On Saturday, September 30, at 3:00 pm, join us for a screening of the Bill Moyers-produced documentary Rikers: An American Jail and a discussion with former Rikers cellmates Johnny Perez and Damian Stapleton.

Rikers Island is New York City’s largest jail. It has also been ranked as one of the 10 worst jails in America. Of the more than 7,500 people detained at Rikers Jail on any given day, almost 80 percent have not yet been found guilty or innocent of the charges they face. This documentary brings you face to face with men and women who have endured incarceration at Rikers Island. Their stories, told direct to camera, vividly describe the cruel arc of the Rikers experience. Rikers: An American Jail was produced by Schumann Media Center, Inc. and Brick City TV LLC, in association with Public Square Media, Inc.; Executive Editor Bill Moyers. On May 19, 2017, Bill Moyers screened and discussed the film at the Commonwealth Club (California). Listen to the conversation here.

The screening of Rikers: An American Jail takes place in the tang Museum’s Somers Room and is free and open to the public. Join us for a reception following the screening and Q&A.

States of Incarceration is organized for the Tang Teaching Museum by Rachel Seligman, Assistant Director for Curatorial Affairs, Tang Teaching Museum, and Eric Morser, Associate Professor of History, Skidmore College with Skidmore College students from the course “Adventures in Public History: The Prison Project.” The exhibition is supported by National Endowment for the Humanities, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and at Skidmore College by Project VIS, the John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative, and the Skidmore College History Department. For a complete list of public programs, visit the States of Incarceration exhibition page.