0:01 This is [music] one of the kitchens
0:03 behind New York City's most infamous
0:07 jail, Riker's Island.
0:10 Here, chefs work 24/7 [music] making
0:13 every meal for 3,800 staff and people in custody.
0:15 custody.
0:17 >> People say so many things like the the
0:20 inmates cook the food. It's not true. We
0:23 cook the food.
0:25 >> But while chefs are on their shift,
0:31 Inmates work alongside them in the
0:33 kitchen, washing dishes and moving carts.
0:35 carts.
0:37 >> There's a distance between us here. You
0:39 can't treat them as friends. You know
0:41 why they're here.
0:43 >> Any given moment, violence could happen.
0:45 You got to have a sense of urgency when
0:47 you're working back here.
0:51 >> Knives are chained to machinery
0:53 and can lids slide down a caged trash bin.
0:59 Riker's Island is part of one of the
1:02 costliest jail systems in the US. Yet,
1:03 it faces scrutiny over [music]
1:06 conditions and food quality.
1:08 We went inside the jail's largest
1:10 kitchen to see how thousands of meals
1:12 are made and to find out how chefs,
1:14 officers, and detainees work together
1:18 behind the walls of Rikers.
1:21 Riker's Island is a complex of 10 jail
1:23 buildings and the second largest jail in
1:26 America. It sits in the waters between
1:28 the Bronx and Queens. Planes take off
1:32 from LaGuardia Airport right next door.
1:34 The only way onto the island is this
1:44 Many chefs take public transport to get
1:45 to work,
1:47 >> passing through half a dozen security
1:50 gates on their way to the kitchen.
1:52 The first time I felt nervous is when I
1:54 heard that gate close behind me. That's
2:02 >> Inside, it doesn't feel any less like a jail.
2:04 jail.
2:06 There are cameras everywhere. All of
2:07 them are monitored from the guard's office.
2:09 office.
2:11 Eight officers watch the feed, guard the
2:13 doors, and search every food delivery
2:16 for contraband.
2:19 People in custody or PIC's can't touch
2:22 the food. They're only allowed to wash
2:25 dishes, clean, and push food wagons.
2:28 Most people held at Rikers haven't been
2:30 convicted of a crime. They're awaiting
2:33 trial. Those who are serving time are
2:40 Only chefs are allowed to touch the
2:41 knives. They're chained to heavy
2:43 machinery at all times.
2:44 >> There's a reason for the knife on the
2:47 chain. It's for security.
2:49 >> When chefs need to change stations, they
2:50 get a guard from the office to unlock
2:54 the knife and move it.
2:56 >> When you first started, it's a little
2:58 awkward, like the chain is either
2:59 touching your hand or something, but you
3:02 get used to it.
3:03 >> But officers also keep watch over
3:06 objects that might seem harmless, like
3:08 lids, which go straight into a caged
3:09 trash can.
3:10 >> It's a lot of things. There's a lot of
3:12 sharp objects here. A lot of things that
3:15 could be used as a weapon.
3:17 Metal spoons and ladles have to be
3:18 checked out from a locked cabinet in the
3:21 guard's office.
3:22 Today, the chefs are working on a big
3:25 batch of pepper steak.
3:26 In a place like this, food is very important.
3:28 important.
3:30 I like to make other people happy. It's
3:33 like they made people make me sick, but
3:35 they still got to eat.
3:38 >> Taking it in.
3:40 >> Good morning, Cat. Naen Leech had been
3:43 incarcerated at Riker for 17 months at
3:45 the time of filming. She was a chef
3:47 before serving time here, but she's only
3:49 allowed to push food carts and can't use
3:53 her cooking skills. I wish I could. I
3:55 think I'd be making some good stuff if I
3:57 could cook. Yeah.
3:59 >> Why did you want a job in the kitchen
4:00 with those other places?
4:04 >> The money and um I like to serve people.
4:05 It's a privilege cuz um you have to stay
4:07 ticket free. You can't be in trouble. So
4:09 you have to be like safe, like a safety net.
4:10 net.
4:11 >> Rey, good morning.
4:12 >> Good morning. Good morning.
4:13 >> The city pays incarcerated kitchen
4:16 workers like Naen $1.45 an hour [music]
4:19 even though minimum wage is 17 in New
4:22 York City. The federal minimum wage was
4:23 introduced in the 1930s, [music]
4:25 but courts have ruled that it doesn't
4:27 apply to incarcerated workers because
4:28 they aren't considered employees under
4:31 federal labor law. The agency that runs
4:33 the jail, whether that's state, city, or
4:35 federal, sets the pay rates for
4:37 detainees who work. New York City's
4:39 Department of Corrections said in a
4:41 statement, "The wage for each position
4:43 was determined by a DOC leadership
4:44 committee [music] that assessed the
4:47 number of PIC's needed in each facility.
4:48 You know, in other states, they don't
4:49 pay them at all."
4:51 >> That's Ruvane Blau, a criminal justice
4:53 reporter and the author of Rikers, an
4:54 oral history. [music]
4:56 >> Studies have shown that if they do get
4:57 money and they have money to come out,
4:59 they're have much more successful
5:01 [music] transition.
5:02 >> And what do you do with the money that
5:04 you make? Um, I save it cuz I have
5:06 grandchildren. So, you know, I take care
5:09 of my grandchildren so I make sure they okay.
5:10 okay.
5:13 >> PIC's at Rikers aren't required to work,
5:14 [music] but Naen says she clocks in
5:17 every day for 56 hours a week just to
5:18 stay busy.
5:20 >> Me, I don't take a day off because I
5:22 like idle time. Idle time is the devil time.
5:23 time.
5:25 >> Back in the kitchen, chefs face other
5:27 challenges, including a ban on certain
5:30 ingredients like salt. Former mayor
5:32 Michael Bloomberg cut it out of the
5:34 Riker's diet as part of a city-wide
5:36 nutrition initiative that took effect in
5:39 2014. Chefs can use spices in soup bases
5:42 to add flavor. But detainees have other
5:44 methods of spicing things up like with
5:46 ramen seasoning.
5:47 >> Or the oodles and noodle pack. They got
5:49 the seasoning. Just jazz it up, make it
5:52 comfort or throw some cheese on it.
5:54 >> PIC's can buy ramen from the commissary,
5:56 a shop for people inside the jail. But
5:59 for many, the commissary is expensive.
6:00 >> The people in Riker's Island are not,
6:02 you know, generally a wealthy group of
6:04 people. And, you know, these dollars
6:05 make make or break, you know, a family
6:07 or, you know, somebody locked up there.
6:11 >> In 2024, a $33 million no bid contract
6:14 went through for a company called KE to
6:16 stock the commissary. The contract said
6:18 commissary prices were supposed to be in
6:21 line with those at local stores. But a
6:23 study that Ruvane led in 2025 found that
6:25 many products [music] were pricier than
6:28 they were supposed to be.
6:30 In a comment, the DOC said the prices
6:32 being offered are comparable to local
6:34 New York City area stores. There is a
6:36 product that is too expensive. The
6:38 department can remove it.
6:40 For many detainees, the kitchen is their
6:43 only source of food.
6:45 Much of it arrives in cans, including
6:49 veggies, and frozen like the meat.
6:51 Jamac, a Jersey City company, got a
6:53 nearly $1.2 million contract to supply
6:55 meat for New York City's Department of
6:58 Correction. Creoleand, another Jersey
7:01 company, has a $673,000
7:03 contract with the city to provide dairy
7:05 products to its prisons. You'll find its
7:07 milk jugs and many bodeas around the
7:09 city, too.
7:10 Despite working with limited
7:13 ingredients, chefs in Riker's kitchens
7:15 still have to feed over 7,000 people in
7:18 one sitting.
7:20 The day we visited, they were preparing
7:22 large batches of tartar sauce for
7:24 tomorrow's fish. And that pepper steak,
7:26 a favorite here.
7:28 >> It's fastpaced. It's a lot going on at
7:31 all times. But it's organized. Every
7:32 section of the kitchen, everybody know
7:35 they roll. So, it's everything is done smoothly.
7:36 smoothly.
7:38 >> But this operation is only getting more
7:41 expensive. In 2024, a DOC spokesperson
7:43 said the annual food budget at Rikers
7:46 was about $19 million. But the actual
7:49 costs were expected to climb to about 23
7:52 million or roughly $9 per meal per
7:55 detainee. The Department of Corrections
7:57 said this is because the cost of living
7:58 for nearly everything [music] in New
8:00 York City is more expensive compared to
8:03 other states.
8:05 Despite this high price tag, Naen says
8:07 the meals are hit or miss.
8:08 >> What do you think about the food here?
8:10 >> Disgusting. Nah. Um, it depends on the
8:13 meal. Great. The chili again get jiggy
8:15 with it. But everything else is pretty
8:19 decent. I can't complain.
8:20 >> Even though chefs are required to cook
8:23 recipes mandated by the city, many still
8:26 take pride in the work.
8:27 >> What do you think of the food that you
8:28 make here? Is it good?
8:31 >> It's good. Once you love cooking,
8:33 everything you do, you have to do it
8:36 from deep down inside. So I go around
8:39 make sure my cooks they're doing the
8:42 best to put it out there because someone
8:49 Early on, some of the food at Riker came
8:51 from the island itself.
8:53 In the 1920s, before it became a modern
8:56 jail, Riker's Island was a city-owned
8:58 penal farm where incarcerated people
9:00 were required to grow food and raise
9:01 livestock for the jail and other New
9:03 York City institutions.
9:05 A meal might have included asparagus,
9:08 lima beans, and pork. When the modern
9:10 jail complex opened in the early 1930s,
9:13 Riker shifted to bulk food production.
9:15 In the 1950s, it had a chicken coupe, a
9:17 200 acre farm that provided inmates with
9:20 veggies, and a bakery, pumping out 2
9:22 million loaves a year. But the
9:24 population was growing, and poor
9:28 sanitation plagued the jail. In 1959,
9:30 about a 100 people got sick from eating
9:32 bad, boiled tongue. 40 ended up in the
9:34 prison hospital.
9:36 In the 1970s, grilled chicken was a
9:38 favorite among PIC's, but they also
9:41 might have eaten liver or mutton.
9:44 In the early '7s, William Vandenhuvel,
9:46 chairman of the board of correction,
9:48 invited a New York Times food critic to
9:50 try the city's prison food.
9:51 >> He knew what the outcome was going to
9:52 be, and he was trying to make a point.
9:53 Why are we spending all this money to
9:55 serve, you know, terrible food? You
9:56 know, it was, you know, for lack of a
9:57 better term, it was a stunt, but it
10:00 worked and the food really changed. They
10:01 kind of really improved what they were serving.
10:01 serving.
10:04 >> In 1980, inspectors began checking the
10:05 temperature of the food to improve food
10:07 safety, and chefs served pork chops. In
10:09 the9s, there was still a farm in a
10:11 bakery. A meal might have included hot
10:14 dogs or oxtail. Carrot cake served at
10:17 Christmas was a hit. In the 2010s, Mayor
10:18 Bloomberg [snorts] led an initiative to
10:20 make the food healthier and cheaper in
10:23 the city's jails. He not only cut salt,
10:25 but reduced carbs for menus and added
10:27 more vegetables.
10:29 Bloomberg's influence is still seen
10:31 today and the food spooned into hotel
10:35 pans and loaded up onto wagons.
10:37 >> I'm checking the wagon according to what
10:39 it's supposed to have in the wagon for
10:40 the meal today.
10:43 >> Each pan serves about 25 people.
10:45 >> The men get more a few more ounces than
10:48 the women. The women get less ounces of what?
10:50 what?
10:52 >> Every day.
10:55 >> That's rude. I
10:56 >> No, but we always make sure there's
10:59 enough food to go around.
11:00 >> We caught up with the wagons at the
11:02 Rosem Singer Center, the women's facility.
11:04 facility.
11:07 >> 15 PIC's unload them from the truck,
11:09 including Naen.
11:12 >> I'm looking for three. Where three?
11:12 Three East End.
11:14 >> They sort the wagons based on which of
11:17 the eight housing units they'll head to.
11:19 >> Officers then check the wagons for any damage.
11:22 damage.
11:23 They're looking for chipped off plastic
11:26 that could be used as a weapon or contraband.
11:27 contraband.
11:29 >> You just never know. So, just to check,
11:32 you just still got to do security.
11:34 >> Naen is one of the PIC's approved to
11:36 deliver the carts for meal times.
11:39 >> I wake up happy every day. So, I want to
11:40 be happy and this right here is like my
11:42 sanctuary. So, when I come here, it
11:44 don't feel like I'm in prison. I'm in
11:46 jail. It just feel like I'm at my
11:48 restaurant and I'm serving people.
11:50 But then the reality comes when I go
11:53 back and then be like, "Oh, I'm here."
11:55 But this is my sanctuary. So I come here
11:59 to get away from everything else.
12:01 >> But even in her sanctuary, she's patted
12:04 down before she goes out for a delivery.
12:06 >> That's their job. They have to do it.
12:08 They doing their job. I'm I'm doing my time.
12:10 time.
12:12 It's two different worlds. But they
12:15 don't treat me like an inmate or PC or
12:18 PIC, whatever. They treat me in a human
12:24 >> It's a delicate relationship between
12:27 PIC's, chefs, and officers in here.
12:29 >> There's a distance between us here. You
12:31 can't treat them as friends. You know
12:32 why they're here.
12:33 >> Now, you be buddies and they get
12:35 complacent and they start [music]
12:37 asking for things.
12:39 >> Do you ask people what they done?
12:41 >> No. Sometimes they just volunteer the
12:42 information to me.
12:43 >> Sometimes I do, but I don't expect to
12:47 get the good answers. at all times. You
12:49 know, I don't really judge them, but I
12:52 treat them with respect cuz you have to
12:55 treat them with respect. They're humans.
12:57 >> But a lot of people like tend to know
12:59 your case and then they turn down their
13:00 nose to you because of your case or
13:01 something like [music] that. And I don't
13:03 feel that's right cuz only God could
13:04 judge you. I don't want to feel like
13:06 that. I want to feel like I matter.
13:08 >> No matter how familiar a detainee
13:11 becomes, officers say they can't let
13:12 their guard down. [music] When they've
13:14 been here longer, do you feel like you
13:16 can relax a little bit around them?
13:17 >> Still, you never know. You get [music]
13:19 too relaxed. You just You just never
13:21 know. So, you can't [music]
13:22 [music]
13:24 >> n this only one. >> Yeah.
13:25 >> Yeah.
13:31 >> An officer follows Naen at all times as
13:33 she pushes the cart down the long
13:36 hallways to the women's housing units.
13:44 Valin area.
13:48 >> Yeah. Beet um salad and this is tuna.
13:50 This is
13:53 tuna fish.
13:55 >> Nadine's also approved to serve up the food.
13:57 food.
13:59 >> You're like a fairy godmother of food in
14:02 >> I love it. I love it. I love it.
14:04 Everybody smile. I always like them to
14:06 be happy.
14:08 Today's lunch is tuna salad and pasta
14:10 salad served at 11:00 a.m. Here you go.
14:13 >> Breakfast is like 5 5:30.
14:14 >> Like 5:00 a.m. is so early
14:20 Every day, hundreds of detainees at
14:21 Rikers are bust off site for court appearances.
14:23 appearances.
14:25 Meal times are built around these
14:26 departures [music]
14:27 >> and that process involves getting woken
14:29 up at 3 4 5 in the morning and then
14:30 dragged to court. And sometimes it's for
14:32 like a minor hearing and you're stuck in
14:34 a bullpen all day. Bullpens are holding
14:36 areas inside courouses. While detainees
14:38 wait, they might get a sandwich for lunch.
14:39 lunch.
14:40 >> Peanut butter and bit jelly, [music]
14:42 cheese, bologn, salami, and guess what?
14:44 When you come back to the the facility,
14:48 a lot of times you've missed your meal.
14:50 >> Dinner is served as early as 400 p.m.
14:51 >> And then they have to constantly do this
14:53 sort of cycle of getting woken up,
14:54 spending the entire day in a bullpen,
14:56 and getting this disgusting food. A lot
14:58 of times, people are just exhausted.
15:00 [music] In October 2019, the city
15:02 council voted to close Rikers for good
15:04 by 2027, [music]
15:05 citing years of violence and
15:08 unmanageable conditions. The city agreed
15:10 to open four new smaller jails in
15:13 Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the
15:14 Bronx, which are currently under
15:17 construction. Together, they're designed
15:19 to hold 4,160
15:22 detainees. But in 2025, Riker's
15:26 population alone reached nearly 7,000,
15:30 its highest level in six years.
15:32 An independent commission said Riker's
15:34 Island is unlikely to close by the
15:36 city's 2027 deadline.
15:38 >> Because of the delays in construction
15:40 right now, the the earliest that might
15:42 happen is is 2031.
15:44 >> Ruvane said it would be easier to get
15:46 food to the burrow jails than to
15:49 Reikger's Island. The facilities would
15:50 also be closer to detainees court
15:52 hearings and more accessible to visitors.
15:54 visitors.
15:55 And it's a plan the city's new mayor,
15:58 Zoramani, has endorsed.
16:01 Before Riker shuts down completely, a
16:04 new menu is set to shake things up. In
16:07 2024, New York City received a $100,000
16:09 grant to develop healthier plant-based
16:11 menu options at Riker's Island,
16:13 including dishes such as chana masala
16:16 and spinach artichoke pasta.
16:18 I'm excited about it because we had a
16:21 little bit of training on it and to me
16:25 it is so good. My curry chickpeas, I
16:28 can't wait. I can't wait. It is so good.
16:31 >> Something Mr. Aja, who's from Guyana, is
16:33 most excited about.
16:37 >> Oh, you know Guyana's curry.
16:39 We do curry, we do pepper pot, we do
16:42 cook up rice. Yeah.
16:44 the city's tap nonprofit hotbread
16:46 kitchen to develop the new menus so they
16:48 would be low in sodium, plantforward,
16:52 and scalable. But Naen isn't entirely convinced.
16:52 convinced.
16:54 >> Our meat, they're trying to take the
16:56 meat from us. They don't want us to eat
17:02 >> But I think it should be a choice
17:04 >> because in here a meal can mean
17:07 everything. when they come to you and
17:09 they can tell you, you know, I had a
17:11 good breakfast or I had a good lunch.
17:13 It's really nice. So, it's important to
17:17 whatever you do, you put that love into it.
17:18 it.
17:19 >> Three meals a day. It's important for
17:26 >> Do you think you'll try and get a job in
17:27 a kitchen or something?
17:30 >> No, I'm open back up my restaurant. I'm
17:31 I like to cook, so I'm gonna make people
17:33 happy with my restaurant. I mean, I got
17:34 to do baby steps to get back to where I
