Life and Death in Rikers Island

"Reporters have virtually no access to the jails on Rikers Island, but, for many years, Venters had a rare vantage point from which to observe its inner workings... He left the city's jail-health service in 2017, and now he has written a crucially important book, Life and Death in Rikers Island, in which he examines one of the most overlooked aspects of mass incarceration: the health risks of being locked up... Venters reveals the true human cost of these colossal management failures."

"Venters is a role model for using data as a tool for both epidemiology and human rights. In his book, he describes rigorous case reviews and epidemiological studies that demonstrate causes of harm... Venters's book impressively demonstrates that too little has been done at Rikers to prevent suffering, violence, and death."

"The story of Dr. Venters's experience, the approaches he has taken, and his outlook on the problem of health care in the setting of mass incarceration provides a perspective that is desperately needed."

"Life and Death in Rikers Island and its eye-opening analysis of the health risks of incarceration draw a powerful conclusion: in a just, fair, and democratic society, we have a moral obligation to care about the culture and justice of correctional institutions."

"This accessible book compiles and rewrites in engaging form the impressive, innovative, and path-breaking body of research Dr. Venters and his colleagues have conducted concerning key medical and human rights issues in prisons."

"Homer Venter's prescient Life and Death in Rikers Island explains why improving carceral health is important and deserving of more attention. In the COVID-19 era, this argument gains even greater significance... The book is also a searing exposé that powerfully illustrates the health risks of incarceration in New York City, as well as those risks that lead to incarceration in the first place... This book will be of interest to readers who follow health, medicine, and the carceral system, as well as activists and policy makers working to improve conditions for incarcerated people."