Wilfredo Laracuente

Wilfredo Laracuente was born and raised in the Bronx. Before serving 20 years upstate, he was detained at Rikers during the 90s. He names that the potential for violence to happen at any given moment was the thing that you had to get used to the most. Returning to Rikers as a workshop facilitator, Laracuente has observed that Rikers has become "more [of a] hopeless and dreary place because medication is being utilized now to pacify people," exacerbated by longer wait times for court dates due to the COVID-19 lockdown. He notes that movement between facilties has also shifted since his time there: now, detainees are escorted everywhere, or commissary is brought directly to their units. What he notices on his recent visits is the prevelance of detainees "[pacifying] the time" in lieu of being provided habilitative programming. Laracuente believes Rikers will never close because the problems predicating its existence will continue to exist. He "[feels] like the history of Rikers hasn't been written yet. And there's still more to come." (Summary written by: Carson Stachura)