just beyond New York's La Guardia airport in this picture is Rikers Island the home to New York's jails. there are 10 jails on the island with a population of approximately 10,000 prisoners. the place has a fearsome reputation but there was one statistic that I found quite sobering. 55% of the inmates are black and 34% are Hispanic. that means that 89% of the inmates are none white.
there is a huge debate going on in America about the treatment of black people by the police but if 89% of the people in prison in Ney York are none white then something is not working, it may well be true that the vast majority of people Incarcerated there should be there but there is something wrong with a society where 9 in 10 people who are locked up are none white.
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