Rikers Island Inmates Riot Over Early Bedtime, Missed TV

Prisoners at Rikers Island rioted over missing their favorite Monday night shows due to a new bedtime crack-down implemented that night, The New York Post reported.

When the 9 p.m. bedtime was put into effect, 68 prisoners in a high security wing of the jail lashed out at guards and refused to enter their cells. They had to miss popular shows, including CBS's "Under the Dome," ABC's "Mistress" and FOX's "Hotel Hell," according to The New York Post. Guards sprayed the crowd with pepper spray to contain them.

Inmates in the past have had bedtimes at 11 p.m. and watched television shows like "Criminal Minds" and Spanish soap operas on flat-screen TVs in the common area. But the most violent events happen between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., prompting the earlier cut-off time, corrections officers told The New York Post.

The new rule is said to be particularly bothersome to inmates who have been on a set bedtime schedule for years and look forward to that time every week. The same orders have been given in the women's prison; they complied without any backlash.

It's unclear if any guards were injured in the incident, but according to corrections officers, violence has been on the rise. An inmate broke a correction officer's pinky finger when he was being drug tested, the New York Post said.

But some Rikers Island officers are worried the new rule will cause a crime spike. Rikers Island has experienced a string of high-profile incidents over the past year that have caused internal investigation, The New York Daily News reported.

A federal report released this month concluded that teens awaiting trial in Rikers were subjected to a "culture of violence" from 2011 to 2013.

Tags
Rikers Island, Riot, Inmates
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