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Every Night Is Ladies Night At Rikers Island
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 20, 2011
Modified Mar 20, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 20, 2011
Modified Mar 20, 2011
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There are many, many things Rikers is not good for: you can't get a vegan meal, it's bad for your sleep schedule, and danger lurks around every corner for thumbs. But there is one thing Rikers is good for: hookups between lonely female guards and eligible inmates.
Former guard Yolanda Dickinson, who worked at Rikers from 1997 to 2004, has written a novel called "Taboo," based on the jail's alleged out-of-control, soap-opera-esque sex scene. "They would do it on the midnight shift when there were not many people around. They have electronic cell doors, and it's not a problem for someone to crack open the door," she told the Post. With 3,890 female officers guarding some 12,000 men, Dickinson says hook-ups are inevitable: "There are a lot of lonely single women on the job, and you're surrounded by these cute guys. They're working out. They're attractive...They're criminals, so they have a cunning way of approaching you. They study you all day."
And she should know, since she has had her fair share of dalliances with prisoners: she admits that she met a Rikers inmate on her watch, a gang member from her neighborhood who had admitted to killing a rapist; also, the father of her 17-year-old son served 10 years in federal prison on drug charges. She was eventually fired for "undue familiarity" in 2004, after an inmate called her from Rikers.
The Post notes that at least six female guards have been fired or forced out for such relationships: that includes Kimberly Hurd, who bore an inmate's love child; Yolanda Turner-Goodwin, who was photographed hugging and kissing a prisoner; Kadessha Mulgrav, who allegedly sneaked away for a midnight liaison with an inmate in the shower room; and Doreen Baker, who was called more than 170 times by her inmate lover.
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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