Much has been written in recent months about the New York City jail at Rikers Island.  The violence is overwhelming there.  Corruption is endemic.  Prisoners die from neglect or from violent acts with regularity. But the sad truth is that Rikers is not the worst prison in the world, as many believe.  It’s not even the worst prison in New York.  That would be the Great Meadow Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in Washington County, New York. The most recent statistics released by the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) show that Great Meadow has the highest rate of suicide of any prison in the state, the highest rate of suicide attempts, the highest rate of self-harm and the second-highest rate of staff violence.  These figures point to an ongoing crisis that New York’s politicians have done literally nothing to correct.  And there is no indication whatsoever that federal authorities are willing to get involved.

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