As the calls continue to close the city’s massive jails complex on Rikers Island, most New Yorkers are unaware of the history – and sometimes horrors – of the infamous correctional institution. The country’s largest detention complex, Rikers is now overseen by a federal monitor after years of mismanagement, violence, and dysfunction.

A new book, “Rikers: An Oral History," by  journalists Graham Rayman and Reuven Blau, pulls back the curtain and goes behind the bars to look at life in the notorious facility. The authors joined Errol to talk about the book and why they chose the oral history format. They also traced the ugly history of the island and its possible future.

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