Gregory Mingo

Gregory Mingo was raised in New York City's Harlem neighborhood. Incarcerated on Rikers for the first time in 1979 at age nineteen, Mingo observed how the culture at Rikers shifted upon being sent back in 1981, noting that there were no longer solely white officers on the island, and that aside from the opening of the law library, the lack of programming persisted: "[There was] no opportunity to utilize time in a constructive way." He stresses the role economics play in keeping Rikers operational, and how corrections officers would intentionally enable violence to justify additional security measures. Mingo stresses how low-income neighborhoods unknowingly "prepared [you] to go to prison," and how Rikers itself is designed to "[become] a power struggle." He believes that Rikers should be remembered "as a place that [helped] perpetuate a new cycle of violence." (Summary written by: Carson Stachura)