Rikers is behind in conditions and treatment of prisoners but for the most part it's awful reputation is exaggerated. It's not hell on earth or something from a prison horror movie like it's portrayed to be. I know several people who have been there, someone I knew did a year in Rikers and said it was like a country club. Like most holding cells, the stays are shorter and people always come and go, which means it doesn't have the same potential for violence and despair as a state prison.