Rikers Island Prison in New York opens family visiting room for Mother’s Day

NEW YORK (AP) – It’s probably the last place a mom desires to spend Mother’s Day together with her kids. But the family visiting space at New York’s notorious Rikers Island prison complex has turn into a bit of more kid-friendly after a colourful makeover by the Children’s Museum of Manhattan.

On Tuesday, just a few days before the Sunday holiday, the prison opened a brand new play and study room in the kindergarten for children and grandchildren of female prisoners.

“Mother’s Day means everything to me,” said Rikers inmate Nadine Leach, 43, as she watched her three-year-old granddaughter Queen excitedly explore sound machines, coloring books and toys.

The interactive wall display shows a map of the town’s five districts. The buttons below activate city sounds, comparable to the screeching of the subway.

Leach’s daughter, Lashawna Jones, 27, said the theater installation was beautiful in comparison with her last visit. Before, it was a mostly empty room with just a few books lying around. Jones said the project focused her kid’s attention on creative play relatively than the undeniable fact that their grandmother was in jail awaiting trial on drug charges.

“I’m sad that she’s not home with us for Mother’s Day. Because I feel a bit of sad coming here and visiting her because I’m used to her physically being at home with us. For example, I’m an enormous girl now; I’m holding back tears,” Jones said.

To get to the power, families board a bus, undergo security and drug screening and pass partitions covered with six layers of barbed wire. Outside the brand new play center, an indication on a blue cinder block reads: “Inmates may hold children during their visit.”

The visitor center was designed and installed by the Children’s Museum of Manhattan and reflects the exhibitions on the museum’s Upper West Side headquarters.

The exhibits teach preschool skills: communication, sharing, literacy and executive functioning, said Leslie Bushara, the museum’s program director.

Lynelle Maginley-Liddie, commissioner of the New York City Department of Corrections, cut a large green ceremonial ribbon to open the hall.

“We want mothers to have contact with their children,” Maginley-Liddie said. “You know, being in prison can be very difficult. This may be difficult for children. This can be difficult for moms. It is important that they have these connections even while they are in our care, so that when they are released, that bond is maintained while they are in prison.”

Rikers Island consists mainly of men’s prisons, housing roughly 6,000 people. The museum said in an announcement that child-friendly exhibits shall be added to those facilities next 12 months. Funding for exhibitions may even allow approved inmates to travel to the Manhattan Children’s Museum twice a month.

People detained at Rikers are either charged with crimes or serving short sentences. City officials voted to shut the whole complex in 2026 and replace it with smaller, neighborhood facilities that may be easier for family members to go to, however the date has been pushed back. Poor conditions raised the prospect of a federal takeover.

According to the Department of Corrections, the ladies’s prison, called the Rose M. Singer Center, currently houses about 370 people. In an effort to enhance safety, state officials moved a whole lot of ladies to state facilities in 2021.