As a civil rights lawyer and former Brooklyn public defender, I have seen a lot of transformation of Rikers Island over the last 15 years. Rikers has turned into the problem child that no one wants to take responsibility for—or make meaningful policy changes to fix.

Instead, it is being patched up with Scotch tape in attempt to mask the truth of what is going on in the public forum. The city is employing nonsensical temporary solutions in the hope that it will solve the permanent problem. But that is counterintuitive to logic and progress, and these are human beings we are talking about not a warehouse full of widgets.