Prison Fellowship recently partnered with Hillsong NYC to bring its worship band inside Rikers Island Detention Center in New York City. The result was “amazing to see.”
"For two minutes, I felt free."
Martha Ackerman and Stephanie Segel bring a message of hope to the incarcerated of New York's notorious jail, Rikers Island.
Earlier this week, Insider took you behind the walls on Rikers Island to December's Prison Fellowship Academy™y graduation.
Rikers Island is the main jail complex for New York City. On average the daily population is 10,000, making Rikers one of the world's largest correctional institutions.
Rikers Island is one of the last places you’d expect to hear stories of hope and forgiveness.
It’s a simple childhood memory for many: a father and his children singing nursery rhymes and reading books together. A story on NextCity.org reminds us of those little moments taking place in many American homes right before bedtime—the kind of memories that stay close to our hearts forever.
Remember the classic Coca-Cola ad from the 1970s? The one about teaching the world to sing in perfect harmony? The marketers knew they could touch a chord in people’s hearts about the power of music to promote peace, to unify.
That’s what young prisoners at New York’s Rikers Island—the nation’s second largest jail complex—are experiencing.
If there is someone who knows the criminal justice system – from both ends – it is Bernard Kerik. A one-time beat cop in New York City’s 14th Division, Kerik rose through the ranks to serve on Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s security detail in the early 1990s.
Park Avenue. Soho. Chelsea. Midtown.
Rikers Island?
When one thinks of exclusive addresses in New York City, the first thing that likely comes to mind is a penthouse overlooking Central Park, or perhaps an historic brownstone in a trendy part of town.