Rikers Island

Proper noun

Rikers Island

1. An island in the East River between Queens and the Bronx, New York that is home to New York City's main jail complex.
   • Cause you might have been robbin', you might have been whylin' / But you won't be smilin' on Rikers Island1990, “Rikers Island”, in Wanted: Dead or Alive, performed by Kool G Rap and DJ Polo
   • I have pieced it together by now: The Iranians are operating a terrorist sleeper cell in the United States, one arm of which operates out of the prison on Rikers Island.2010, Seth Edgarde, Hart Island, Blackbird Books, →ISBN
2. (broadly) The jail complex on the island.
   • Mayor de Blasio on Friday vowed to shutter Rikers Island within a decade and replace the violence-plagued correction complex with “at least a few new facilities” to lock up inmates elsewhere in the city.2017 March 31, Yoav Gonen, Rebecca Rosenberg, Golding, “New York City to close Rikers Island”, in New York Post