- 4 hours ago
New York City's infamous jail Rikers Island houses nearly 7,000 detainees. Chefs, not inmates, do the cooking. And while they're on their shift, the chefs are locked inside, too. There are cameras everywhere, monitored from the guard's office. Dull knives are chained to heavy machinery. Can lids slide into a locked cage. Spoons are locked up in the office. Inside Rikers' kitchens, there's a delicate balance between the chefs, the guards, and the inmates who wash the dishes.
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00:00This is one of the kitchens behind New York City's most infamous jail, Rikers Island.
00:07Here, chefs work 24-7, making every meal for 3,800 staff and people in custody.
00:14People say so many things, like the inmates cook the food. It's not true. We cook the food.
00:22But while chefs are on their shift, they're locked in too.
00:29Inmates work alongside them in the kitchen, washing dishes and moving carts.
00:35There's a distance between us. Here, you can't treat them as friends. You know why they're here.
00:41Any given moment, violence could happen. You gotta have a sense of urgency when you're working back here.
00:47Knives are chained to machinery. And can lids slide down a caged trash bin.
00:57Rikers Island is part of one of the costliest jail systems in the U.S.
01:02Yet it faces scrutiny over conditions and food quality.
01:05We went inside the jail's largest kitchen to see how thousands of meals are made and to find out how
01:11chefs, officers and detainees work together behind the walls of Rikers.
01:18Rikers Island is a complex of 10 jail buildings and the second largest jail in America.
01:23It sits in the waters between the Bronx and Queens. Planes take off from LaGuardia Airport right next door.
01:31The only way onto the island is this skinny, nearly mile-long bridge.
01:42Many chefs take public transport to get to work, passing through half a dozen security gates on their way to
01:48the kitchen.
01:49The first time I felt nervous is when I heard that gate close behind me. That's the only time I
01:55was nervous.
01:59Inside, it doesn't feel any less like a jail.
02:03There are cameras everywhere. All of them are monitored from the guard's office.
02:09Eight officers watch the feed, guard the doors, and search every food delivery for contraband.
02:16People in custody, or PICs, can't touch the food. They're only allowed to wash dishes, clean, and push food wagons.
02:25Most people held at Rikers haven't been convicted of a crime. They're awaiting trial.
02:31Those who are serving time are sentenced to a year or less.
02:38Only chefs are allowed to touch the knives. They're chained to heavy machinery at all times.
02:43There's a reason for the knife on the chain. It's for security.
02:46When chefs need to change stations, they get a guard from the office to unlock the knife and move it.
02:54When you first start, it's a little awkward. Like the chain is either touching your hand or something. But you
02:59get used to it.
03:01But officers also keep watch over objects that might seem harmless. Like lids, which go straight into a caged trash
03:08can.
03:09There's a lot of things. There's a lot of sharp objects here. A lot of things that can be used
03:12as a weapon.
03:15Metal spoons and ladles have to be checked out from a locked cabinet in the guard's office.
03:21Today, the chefs are working on a big batch of pepper steak.
03:24In a place like this, food is very important. I like to make other people happy. It's like
03:30handmade, but it's still people. They make mistakes, but they still gotta eat.
03:35Taking it in?
03:38Good morning, Kat.
03:39Nadine Leach had been incarcerated at Rikers for 17 months at the time of filming.
03:44She was a chef before serving time here, but she's only allowed to push food carts and can't use her
03:49cooking skills.
03:51I wish I could. I think I'd be making some good stuff if I could cook, yeah.
03:57Why did you want a job in the kitchen at those other places?
04:00The money and I like to serve people. It's a privilege because you have to stay ticket free.
04:06You can't be in trouble. You have to be like safe, like a safety net.
04:10Rikers, good morning.
04:11The city pays incarcerated kitchen workers like Nadine $1.45 an hour,
04:16even though minimum wage is 17 in New York City.
04:20The federal minimum wage was introduced in the 1930s,
04:23but courts have ruled that it doesn't apply to incarcerated workers
04:26because they aren't considered employees under federal labor law.
04:30The agency that runs the jail, whether that's state, city, or federal,
04:34sets the pay rates for detainees who work.
04:36New York City's Department of Correction said in a statement,
04:39the wage for each position was determined by a DOC leadership committee
04:43that assessed the number of PICs needed in each facility.
04:47You know, in other states, they don't pay them at all.
04:49That's Ruvane Blau, a criminal justice reporter and the author of Rikers, An Oral History.
04:54Studies have shown that if they do get money and they have money to come out,
04:57they have a much more successful transition.
05:01And what do you do with the money that you make?
05:03I save it because I have grandchildren, so I take care of my grandchildren,
05:07so I make sure they're okay.
05:10PICs at Rikers aren't required to work,
05:13but Nadine says she clocks in every day for 56 hours a week just to stay busy.
05:18Me, I don't take a day off because I don't like idle time.
05:21The idle time is the devil time.
05:23Back in the kitchen, chefs face other challenges,
05:26including a ban on certain ingredients like salt.
05:29Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg cut it out of the Rikers diet
05:32as part of a city-wide nutrition initiative that took effect in 2014.
05:37Chefs can use spices and soup bases to add flavor.
05:40But detainees have other methods of spicing things up, like with ramen seasoning.
05:46All the oodles and noodle pack, they got the seasoning in there.
05:48Just jazz it up, make it comfortable, or throw some cheese on it.
05:52PICs can buy ramen from the commissary, a shop for people inside the jail.
05:56But for many, the commissary is expensive.
05:59The people on Rikers Island are not generally a wealthy group of people.
06:03And these dollars make or break a family or somebody locked up there.
06:07In 2024, a $33 million no-bid contract went through for a company called Keef to stalk the commissary.
06:15The contract said commissary prices were supposed to be in line with those at local stores.
06:20But a study that Ruvane led in 2025 found that many products were pricier than they were supposed to be.
06:28In a comment, the DOC said the prices being offered are comparable to local New York City area stores.
06:33If there is a product that is too expensive, the department can remove it.
06:38For many detainees, the kitchen is their only source of food.
06:43Much of it arrives in cans, including veggies, and frozen like the meat.
06:49JAMAC, a Jersey City company, got a nearly $1.2 million contract to supply meat for New York City's Department
06:55of Correction.
06:56Cremoland, another Jersey company, has a $673,000 contract with the city to provide dairy products to its prisons.
07:04You'll find its milk jugs in many bodegas around the city, too.
07:09Despite working with limited ingredients, chefs in Rikers' kitchens still have to feed over 7,000 people in one sitting.
07:18The day we visited, they were preparing large batches of tartar sauce for tomorrow's fish.
07:23And that pepper steak, a favorite here.
07:26It's fast-paced. It's a lot going on at all times.
07:29But it's organized. Every section of the kitchen, everybody knows they roll, so everything is done smoothly.
07:36But this operation is only getting more expensive.
07:39In 2024, a DOC spokesperson said the annual food budget at Rikers was about $19 million.
07:45But the actual costs were expected to climb to about $23 million, or roughly $9 per meal per detainee.
07:53The Department of Correction said this is because the cost of living for nearly everything in New York City is
07:59more expensive compared to other states.
08:02Despite this high price tag, Nadine says the meals are hit or miss.
08:06What do you think about the food here?
08:08It's disgusting. Nah. It depends on the meal. Like, the chili, again, get jiggy with it.
08:14But everything else is pretty decent. I can't complain.
08:19Even though chefs are required to cook recipes mandated by the city, many still take pride in the work.
08:25What do you think about the food that you make here? Is it good?
08:28It's good. Once you love cooking, everything you do, you have to do it from deep down inside.
08:35So I go wrong, make sure my cooks, they're doing the best to put it out there because someone got
08:42to eat it.
08:46Early on, some of the food at Rikers came from the island itself.
08:51In the 1920s, before it became a modern jail, Rikers Island was a city-owned penal farm
08:56where incarcerated people were required to grow food and raise livestock for the jail
09:01and other New York City institutions. A meal might have included asparagus, lima beans, and pork.
09:07When the modern jail complex opened in the early 1930s, Rikers shifted to bulk food production.
09:13In the 1950s, it had a chicken coop, a 200-acre farm that provided inmates with veggies,
09:18and a bakery, pumping out two million loaves a year. But the population was growing,
09:23and poor sanitation plagued the jail. In 1959, about 100 people got sick from eating bad boiled tongue.
09:3140 ended up in the prison hospital. In the 1970s, grilled chicken was a favorite among PICs,
09:38but they also might have eaten liver or mutton. In the early 70s, William Vanden Heuvel,
09:44chairman of the board of correction, invited a New York Times food critic to try the city's prison food.
09:49He knew what the outcome was going to be, and he was trying to make a point. Why are we
09:53spending all
09:53this money to serve, you know, terrible food? You know, it was, you know, for lack of a better term,
09:56it was a stunt, but it worked, and the food really changed. They kind of really improved what they
10:00were serving. In 1980, inspectors began checking the temperature of the food to improve food safety,
10:05and chefs served pork chops. In the 90s, there was still a farm and a bakery. A meal might have
10:11included
10:11hot dogs or oxtail. Carrot cake served at Christmas was a hit. In the 2010s, Mayor Bloomberg led an
10:18initiative to make the food healthier and cheaper in the city's jails. He not only cut salt, but reduced
10:23carbs from menus and added more vegetables. Bloomberg's influence is still seen today,
10:29and the food spooned into hotel pans and loaded up onto wagons.
10:35I'm checking the wagon according to what it's supposed to have in the wagon for the meal today.
10:40Each pan serves about 25 people. The men get a few more ounces than the women. The women get less
10:47ounces. Everything. That's rude!
10:54No, but we always make sure there's enough food to go around.
10:58We caught up with the wagons at the Rose M Singer Center, the women's facility.
11:0415 PICs unload them from the truck, including Nadine.
11:12They sort the wagons based on which of the eight housing units they'll head to.
11:17Officers then check the wagons for any damage.
11:21They're looking for chipped off plastic that could be used as a weapon or contraband.
11:27You just never know. So just to check, you just still got to do security.
11:32Nadine is one of the PICs approved to deliver the carts for mealtimes.
11:36I wake up happy every day, so I want to be happy. And this right here is like my sanctuary.
11:41So
11:41when I come here, it don't feel like I'm in prison. I'm in jail. It just feels like
11:45I'm at my restaurant and I'm serving people.
11:48But then the reality comes when I go back and be like, oh, I'm here. But this is my sanctuary,
11:54so I come here to get away from everything else.
11:59But even in her sanctuary, she's patted down before she goes out for a delivery.
12:04That's their job. They have to do it. They're doing their job. I'm doing my time.
12:10It's two different worlds. But they don't treat me like an inmate or a PC or PIC, whatever. They treat
12:17me
12:17like a human, like a human.
12:21It's a delicate relationship between PICs, chefs, and officers in here.
12:27There's a distance between us. Here, you can't treat them as friends. You know why they're here.
12:32Now you be buddies and they get complacent and they start asking for things.
12:39No, sometimes they just volunteer their information to me.
12:41Sometimes I do, but I don't expect to get the good answers at all times, you know.
12:47I don't really judge them, but I treat them with respect.
12:51Because you have to treat them with respect. They're humans.
12:55But a lot of people, like, tend to know your case and then they turn down their nose to you
12:59because of your case or something like that. And I don't feel that's right,
13:02because only God can judge you. I don't want to feel like that. I want to feel like I matter.
13:06No matter how familiar a detainee becomes, officers say they can't let their guard down.
13:12When they've been here longer, do you feel like you can relax a little bit around them?
13:15Still, you never know. You get too relaxed. You just never know. So you can't, no.
13:21Nah, there's only one.
13:24Yeah. Go out?
13:26Yeah.
13:28An officer follows Nadine at all times, as she pushes the cart down the long hallways to the
13:34women's housing units.
13:36Good morning. How you doing?
13:39Good morning, how you doing?
13:43Yeah, it's beef salad and this is tuna. This is tuna fish.
13:53Nadine's also approved to serve up the food.
13:57You're like a fairy godmother of food.
13:59Yeah. I love it. I love it. I love it.
14:02Everybody smiles. I always like them to be happy.
14:06Today's lunch is tuna salad and pasta salad, served at 11 a.m.
14:10Breakfast is like 5, 5.30.
14:13Like 5 a.m. is so early.
14:14Because we have courts.
14:18Every day, hundreds of detainees at Rikers are bussed off-site for court appearances.
14:23Mealtimes are built around these departures.
14:26And that process involves getting woken up at 3, 4, 5 in the morning and then dragged to court.
14:29And sometimes it's for like a minor hearing and you're stuck in a bullpen all day.
14:33Bullpens are holding areas inside courthouses.
14:36While detainees wait, they might get a sandwich for lunch.
14:39Peanut butter and bit of jelly, cheese, bologna, salami.
14:42And guess what? When you come back to the facility, a lot of times you've missed your meal.
14:47Dinner is served as early as 4 p.m.
14:50And then they have to constantly do this sort of cycle of getting woken up,
14:53spending the entire day in a bullpen and getting this disgusting food.
14:55A lot of times people are just exhausted.
14:58In October 2019, the city council voted to close Rikers for good by 2027,
15:04citing years of violence and unmanageable conditions.
15:07The city agreed to open four new smaller jails in Manhattan,
15:11Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, which are currently under construction.
15:15Together, they're designed to hold 4,160 detainees.
15:20But in 2025, Rikers population alone reached nearly 7,000, its highest level in six years.
15:29An independent commission said Rikers Island is unlikely to close by the city's 2027 deadline.
15:35Because of the delays in construction, right now the earliest that might happen is 2031.
15:42Ruvane said it would be easier to get food to the borough jails than to Rikers Island.
15:47The facilities would also be closer to detainees court hearings and more accessible to visitors.
15:53And it's a plan the city's new mayor, Zoram Amdani, has endorsed.
15:58Before Rikers shuts down completely, a new menu is set to shake things up.
16:03In 2024, New York City received a $100,000 grant to develop healthier, plant-based menu options at Rikers
16:10Island, including dishes such as chana masala and spinach artichoke pasta.
16:16I'm excited about it because we had a little bit of training on it.
16:20And to me, it is so good. My curry chickpeas, I can't wait. I can't wait. It is so good.
16:28Something Mr. Ajita, who's from Guyana, is most excited about.
16:33Oh, you know, Guyana, is curry. We do curry, we do pepper pot, we do cook-up rice. Yeah.
16:42The city's tap non-profit Hot Bread Kitchen to develop the new menus so they would be low in sodium,
16:47plant-forward, and scalable. But Nadine isn't entirely convinced.
16:52Our meat. They're trying to take the meat from us. They don't want to eat meat no more.
17:00But I think it should be a choice. Because in here, a meal can mean everything.
17:06When they come to you and they can tell you, you know, I had a good breakfast or I had
17:10a good lunch,
17:11it's really nice. So it's important to whatever you do, you put that love into it.
17:17It's three meals a day. It's important for everybody. I want to eat.
17:24Do you think you'll try and get a job in the kitchen or something?
17:27No, I'm open back up my restaurant. I like to cook, so I'm going to make people happy with my
17:32restaurant.
17:32I mean, I got to do baby steps to get back to where I was at, but you know, it'll
17:36work out.
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