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Interview with Blunt, Charles, Patrick, Ryan, TJ and U.N. Owen

JM: How many different blocks were there?
Blunt: Their were five blocks
Charles: I dont know.
Patrick: atleast fourty
Ryan: I do not know off hand But over 12.
TJ: north and south side, different types of housing areas, dorms,cells,sprungs. usually a building has a main,upper and lower housing area.
U.N. Owen: Blocks? Buildings? Look at the maps! They'll tell you how many of all of this

JM: Did they have names? If so, what were they?
Blunt: I can't recall the name of them either
Charles: I was in C95 and the MO ward. I heard there was a section for sex offenders, females, youth, etc. Check the Rikers website for more info.
Patrick: they where numbered and for every number they had three houses
Ryan: I reallyforgot, now I am busting my brain
TJ: dorms, mods, sprungs , if you are in a building with cells you will have 3 floors.
U.N. Owen: Again, look at the maps. C95, C76, Anna M. Kross, and others.

JM: Which types of inmates were housed in the different blocks?
Blunt: gang related an or drug abusers
Charles: http://www.insideprison.com/rikers-island.asp
Patrick: depending on how high your ranking was
Ryan: high risk inmates
TJ: high classification inmates (the worst) low class, mental observation, state ready,sentenced,adolescents,protective custody.
U.N. Owen: Depends. Adolescents (THE WORST of ALL the inmates) are kept seperate. There WAS 'homo-house,' for the gays, and, for people who either had a relationship with someone, or, wanted to be there for 'safe keeping.'

JM: What do you remember being the nicest and worst parts about the different blocks?
Blunt: i only went to work in the different blocks so i never had time to experience the other blocks
Charles: C95 was a dormitory with about 45 prisoners. It was very crowded there. It was very easy to get sick in there. I caught a bad cold once and I went to the infirmary for some medicine. I had to wait in a crowded cell in the infirmary and sit on a hard steel bench for many hours before I saw the health care worker. That steel bench was very uncomfortable. Many of the Hispanics in C95 would make beautiful drawings on pieces of bed linen. These drawings helped many pass the time. Many prisoners had trouble sleeping for it was noisy at night. Some would get sleeping pills from infirmary and then sell the pills to others. The little green capsules would get you very high. Some how tobacco would get into the dorm. The prisoners would roll the cigerettes then light them using a wire and a battery. They would place a wire across the battery terminals until the wire got hot then they would light the cigarette. The MO ward I was in later on was much worse than C95. In one section the roof would leak every time it rained. Maintenance was very poor in Rikers. The floors were also in poor shape. There were many fights between Hispanics and blacks in the MO ward. The Hispanics would beat up the blacks if the blacks did not shower. There were many Hispanics and blacks in Rikers. I was on medications while in the MO ward. It was very hard being on these meds and in jail. The side effects of the medications were strong then.
Patrick: some blocks where all gang members others where low ranked individuals
Ryan: messed up blocks got searched all the time
TJ: nothing nice about jail, you have the worst that society has to offer.

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