails/prisons in nyc and ny state and also in georgia, tennessee, new jersey, texas, indiana and maybe a couple of more states i can't remember. i would rather not go visit a loved one then go see them at rikers island.
all of this is just based on my opinion and experience on what was mentioned above. i am not a guard or a lawyer and have no first hand experience working in the prison system but have been to many of them and supported several love ones during their time there - nothing about rikers or the system in nyc, seems ethical. and remember, just cause someone is in rikers, doesn't mean they are guilty so if you say you don't care how prisoners are treated - not all the prisoners in a jail have been found guilty. they could be you or someone you know who got caught up in a or after a bad situation.
(if anyone can correct any of my info, feel free, this is just what i am familiar with)
Robbery Victim Held In Rikers Jail For 2 Years Without Being Convicted Of A Crime