title: Elijah

text: Detractors of Mormonism have often alleged that Smith, in whose time and place the King James Version was the only available English translation of the Bible, simply failed to grasp the fact that the Elijah of the Old Testament and the Elias of the New Testament are the same person. Latter-day Saints deny this and say that the difference they make between the two is deliberate and prophetic. The names Elias and Elijah refer to one who prepares the way for the coming of the Lord. This is applicable to John the Baptist coming to prepare the way for the Lord and His baptism; it also refers to Elijah appearing during the transfiguration to prepare for Jesus by restoring keys of sealing power. Jesus then gave this power to the Twelve saying, "Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."


title: Elijah

text: Elijah () is mentioned as a prophet in . Elijah's narrative in the Quran and later Muslim tradition resembles closely that in the Hebrew Bible and Muslim literature records Elijah's primary prophesying as taking place during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel as well as Ahaziah. He is seen by Muslims to be the prophetic predecessor to Elisha. While neither the Bible nor the Quran mentions the genealogy of Elijah, some scholars of Islam believe he may have come from the priestly family of the prophet Aaron. While Elijah is associated with Islamic eschatology, Islam views Jesus as the Messiah. However, Elijah is expected to come back along with the mysterious figure known as Khidr during the Last Judgment. Elijah's figure has been identified with a number of other prophets and saints, including Idris, which is believed by some scholars to have been another name for Elijah, and Khidr. Islamic legend later developed the figure of Elijah, greatly embellishing upon his attributes, and some apocryphal literature gave Elijah the status of a half-human, half-angel. Elijah also appears in later works of literature, including the "Hamzanama".


title: Elijah

text: Elijah is mentioned in the Quran, where his preaching is recounted in a concise manner. The Quran narrates that Elijah told his people to come to the worship of God and to leave the worship of Baal, the primary idol of the area. The Quran states, "And Elias was indeed one of the messengers. ˹Remember˺ when he said to his people, “Will you not fear ˹Allah˺? Do you call upon ˹the idol of˺ Ba’l and abandon the Best of Creators— Allah, your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers?” "


title: Elijah

text: The Quran makes it clear that the majority of Elijah's people denied the prophet and continued to follow idolatry. However, it mentions that a small number of devoted servants of God among them followed Elijah and believed in and worshiped God. The Quran states, "But they rejected him, so they will certainly be brought ˹for punishment˺. But not the chosen servants of Allah. We blessed him ˹with honourable mention˺ among later generations: "


title: Elijah

text: Numerous commentators, including Abdullah Yusuf Ali, have offered commentary on VI: 85 saying that Elijah, Zechariah, John the Baptist and Jesus were all spiritually connected. Abdullah Yusuf Ali says, "The third group consists not of men of action, but Preachers of Truth, who led solitary lives. Their epithet is: "the Righteous." They form a connected group round Jesus. Zachariah was the father of John the Baptist, who is referenced as "Elias, which was for to come" (Matt 11:14); and Elias is said to have been present and talked to Jesus at the Transfiguration on the Mount (Matt. 17:3)."


title: Elijah

text: Muslim literature and tradition recounts that Elijah preached to the Kingdom of Israel, ruled over by Ahab and later his son Ahaziah. He is believed to have been a "prophet of the desert—like John the Baptist". Elijah is believed to have preached with zeal to Ahab and his wife Jezebel, who according to Muslim tradition was partly responsible for the worship of false idols in this area. Muslims believe that it was because the majority of people refused to listen to Elijah that Elisha had to continue preaching the message of God to Israel after him.


title: Elijah

text: Elijah has been the subject of legends and folktales in Muslim culture, usually involving his meeting with Khidr, and in one legend, with Muhammad himself. In Islamic mysticism, Elijah is associated closely with the sage Khidr. One hadith reported that Elijah and Khidr met together every year in Jerusalem to go on the pilgrimage to Mecca. Elijah appears also in the "Hamzanama" numerous times, where he is spoken of as being the brother of Khidr as well as one who drank from the Fountain of Youth.


title: Elijah

text: Further, It is narrated in Kitab al-Kafi that Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq was reciting the prostration of Ilyas (Elijah) in the Syrian language and began to weep. He then translated the supplication in Arabic to a group of visiting scholars:


title: Elijah

text: "O Lord, will I find that you punish me although you know of my thirst in the heat of midday? Will I find that you punish me although you know that I rub my face on Earth to worship you? Will I find that you punish me although you know that I give up sins for you? Will I find that you punish me although you know that I stay awake all night just for you?" To which Allah then inspired to Ilyas, "Raise your head from the Earth for I will not punish you".


title: Elijah

text: Although most Muslim scholars believed that Elijah preached in Israel, some early commentators on the Quran stated that Elijah was sent to Baalbek, in Lebanon. Modern scholars have rejected this claim, stating that the connection of the city with Elijah would have been made because of the first half of the city's name, that of "Baal", which was the deity that Elijah exhorted his people to stop worshiping. Scholars who reject identification of Elijah's town with Baalbek further argue that the town of Baalbek is not mentioned with the narrative of Elijah in either the Quran or the Hebrew Bible.


title: Elijah

text: Druze tradition honors several “mentors” and “prophets”, and Elijah is honored as a prophet. Druze venerate Elijah, and he is considered a central figure in Druzism. And due to his importance in Druzism, the settlement of Druze on Mount Carmel had partly to do with Elijah's story and devotion. There are two large Druze towns on the eastern slopes of Mount Carmel: Daliyat al-Karmel and Isfiya. The Druze regard the Cave of Elijah as holy, and they identify Elijah as "al-Khidr", the green prophet who symbolizes water and life, a miracle who cures the sick. He and Jethro (Shuaib) are considered patron saints of the Druze people.


title: Elijah

text: Druze, like some Christians, believe that Elijah came back as John the Baptist, since they belief in reincarnation and the transmigration of the soul, Druze believe that El Khidr and John the Baptist are one and the same; along with Saint George.


title: Elijah

text: In the Baháʼí Faith, the Báb, founder of the Bábí Faith, is believed to be the return of Elijah and John the Baptist. Both Elijah and John the Baptist are considered to be Lesser Prophets, whose stations are below that of a Manifestation of God like Jesus Christ, Buddha, the Báb or Bahá'u'lláh. The Báb is buried on Mount Carmel, where Elijah had his confrontation with the prophets of Baal.


title: Elijah

text: That ravens fed Elijah by the brook Chorath has been questioned. The Hebrew text at 1 Kings 17:4–6 uses the word "`ōrvīm", which means "ravens", but with a different vocalization might equally mean "Arabs". The Septuagint has , "ravens", and other traditional translations followed.


title: Elijah

text: Alternatives have been proposed for many years; for example Adam Clarke (d. 1832) treated it as a discussion already of long standing. Objections to the traditional translation are that ravens are ritually unclean as well as physically dirty; it is difficult to imagine any method of delivery of the food which is not disgusting. The parallelism with the incident that follows, where Elijah is fed by the widow, also suggests a human, if mildly improbable, agent.


title: Elijah

text: Prof. John Gray chooses "Arabs", saying "We adopt this reading solely because of its congruity with the sequel, where Elijah is fed by an alien Phoenician woman." His translation of the verses in question is:


title: Elijah

text: And the word of Jehovah came to Elijah saying, Go hence and turn eastward and hide thyself in the Wadi Chorath east of the Jordan, and it shall be that thou shalt drink of the wadi, and I have commanded the Arabs to feed thee there. And he went and did according to the word of Jehovah and went and dwelt in the Wadi Chorath east of the Jordan. And the Arabs brought him bread in the morning and flesh in the evening and he would drink of the wadi.


title: Elijah

text: The challenge to the priests of Baal had the two-fold purpose of demonstrating that the God of Israel was greater than Baal, and that it was he who was the giver of rain. According to J. Robinson, "Some scholars have suggested that the pouring of water was a piece of sympathetic magic."


title: Elijah

text: Hugo Gressmann suggested that the fire that destroyed the offering and altar was lightning, while Ferdinand Hitzig and others thought the water poured on the sacrifice and into the ditch might have been flammable naphtha. Baptist scholar H. H. Rowley rejects both views. Robinson dismisses the suggestion of naphtha with the view that the priests of Baal would have been aware of the properties of naphtha. Julian Morgenstern rejects the idea of sympathetic magic, but supports the interpretation of white naphtha possibly ignited by a glass or mirror to focus the sun's rays, citing other mentions of sacred fire, as in 2 Maccabees 1:18–22.


title: Elijah

text: In the Gospel of John, Jesus says: "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, ["even"] the Son of man which is in heaven." Traditionally Christianity interprets the "Son of Man" as a title of Jesus, but this has never been an article of faith and there are other interpretations. Further interpreting this quote, some Christians believe that Elijah was not assumed into heaven but simply transferred to another assignment either in heaven or with King Jehoram of Judah.


title: Elijah

text: The question of whether Elijah was in heaven or elsewhere on earth depends partly on the view of the letter Jehoram received from Elijah in 2 Chronicles 21:12 after Elijah had ascended. Some have suggested that the letter was written before Elijah ascended, but only delivered later. The rabbinical Seder Olam explains that the letter was delivered seven years after his ascension. This is also a possible explanation for some variation in manuscripts of Josephus' "Antiquities of the Jews" when dealing with this issue. Others have argued that Elijah was only "caught away" such as Philip in Acts 8 John Lightfoot reasoned that it must have been a different Elijah.


title: Elijah

text: The Jewish nation awaits the coming of Elijah to precede the coming of the Messiah. For many Christians this prophecy was fulfilled in the gospels, where he appears during the Transfiguration alongside Moses. Commentators have said that Moses' appearance represented the law, while Elijah's appearance represented the prophets.


title: Elijah

text: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that Elijah returned on 3 April 1836 in an appearance to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, fulfilling the prophecy in Malachi.


title: Elijah

text: The Baháʼí Faith believes Elijah returned as the biblical prophet John the Baptist and as the Báb who founded the Bábí Faith in 1844. Druze, like Baháʼí Faith believes, believe that Elijah came back as John the Baptist,


title: Elijah

text: The American founded Nation of Islam believes Elijah returned as Elijah Muhammad, black separatist religious leader (who claimed to be a "messenger", not a prophet). This is considered less important than their belief that Allah himself showed up in the person of Fard Muhammad, the founder of the group. It differs notably from most beliefs about Elijah, in that his re-appearance is usually the precursor to a greater one's appearance, rather than an afterthought.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), occasionally still called dysmorphophobia, is a mental disorder characterized by the obsessive idea that some aspect of one's own body part or appearance is severely flawed and therefore warrants exceptional measures to hide or fix it. In BDD's delusional variant, the flaw is imagined. If the flaw is actual, its importance is severely exaggerated. Either way, thoughts about it are pervasive and intrusive, and may occupy several hours a day, causing severe distress and impairing one's otherwise normal activities. BDD is classified as a somatoform disorder, and the "DSM-5" categorizes BDD in the obsessive–compulsive spectrum, and distinguishes it from anorexia nervosa.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: BDD is estimated to affect from 0.7% to 2.4% of the population. It usually starts during adolescence and affects both men and women. The BDD subtype muscle dysmorphia, perceiving the body as too small, affects mostly males. Besides thinking about it, one repetitively checks and compares the perceived flaw, and can adopt unusual routines to avoid social contact that exposes it. Fearing the stigma of vanity, one usually hides the preoccupation. Commonly unsuspected even by psychiatrists, BDD has been underdiagnosed. Severely impairing quality of life via educational and occupational dysfunction and social isolation, BDD has high rates of suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: In 1886, Enrico Morselli reported a disorder that he termed "dysmorphophobia," which described the disorder as a feeling of being ugly even though there does not appear to be anything wrong with the person's appearance"." In 1980, the American Psychiatric Association recognized the disorder, while categorizing it as an atypical somatoform disorder, in the third edition of its "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" ("DSM"). Classifying it as a distinct somatoform disorder, the "DSM-III'"s 1987 revision switched the term to "body dysmorphic disorder".


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: Published in 1994, DSM-IV defines BDD as a preoccupation with an imagined or trivial defect in appearance, a preoccupation causing social or occupational dysfunction, and not better explained as another disorder, such as anorexia nervosa. Published in 2013, the "DSM-5" shifts BDD to a new category ("obsessive–compulsive spectrum"), adds operational criteria (such as repetitive behaviors or intrusive thoughts), and notes the subtype "muscle dysmorphia" (preoccupation that one's body is too small or insufficiently muscular or lean).


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: The term "dysmorphic" is derived from the Greek word, 'dusmorphíā' - the prefix 'dys-' meaning abnormal or apart, and 'morphḗ' meaning shape. Morselli described people who felt a subjective feeling of ugliness as people who were tormented by a physical deficit. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the Austrian founder of psychoanalysis, once described his patients as a "Wolf Man," as he was experiencing classical symptoms of BDD. The person he was referring to was a wealthy Russian aristocrat named Sergei Pankejeff (1886-1979).


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: Dislike of one's appearance is common, but individuals with BDD have extreme misperceptions about their physical appearance. Whereas vanity involves a quest to aggrandize the appearance, BDD is experienced as a quest to normalize the appearance merely. Although delusional in about one of three cases, the appearance concern is usually non-delusional, an overvalued idea.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: The bodily area of focus can be nearly any and is commonly face, skin, stomach, arms and legs. In addition, multiple areas can be focused on simultaneously. A subtype of body dysmorphic disorder is bigorexia (anorexia reverse or muscle dysphoria). In muscular dysphoria, patients perceive their body as excessively thin despite being muscular and trained. Many seek dermatological treatment or cosmetic surgery, which typically does not resolve the distress. On the other hand, attempts at self-treatment, as by skin picking, can create lesions where none previously existed.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: BDD is an obsessive-compulsive disorder but involves more depression and social avoidance despite DOC. BDD often associates with social anxiety disorder. Some experience delusions that others are covertly pointing out their flaws. Cognitive testing and neuroimaging suggest both a bias toward detailed visual analysis and a tendency toward emotional hyper-arousal.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: Most generally, one experiencing BDD ruminates over the perceived bodily defect several hours daily or longer, uses either social avoidance or camouflaging with cosmetics or apparel, repetitively checks the appearance, compares it to that of other people, and might often seek verbal reassurances. One might sometimes avoid mirrors, repetitively change outfits, groom excessively, or restrict eating.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: BDD's severity can wax and wane, and flareups tend to yield absences from school, work, or socializing, sometimes leading to protracted social isolation, with some becoming housebound for extended periods. Social impairment is usually greatest, sometimes approaching avoidance of all social activities. Poor concentration and motivation impair academic and occupational performance. The distress of BDD tends to exceed that of either major depressive disorder or diabetes, and rates of suicidal ideation and attempts are especially high.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: As with most mental disorders, BDD's cause is likely intricate, altogether biopsychosocial, through an interaction of multiple factors, including genetic, developmental, psychological, social, and cultural. BDD usually develops during early adolescence, although many patients note earlier trauma, abuse, neglect, teasing, or bullying. In many cases, social anxiety earlier in life precedes BDD. Though twin studies on BDD are few, one estimated its heritability at 43%. Yet other factors may be introversion, negative body image, perfectionism, heightened aesthetic sensitivity, and childhood abuse and neglect.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: The development of body dysmorphia can stem from trauma caused by parents/guardians, family, or close friends. In a recent study of the prevalence of childhood maltreatment among adults with body dysmorphia, researchers found that more than 75% of respondents had experienced some form of abuse as children. Indeed, the researchers found that adults who had a history of emotional neglect as children were especially vulnerable to BDD, though other forms of abuse, including physical and sexual abuse, were also identified as significant risk factors. As the children progress into their adult years, they start to visualise the abuse that has been done to their bodies, and start finding ways to hide, cover, or change it so they are not reminded of the trauma that they endured as an adolescences.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: Constant use of social media and "selfie taking" may translate into low self-esteem and body dysmorphic tendencies. The sociocultural theory of self-esteem states that the messages given by media and peers about the importance of appearance are internalized by individuals who adopt others' standards of beauty as their own. Due to excessive social media use and selfie taking, individuals may become preoccupied about presenting an ideal photograph for the public. Specifically, females' mental health has been the most affected by persistent exposure to social media. Girls with BDD present symptoms of low self-esteem and negative self-evaluation. Due to social media’s expectations, a factor of why individuals have body dysmorphia can come form women comparing themselves with media images of ideal female attractiveness, a perceived discrepancy between their actual attractiveness and the media’s standard of attractiveness is likely to result.Researchers in Istanbul Bilgi University and Bogazici University in Turkey found that individuals who have low self-esteem participate more often in trends of taking selfies along with using social media to mediate their interpersonal interaction in order to fulfill their self-esteem needs. The self-verification theory, explains how individuals use selfies to gain verification from others through likes and comments. Social media may therefore trigger one's misconception about their physical look. Similar to those with body dysmorphic tendencies, such behavior may lead to constant seeking of approval, self-evaluation and even depression.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: In 2019 systematic review using Web of Science, PsycINFO, and PubMed databases was used to identify social networking site patterns. In particular appearance focused social media use was found to be significantly associated with greater body image dissatisfaction. It is highlighted that comparisons appear between body image dissatisfaction and BDD symptomatology. They concluded that heavy social media use may mediate the onset of sub-threshold BDD.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: Individuals with BDD tend to engage in heavy plastic surgery use. In 2018, the plastic surgeon Dr. Tijon Esho coined term "Snapchat Dysmorphia" to describe a trend of patients seeking plastic surgeries to mimic "filtered" pictures. Filtered photos, such as those on Instagram and Snapchat, often present unrealistic and unattainable looks that may be a causal factor in triggering BDD.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: Historically, body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) was originally coined “Dysmorphophobia”, a term which was widely applied in research literature among the Japanese, Russians, and Europeans. However, in American literature, the appearance of BDD was still overlooked in the 1980’s. It was introduced in the DSM-III by the APA, and the diagnostic criteria was not properly defined, as the non-delusional and delusional factors were not separated. This was later resolved with the revision of the DSM-III, which aided many by providing appropriate treatment for patients. BDD was initially considered non-delusional in European research, and was grouped with ‘monosymptomatic hypochondriacal psychoses’ – delusional paranoia disorders, before being introduced in the DSM-III.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: In 1991, the demographics of individuals who experience BDD were primarily single women aged 19 or older. This statistic has not changed over the decades, women are still considered the predominant gender to experience BDD. With the rise of social media platforms, individuals are easily able to seek validation and openly compare their physical appearance to online influences, finding more flaws and defects in their own appearance. This leads to attempts to conceal the defect such as seeking out surgeons to resolve the issue of ugliness.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: Universally, it is evident that different cultures place much emphasis on correcting the human body aesthetic, and that this preoccupation with body image is not exclusive to just one society; one example is the binding of women’s feet in Chinese culture.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: Whilst physically editing the body is not unique to any one culture, research suggests that it is more common throughout Western society and is on the rise. On close observation of contemporary Western societies, there has been an increase in disorders such as Body dysmorphic disorder, arising from ideals around the aesthetic of the human body. Scholars such as Nancy Scheper-Hughes have suggested such demand placed upon Western bodies has been around since the beginning of the 19th century, and that it has been driven by sexuality. Research also shows that BDD is linked to high comorbidity and suicidality rates. Furthermore, it appears that Caucasian women show higher rates of body dissatisfaction than women of different ethnic backgrounds and societies.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: Socio-cultural models depict and emphasise the way thinness is valued, and beauty is obsessed over in Western culture, where advertising, marketing and social media play a large role in manicuring the ‘perfect’ body shape, size and look. The billions of dollars spent to sell products become causal factors of image conscious societies. Advertising also supports a specific ideal body image and creates a social capital in how individuals can acquire this ideal.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: However, personal attitudes towards the body do vary cross-culturally. Some of this variability can be accounted for due to factors such as food insecurity, poverty, climate, and fertility management. Cultural groups who experience food insecurity generally prefer larger-bodied women, however, many societies that have abundant access to food also value moderate to larger bodies. This is evident in a comparative study of body image, body perception, body satisfaction, body-related self-esteem and overall self-esteem of German, Guatemalan Q’eqchi’ and Colombian women. Unlike the German and Colombian women, the Q’eqchi’ women in this study live in the jungles of Guatemala and remain relatively removed from modern technology and secure food resources. The study found that the Q’eqchi’ women did not have notably higher body satisfaction when compared to the German or Colombian women.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: Nevertheless, the Q’eqchi’ women also showed the greatest distortion in their own body perception, estimating their physique to be slimmer than it actually was. It is thought this could be due to a lack of access to body monitoring tools such as mirrors, scales, technology, and clothing choices, but in this instance, body distortion does not seem to influence body satisfaction. This has also been shown in groups of lower-income African American women, where the acceptance of larger bodies is not necessarily equivalent to positive body image.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: Similar studies have noted a high prevalence of BDD in East Asian societies, where facial dissatisfaction is especially common, indicating that this is not just a Western phenomenon.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: Estimates of prevalence and gender distribution have varied widely via discrepancies in diagnosis and reporting. In American psychiatry, BDD gained diagnostic criteria in the "DSM-IV", having been historically unrecognized, only making its first appearance in the DSM in 1987, but clinicians' knowledge of it, especially among general practitioners, is constricted. Meanwhile, shame about having the bodily concern, and fear of the stigma of vanity, makes many hide even having the concern.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: Via shared symptoms, BDD is commonly misdiagnosed as social anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, major depressive disorder, or social phobia. Social anxiety disorder and BDD are highly comorbid (within those with BDD, 12–68.8% also have SAD; within those with SAD, 4.8-12% also have BDD), developing similarly in patients -BDD is even classified as a subset of SAD by some researchers. Correct diagnosis can depend on specialized questioning and correlation with emotional distress or social dysfunction. Estimates place the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Questionnaire's sensitivity at 100% (0% false negatives) and specificity at 92.5% (7.5% false positives). BDD is also comorbid with eating disorders, up to 12% comorbidity in one study. Both eating and body dysmorphic disorders are concerned with physical appearance, but eating disorders tend to focus more on weight rather than one's general appearance.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: BDD is classified as an obsessive-compulsive disorder in DSM-5. It is important to treat people with BDD as soon as possible because the person may have already been suffering for an extended period of time and as BDD has a high suicide rate, at 2-12 times higher than the national average.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: Anti-depressant medication, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) are considered effective. SSRIs can help relieve obsessive-compulsive and delusional traits, while cognitive-behavioral therapy can help patients recognize faulty thought patterns. A study was done by Dr. Sabine Wilhelm where she and her colleagues created and tested a treatment manual specializing in BDD symptoms that resulted in improved symptoms with no asymptomatic decline. Core treatment elements include Psychoeducation and Case Formulation, Cognitive Restructuring, Exposure and Ritual Prevention and Mindfulness/Perceptual Retraining. Before treatment, it can help to provide psychoeducation, as with self-help books and support websites.


title: Body dysmorphic disorder

text: For many people with BDD cosmetic surgery does not work to alleviate the symptoms of BDD as their opinion of their appearance is not grounded in reality. It is recommended that cosmetic surgeons and psychiatrists work together in order to screen surgery patients to see if they have BDD, as the results of the surgery could be harmful for them.


title: Rikers Island

text: Rikers Island is a island in the East River between Queens and the Bronx that contains New York City's main jail complex. Named after Abraham Rycken, who took possession of the island in 1664, the island was originally under in size, but has since grown to more than . The first stages of expansion were accomplished largely by convict labor hauling in ashes for landfill. The island is politically part of the Bronx, although bridge access is from Queens. It is part of Queens Community Board 1 and uses an East Elmhurst, Queens, ZIP Code of 11370 for mail.


title: Rikers Island

text: The island is home to one of the world's largest correctional institutions and mental institutions, and has been described as New York's most well-known jail. The complex, operated by the New York City Department of Correction, has a budget of $860 million a year, a staff of 9,000 officers and 1,500 civilians managing 100,000 admissions per year and an average daily population of 10,000 inmates. The majority (85%) of detainees are pretrial defendants, either held on bail or remanded in custody. The rest of the population have been convicted and are serving short sentences. According to a 2021 analysis by New York City Comptroller, it costs the city approximately $556,539 to detain one person for one year at Rikers Island.


title: Rikers Island

text: Rikers Island has a reputation for violence, both abuse and neglect of inmates, attracting increased press and judicial scrutiny that has resulted in numerous rulings against the New York City government, and numerous assaults by inmates on uniformed and civilian staff, often resulting in serious injuries. In May 2013, Rikers Island ranked as one of the ten worst correctional facilities in the United States, based on reporting in "Mother Jones" magazine. Violence on Rikers Island has been increasing in recent years. In 2015, there were 9,424 assaults, the highest number in five years.


title: Rikers Island

text: In a 2017 report titled "Smaller, Safer, Fairer: A roadmap to closing Rikers Island", then-Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his intention to close the jail complex at Rikers Island within ten years, if the city's crime rates stay low and the population at Rikers were reduced from 10,000 to 5,000. In February 2018, a state oversight commission suggested that New York state might move to close the facility before that deadline. In October 2019, the New York City Council voted to close down the facility by 2026.


title: Rikers Island

text: The Rikers Island complex, which consists of ten jails, holds local offenders who are awaiting trial, serving sentences of one year or less, or are temporarily placed there pending transfer to another facility. Rikers Island is therefore not a prison by US terminology, which typically holds offenders serving longer-term sentences. It holds 10 of the New York City Department of Correction's 15 facilities and can accommodate up to 15,000 detainees.


title: Rikers Island

text: Facilities located on the island include Otis Bantum Correctional Center (OBCC), Robert N. Davoren Complex (RNDC, formerly ARDC), Anna M. Kross Center (AMKC), George Motchan Detention Center (GMDC), North Infirmary Command (NIC), Rose M. Singer Center (RMSC), Eric M. Taylor Center (EMTC, formerly CIFM), James A. Thomas Center (JATC) (no longer used to house inmates), George R. Vierno Center (GRVC) West Facility (WF), Harold A. Wildstein (no longer in use), and Walter B. Keane (no longer in use). The Bantum, Kross, Motchan, and Vierno facilities house detained male adults. Taylor houses sentenced male adolescents and adults. Davoren primarily houses male inmates who are of ages 18 through 21. Singer houses detained and sentenced female adolescents and adults. North Infirmary primarily houses inmates who require medical attention from an infirmary. West Facility houses inmates who have diseases that are contagious. The average daily inmate population on the island is about 10,000, although it can hold a maximum of 15,000. The daytime population (including prisoners, staff, and visitors) can be as high as 20,000.


title: Rikers Island

text: The only road access to the island is from Queens, over the 4,200-foot (1.28 km) three-lane Francis Buono Bridge, dedicated on November 22, 1966, by Mayor John Lindsay. The street address is 15 Hazen St. E.Elmhurst, NY 11370. Before the bridge was constructed, the only access to the island was by ferry. Transportation is also provided by the MTA Regional Bus Operations route. There are also privately operated shuttles that connect the parking lot at the south end to the island. Bus service within the island for visitors visiting inmates is provided by the New York City Department of Correction on Fridays through Sundays.


title: Rikers Island

text: The North Infirmary Command, which used to be called the Rikers Island Infirmary, is used to house inmates requiring extreme protective custody, inmates with special health needs, mentally ill inmates, and inmates undergoing drug detoxification. The Infirmary also has the capacity to house overflow inmates from conventional populations. The rest of the facilities, all built in the last 67 years, make up this city of jails. There is also the Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center, a floating barge (described below). There are schools, medical clinics, ball fields, chapels, gyms, drug rehab programs, grocery stores, barbershops, a bakery, a laundromat, a power plant, a track, a tailor shop, a print shop, a bus depot and a car wash. It also contains a large composting facility.


title: Rikers Island

text: Rikers Island has been referred to as the world's largest penal colony. For comparison, Europe's largest correctional facility, Silivri Prison in European Turkey, sits on and houses 10,904 prisoners.


title: Rikers Island

text: The island is named after Abraham Rycken, a Dutch settler who moved to Long Island in 1638 and took possession of the island in 1664. Rycken's descendants, the Ricker family, owned Rikers Island until 1884, when it was sold to the city for $180,000.


title: Rikers Island

text: The island was used as a military training ground during the Civil War. The first regiment to use the Island was the 9th New York Infantry, also known as Hawkins' Zouaves, which arrived there on May 15, 1861. Hawkins' Zouaves was followed by the 36th New York State Volunteers on June 23, which was followed by the Anderson Zouaves on July 15, 1861. The Anderson Zouaves were commanded by John Lafayette Riker who was related to the owners of the island. The camp of the Anderson Zouaves was named Camp Astor in compliment to millionaire John Jacob Astor Jr. who provided funding for the army, and who appears to have made a significant contribution to the raising of the Anderson Zouaves in particular, with the Astor ladies being credited with the manufacture of the zouave uniforms worn by the recruits of this regiment. Rikers Island was subsequently used by numerous other Civil War regiments, but the name "Camp Astor" was specific to the Anderson Zouaves and did not become a general name for the military encampment on the island.


title: Rikers Island

text: In 1883, New York City's Commission of Charities and Corrections expressed an interest in purchasing the island for use as a work-house. Any such purchase would have to be approved by the state. In January 1884, state senator Frederick S. Gibbs introduced a bill in the state senate authorizing the commission to purchase the island. In May 1884 Governor Grover Cleveland signed a bill authorizing the Commissioner of Charities and Corrections to purchase the island for a sum no greater than $180,000. At the time, the island was within the boundaries of Long Island City, which was located in Queens County, which was not yet part of New York City, and this potential transfer set off squabbling between politicians of Long Island City, Queens County, and New York City. On July 31, 1884, a compromise was agreed to by all three entities, New York City agreed to pay a total of $3,000, to be disbursed as $2,500 to Long Island City and $500 to Queens County. On August 4, 1884, the Commissioner of Charities and Corrections, Jacob Hess, signed a contract purchasing the island from John T. Wilson, a descendant of the Ryker family, for $180,000: $179,000 to Wilson and $1,000 for a title search.


title: Rikers Island

text: The city expressed a desire to open a jail for men on Rikers Island as early as 1925, in order to replace their overburdened and dilapidated jail on Welfare Island, now Roosevelt Island; the jail was opened in 1932. Landfill continued to be added to the island until 1943, eventually enlarging the original island to . This required the permission of the federal government, since the expansion extended the island's pier line. Also, were stripped from Rikers to help fill in the new North Beach Airport, which opened in 1939 and was later renamed LaGuardia Airport.


title: Rikers Island

text: The net expansion of the island enabled the jail facilities to also expand. The original penitentiary building, completed in 1935, was called HDM or the House of Detention for Men; it became a maximum security facility called the James A. Thomas Center and closed due to structural issues in 2000.


title: Rikers Island

text: After New York City was banned by the courts in 1922 from ocean dumping of garbage, much of it ended up on Rikers Island, even though the island already had 12 mountains of garbage 40 to 130 feet tall; still, it took in 1.5 million cubic yards of additional refuse, more than the amount of dirt displaced by the building of the World Trade Center. Since much of the garbage was composed of ash from coal heating and incinerators, there were frequent spontaneous phosphorescent fires, even in the wintertime, in the snow. One warden described it in 1934: "At night it is like a forest of Christmas trees – first one little light ... then another, until the whole hillside is lit up with little fires. ... It was beautiful." The island was also plagued with rats, which at one point were so prevalent that after "poison gas, poison bait, ferocious dogs and pigs" failed to control them, one New Yorker tried to organize a hunting party to kill them off. It was the efforts of "master builder" Robert Moses, who did not want the unsightly island to be the backdrop for his carefully landscaped 1939 World's Fair, to get the island cleaned up, and have the city's garbage sent elsewhere—ultimately to the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island.


title: Rikers Island

text: During Mayor David Dinkins' term as mayor of New York, the jail filled to overflowing, and an 800-bed barge was installed on the East River to accommodate the extra inmates. The barge is called the Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center (VCBC), and is also known simply as "The Boat". VCBC is located at 1 Halleck St, Bronx, NY 10474, at the end of Hunts Point, near the recently relocated Fulton Fish Market. The keel for the Vernon C. Bain was laid in 1989 at the Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans. Upon completion, VCBC was towed up from Louisiana to its current mooring, and attached to two "Crandall Arms". It opened for use as a facility in 1992. Originally it had been leased to the NYC Department of Juvenile Justice, while Spofford Juvenile Center was under reconstruction. VCBC was formerly known as Maritime Facility #3 (MTF3); facilities 1 and 2 were reconstructed British military transport barges, or BIBBYs (British Industries Boat Building Yard), used during the Falklands War, both of which could house 800 soldiers, but only 200 inmates after their conversion. MTFs 1 and 2 were anchored on either side of Manhattan at East River pier 17, near 20th street, in the Hudson River. In addition, there were two smaller 1950s-era Staten Island Ferry boats, both converted to house 162 inmates each. The ferry boats were sold for salvage around 2003, and the owner of the shipyard that built VCBC, Avondale Shipyard, bought the two BIBBYs. VCBC is the only vessel of its type in the world. Prior to modification for use by New York City, it cost $161 million to construct. The initial plan for acquiring the vessel, because of the way New York City makes capital purchases, had to begin at least five years before the keel was laid, during the tenure of Ed Koch.


title: Rikers Island

text: Rikers is close to the runways of LaGuardia Airport. On February 1, 1957, Northeast Airlines Flight 823 crashed onto Rikers Island shortly after departing LaGuardia Airport, killing 20 and injuring 78 out of a total of 95 passengers and 6 crew. After the crash, department personnel and inmates ran to the site to help survivors. As a result of their actions, of the 57 inmates who assisted with the rescue effort, 30 were released and 16 received a sentence reduction of six months by the N.Y.C. Parole Board. Governor Averell Harriman also granted commutation of sentence to 11 men serving definite sentences: two received a six-months' reduction; one workhouse and eight penitentiary definites became eligible for immediate release.


title: Rikers Island

text: In 1993, United Blood Nation was founded by Omar Portee and Leonard McKenzie while locked up in the George Mochen Detention Center at Rikers Island.


title: Rikers Island

text: A drawing by artist Salvador Dalí, done as an apology because he was unable to attend a talk about art for the prisoners at Rikers Island, hung in the inmate dining room in J.A.T.C. (HDM) from 1965 to 1981, when it was moved to the prison lobby in E.M.T.C. (C76) for safekeeping. The drawing was stolen in March 2003 and replaced with a fake. Three correctional officers and an assistant deputy warden were arrested and charged, and though the three later pleaded guilty and one was acquitted, the drawing has not been recovered.


title: Rikers Island

text: During the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, at the request of the Association for Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment (ADAPT) and the Executive Director Yolanda Serrano, the prison granted early release to terminal HIV-positive inmates so that they could die peacefully in their own homes.


title: Rikers Island

text: The prison housed juvenile inmates until 2018. The move was prompted by a law passed by New York state in 2017 requiring that juvenile inmates under 18 be housed separately from adults.


title: Rikers Island

text: In February 2016, the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform, also known as the Lippman Commission since it is chaired by former Chief Judge of the State of New York Jonathan Lippman, was convened by New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito to review the entirety of the city's criminal justice system. In April of that year, Glenn E. Martin launched a campaign that called for the closure of the Rikers Island Jail Complex. In September 2016, the campaign organized a march from Queens Plaza to the Rikers Island Bridge to send a message to former Mayor Bill de Blasio that New York City is united in demanding the jail complex be closed.


title: Rikers Island

text: In the months following, there had been plans to build an additional facility on the island that consisted of 1,500 beds. In November 2016, New York City Department of Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte said, "As we look at construction and now with the...kind of the movement to close Rikers all those things politically have to be taken into consideration. So the 1,500 bed facility on Rikers is still at...at a kind of pause right now".


title: Rikers Island

text: After a year of consideration, the Lippmann Commission released a report of recommendations for closing the jail complex. De Blasio did not specifically endorse the findings of the commission, and it is expected to provide the broad outline of the plan to close Rikers when it was announced. The Lippman Commission proposed a 10-year plan to close the ten jails currently on the island and replace them with smaller jails, one in each borough closer to the courthouses. The population at Rikers Island would have to decrease from current average of 10,000 to approximately 5,000. According to The Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, key strategies in shrinking the Rikers population has included addressing causes of case delays, identifying individuals that could be granted alternatives to jail time, and improving programming and discharge services. Since 1991, the Rikers population has dropped by more than 50%, when the average daily population was 21,688. The intention to close the prison complex within 10 years was endorsed by former Mayor Bill de Blasio on March 31, after the "New York Post" leaked the findings of the Lippman Commission.


title: Rikers Island

text: One possible reuse proposal was to build a low-rise residential development, although the island's distance from mass transit, proximity to LaGuardia Airport, and leakage of toxic methane gas from its landfill base would pose problems for the proposed development. It would also mean that each residential unit would cost about twice as much to construct as a normal unit in New York City. The residential development would connect the island to the mainland for the expansion of the airport, using it as a park, for solid-waste management or for manufacturing. However, the commission specifically ruled out its use for private residences. In light of possible closure of the jail complex, New York City Public Advocate Letitia James suggested renaming the island after Kalief Browder, an inmate who committed suicide after being jailed at Rikers.


title: Rikers Island

text: On June 22, 2017, former Mayor de Blasio released his plan for a 10-year shutdown of the facility, saying that it was not a "quick fix": "This will be a long a difficult path," he wrote. The city will reduce the inmate population of Rikers through the use of alternative facilities and reforms such as making the payment of bail easier and improving mental health facilities and programs. Two "diversion centers" will assist people with mental health problems and will work with police to find options other than incarceration. Smaller jail facilities will be open throughout the city, but the plan does not fully describe how, where, and when that will occur.


title: Rikers Island

text: The New York State Commission of Correction, which oversees New York City's jails, issued a report in February 2018 citing numerous violations in the facility on the part of the city and a significant increase in violent incidents from 2016 to 2017. It suggested that the state might move to close Rikers Island before the city's 10-year deadline, which is not legally binding. On October 17, 2019, the City Council voted for an over $8 billion plan to close the Rikers Island prisons and other New York City jails by 2026, and replace them with four borough-based jails. New prisons are planned, but council members said that a move from arrests to tickets, not prosecuting misdemeanors, and a state law set to eliminate cash bail for misdemeanors would reduce the need for jails.


title: Rikers Island

text: Rikers Island has become notorious in recent years for a "culture of abuse," and has been subject to a number of investigations and rulings.


title: Rikers Island

text: In 1986, a federal appeals court ruled that strip searches could not be performed on people arrested on misdemeanor charges, like fare evasion on the subway, or marijuana smoking. The case itself was brought by Ann Weber, who was arrested for making an inflated claim on a 911 call, after her son was attacked while leaving her daughter's wedding. She was brought to jail still dressed in formal wedding attire, locked in a cell, and forced to strip and expose her cavities for search in the hour it took for her daughter to arrive and post bail.


title: Rikers Island

text: Prior to this decision, all prisoners taken to Rikers, no matter the level of their accusation, were strip searched. These searches often took place in groups of 10 to 12 and involved genital and anal searches. Despite the court's ruling, the practice lived on, costing New York City taxpayers a total of $81 million in settlements to the victims of these illegal searches. In 2001, a ruling was reached in New York reinforcing the illegality of strip searches for misdemeanor detainees, and demanding that the city pay up to $50 million to the tens of thousands of people who were illegally searched over the years.


title: Rikers Island

text: However, the practice did not die. Another suit was filed against the city in 2007 for performing strip searches on inmates taken to Rikers on misdemeanor charges. On October 4, 2007, the New York City Department of Corrections conceded that tens of thousands of nonviolent inmates taken to Rikers Island on misdemeanor charges had been wrongly strip-searched in violation of a 2002 court settlement, and were entitled to payment for damages. The policy was kept in place despite a United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruling in 2001 that strip-searches of misdemeanor suspects were illegal, unless officials suspected that they were carrying contraband..." [Lead lawyer Richard D.] Emery charged in his papers that department officials "repeatedly resorted to lying to cover up deliberate indifference to the continued practice of humiliating detainees by forcing them to strip naked in groups." This class action suit won $33 million in damages.


title: Rikers Island

text: In February 2008, correctional officer Lloyd Nicholson was indicted after he allegedly used a select group of teenage inmates as enforcers under a regime called "the program", as well as allegedly beating inmates himself. However, "the program" has been known to exist for well over a decade and is unique to the adolescents. The inmates use it as a test for other inmates and a system of control amongst themselves.


title: Rikers Island

text: A "Village Voice" article lists a roll call of 2008 scandals at Rikers, including the case of officers who allegedly passed accused cop killer Lee Woods marijuana, cigarettes, and alcohol; the February indictment of correctional officer Lloyd Nicholson who used inmates as "enforcers", and the April 27 suicide of 18-year-old Steven Morales (who allegedly killed his infant daughter) in the high-security closed-custody unit.


title: Rikers Island

text: On February 4, 2009, "The New York Times" reported that "the pattern of cases suggests that city correctional officials have been aware of a problem in which Rikers guards have acquiesced or encouraged violence among inmates." The "Times" added that "There have been at least seven lawsuits filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan accusing guards of complicity or acquiescence in inmate violence at Rikers, a complex of 10 detention facilities which, along with several other jails around the city, hold about 13,000 prisoners, most of whom are pretrial detainees. None of the seven suits has gone to trial. In the three that were settled, the city admitted no liability or wrongdoing."


title: Rikers Island

text: In an alleged July 2008 rape case reported by "The Village Voice" on August 5, 2008, the alleged victim claimed "that someone entered her cell in the 1,000-bed Rose M. Singer Center while she was asleep, sometime before 6 a.m. on July 3. She says the intruder (or intruders) bound and gagged her with bedsheets and then used a dildo-like object to sexually assault her. Other inmates may have acted as lookouts during the alleged assault. The woman, who was being held on grand-larceny charges for the past three months, was discovered at about 6 a.m. by an officer and a captain who were touring the building. The officer saw her lying on her back on the floor of her cell with bedsheets wrapped around her neck, mouth, and legs. She had also been blindfolded. The incident was reported to central command at 7:30 a.m., and the woman was transported to the Elmhurst Hospital Center. Because she didn't share a cell with anyone, a major question is how the alleged assault happened in the first place. Officials won't talk about the investigation, and there's no word on whether any arrests have been made."


title: Rikers Island

text: On June 1, 2007, Captain Sherman Graham and Assistant Deputy Warden Gail Lewis were arrested by the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) for covering up an assault on an inmate. The arrest came after both were indicted by a Bronx grand jury. It is alleged that on October 4, 2006, Graham assaulted an inmate after he refused to comply with strip searching procedures at the Robert N. Davoren Center (RNDC, C-74). The assault occurred in front of 15 correctional academy recruits in training. After the assault, Graham ordered the recruits to write on their Use of Force Witness Reports that Graham assaulted the inmate in self-defense after the inmate punched Graham. Lewis, who was Graham's supervisor, did not intervene to stop the attack. Lewis also submitted a false Use of Force Witness Report. Charges against Graham include 16 counts of falsifying business records, 16 counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree, 16 counts of official misconduct, a class A misdemeanor and one count of attempted assault in the third degree. Lewis was charged with falsifying business records, offering a false instrument for filing and official misconduct. The investigation started when the DOI received a tip following an anti-corruption presentation at the Academy in October 2006 on the day before graduation.


title: Rikers Island

text: Graham and Lewis were found guilty on all charges by a Bronx jury on May 14, 2012. It took the jury approximately three hours to deliberate a guilty verdict. Lewis was able to retire in December 2009 with her pension. Graham was terminated from the Department of Correction following the guilty verdict. Each faced up to four years in prison, however, Graham and Lewis were both sentenced to 500 hours of community service and ordered to pay $1,000.00 in fines on August 7, 2012, when they were sentenced.


title: Rikers Island

text: The New York City Department of Correction reported that in fiscal year 2012 more than 14.4 percent of adolescents detained at Rikers Island between the ages of 16 and 18 were held in at least one period of solitary confinement while detained. The average length of time young people spent in solitary confinement at Rikers Island was 43 days. More than 48 percent of adolescents at this institution have diagnosed mental health problems.


title: Rikers Island

text: On August 28, 2014, a law was passed boosting oversight of the use of solitary confinement at Rikers Island, following intense public outcry after various abuses at the prison. The law requires the prison to publish quarterly reports on their use of solitary confinement, but did not include provisions regarding the protection of prisoners against guard brutality or limiting the use of solitary confinement as a punishment.


title: Rikers Island

text: The solitary confinement unit at Rikers is commonly referred to as "Bing", the inmates kept there known as "Bing monsters".


title: Rikers Island

text: Kalief Browder was accused of stealing a backpack at the age of 16. His family was unable to make his $3,000 bail, later being unable to post bail due to a probation violation. Browder was imprisoned without trial or conviction for three years, his trial postponed on numerous occasions. The case was eventually dismissed, and Browder was released in June 2013 by Judge Patricia DiMango after numerous postponements and 31 hearings in front of judges. For two of those years, Browder was held in solitary confinement or punitive segregation. He was profiled in "The New Yorker" in October 2014 for being held for three years on Rikers Island without a trial.


title: Rikers Island

text: In June 2015, Browder died by suicide by hanging. The conditions of his detention were widely seen as having caused his mental condition. He had multiple prior suicide attempts while incarcerated. Days after his death, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy invoked Browder's experience in his opinion on "Davis v. Ayala". On January 25, 2016, President Barack Obama wrote an article in "The Washington Post" criticizing the "overuse" of solitary confinement in American jails, basing his arguments largely on Browder's case. He signed an executive order banning solitary confinement of juveniles in federal prisons.


title: Rikers Island

text: Since 2014, Mayor de Blasio has begun to take action against the abuse by adding surveillance cameras and improving care for mentally ill prisoners.<ref name="NYT 11/20"></ref>


title: Rikers Island

text: On September 29, 2014, Judge Tynia Richard offered a sharp rebuke to the Department of Corrections, recommending that six correctional officers be fired. This group, led by Captain Budnarine Behari, had participated in the brutal beating of Robert Hinton, a mentally ill inmate, while he was hog-tied, because he had protested being moved from his cell by sitting down. Hinton's fellow inmates watched as he was dragged down the hallways while hog-tied to a solitary confinement cell where he was beaten. While this ruling was one of the most severe against the Department of Corrections in many years, almost two years had elapsed between the beating and the Justice Department's ruling, during which time the perpetrators in this attack were involved in more inmate beatings at Rikers Island.


title: Rikers Island

text: The segregated unit at Rikers for LGBT prisoners, known as "gay housing," was closed in December 2005 citing a need to improve security. The unit had opened in the 1970s due to concerns about abuse of LGBT prisoners in pretrial detention. The New York City Department of Correction's widely criticized plan was to restructure the classification of prisoners and create a new protective custody system which would include 23-hour-per-day lockdown (identical to that mandated for disciplinary reasons) for moving vulnerable inmates to other facilities. Whereas formerly all that was required was a declaration of homosexuality or the appearance of being transgender, inmates wanting protective custody would now be required to request it in a special hearing.


title: Rikers Island

text: In August 2014, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, issued a report condemning the systematic abuse and violation of prisoners' constitutional rights. Despite this and many other egregious incidents of abuse, few correctional officers have been prosecuted successfully or even removed from their positions. On August 4, 2014, Preet Bharara, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, issued a damning report on the treatment of juvenile prisoners at Rikers. The report identified "a pattern and practice of conduct at Rikers that violates the constitutional rights of adolescent inmates". The report describes the "rampant use of unnecessary and excessive force by DOC staff", as well as dangers to inmates including inadequate protection from violence caused by other inmates, a culture that uses violence as a means to control inmates, and heavy use of solitary confinement ("punitive segregation") for discipline. The report details the guards' frequent use of violence, including "headshots" (blows to the head or face), particularly in areas without video surveillance. This violence is perpetrated as punishment or retribution against the inmates, or "In response to inmates' verbal altercations with officers".


title: Rikers Island

text: During the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, inmates at Rikers were unable to follow the safety measures suggested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to avoid contracting the virus. Inmates, correctional officers, the DOT, and the head doctor at Rikers warned that better precautionary measures should be put in place, and that non-violent inmates should be released, making arguments in the name of public health. One inmate said, "The hygiene in here is really nasty. There are roaches and mice in the dorms and rats in the hallway. It’s a good place for disease to hang out. I don’t want to be kept in here for this whole coronavirus thing. I plan to do my whole sentence, that’s fine, but this is just crazy." On March 22, 2020, it was reported that two dorms of 45 inmates each were carrying out a strike in protest of the lack of PPE, social distancing, and cleaning supplies, and demanding the release of all inmates who met the criteria specified by the Board of Correction. In summer 2020, about 2500 inmates were released from Rikers on early COVID Release. By October 2021, the New York Times reported that as a result of staff shortages exacerbated by the COVID pandemic, inmates were virtually running the jail and lawlessness, violence and chaos reigned.


title: Rikers Island

text: On August 18, 2012, inmate Jason Echevarria swallowed a packet of powdered detergent, which had been given to inmates to clean out their cells after there was a leakage of raw sewage from the toilets. Echevarria began vomiting and complaining of severe pain. Terrence Pendergrass, the supervisor of the unit, was told by a correctional officer of Echevarria's condition. According to "The New York Times", "... the captain told the officer not to bother him unless 'there was a dead body,' the complaint said". Several correctional officers passed through his unit but he received no medical attention and was found dead in his cell the following morning. The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide, citing "neglect and denial of medical care".


title: Rikers Island

text: Jason Echevarria suffered from bipolar disorder and was housed in the unit reserved for mentally ill inmates. At one point, he had been placed in solitary confinement after several suicide attempts.


title: Rikers Island

text: Terrence Pendergrass was demoted and suspended without pay, following the incident, and in December 2014, he was convicted of one count of denying Echevarria medical care, resulting in death. In June 2015, Terrence Pendergrass was sentenced to five years in prison. In November 2015, Echevarria's family was awarded a $3.8 million settlement regarding the matter.


title: Rikers Island

text: In 2012, 52-year-old Ronald Spear was awaiting trial on Rikers Island, and due to kidney failure, he was detained in the North Infirmary Command. He walked with a cane and wore a bracelet that read "risk of fall". On December 19, 2012, Spear left his dormitory and demanded to see a doctor.


title: Rikers Island

text: Brian Coll, a correctional officer, and Ronald Spear got into an altercation when Spear was told by the doctor that he could not be seen until later that day. Coll began punching Spear in the face and body. According to "The New York Times", "Another officer grabbed Mr. Spear and with Mr. Taylor's help [Byron Taylor, former correctional officer], pinned him down. The complaint says Mr. Coll kicked Mr. Spear several times in the head, and knelt down, telling him, 'Remember that I'm the one who did this to you'". When a Rikers Island medical team reached Spear, he was unresponsive, and after failed attempts to revive him, he was pronounced dead. An investigation into the incident found that Coll and two other officers conspired to cover up how Spear died.


title: Rikers Island

text: In 2016, Brian Coll was convicted of one count of death resulting from deprivation of rights under color of law, one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of obstruction of justice, one count of filing false forms, and one count of conspiracy to file false forms. Byron Taylor pleaded guilty to one count of perjury for lying to a federal grand jury, and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Anthony Torres pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and file false reports, and one count of filing a false report.


title: Rikers Island

text: Bradley Ballard, who suffered from schizophrenia and diabetes, was sent to Rikers in June 2013 on a parole violation for failure to report an address change. In July, he was sent to the psychiatric prison ward at Bellevue Hospital Center, where he stayed for 38 days before being sent back to Rikers.


title: Rikers Island

text: On September 4, 2013, Ballard was locked in his cell as punishment for making inappropriate gestures at a female correctional officer. According to "The New York Times", "the lawsuit said, 'Not a single nurse, doctor or other medical or mental health provider entered his cell'". On September 11, Ballard died at the age of 39, having been confined inside his cell for seven days without access to his medication or medical treatment. When officers finally came to the aid of Ballard, he was naked, unresponsive, and covered in feces. His genitals were swollen and badly infected due to the result of injuries suffered after he tied a band around his penis.


title: Rikers Island

text: According to "The New York Times," some 129 inmates, 77% of whom were diagnosed as mentally ill, suffered "serious injuries" in altercations with prison guards over an 11-month period in 2013. These injuries were "beyond the capacity" of the prison doctors to treat successfully. Another "Times" article stated that "the lawsuit said, 'Rather than provide the critical care required' medical staff and correctional officers 'who knew Mr. Ballard could not survive without medication, essentially stood by and watched as Mr. Ballard languished, deteriorated and ultimately died. In 2016, the city agreed to pay $5.75 million to settle the lawsuit.


title: Rikers Island

text: On February 15, 2014, Jerome Murdough, a homeless veteran in jail on an accusation of trespassing, was found dead in his cell. After being in jail for one week, he died from overexposure to heat. His cell was over 100 degrees, and he had taken prescription drugs which increase sensitivity to heat. Murdough had been complaining for hours about the heat but was ignored by prison guards. Murdough had been arrested for camping out on the stairwell of a New York Housing Authority building during the freezing polar vortex of 2014; his bail was set at $2,500. A settlement of $2.25 million occurred.


title: Rikers Island

text: In January 2014, Rolando Perez was arrested for petty burglary and awaiting trial at Rikers. Perez suffered from a severe seizure disorder since the age of 16 and had taken medication to control his seizures ever since. Perez was being detained in solitary confinement after getting into a fight with another inmate. In an exclusive video obtained by Eyewitness News, Perez is heard screaming for his medication. After being denied anti-seizure medication, at the age of 36, Perez was found dead due to seizure and heart problems. In 2019, Perez's girlfriend was awarded $3.5 million in a settlement over his death.


title: Rikers Island

text: Staten Island native Eugene "Sonny" Castelle was battling an addiction to pain killers when he was arrested in Florida for heroin possession with intent to sell. This arrest was in violation of the terms of a drug-related plea agreement in New York. On November 2, 2016, Castelle was sent to Rikers and was found dead six days later, at the Anna M. Kross Center. An inmate told the "Daily News" that Castelle had taken a dose of methadone, using another prisoner's prescription when he died. Castelle was vomiting and struggling to stand. Another inmate helped Castelle to 'the bubble' watch post to ask for medical help. The correctional officer inside was sleeping, and angrily dismissed them both, the inmate said. The following morning, Castelle was found by a correctional officer and medical staff unresponsive and was declared dead seven minutes later.


title: Rikers Island

text: Conditions on Rikers Island have drastically deteriorated since the onset of COVID-19, due to a combination of viral outbreaks, staffing shortages, and exacerbated mental health crises among detainees. There were 15 reported deaths of incarcerated people on Rikers Island in 2021: William Diaz-Guzman, age 30, Tomas Carlo Camacho, age 48, Javier Valasco, age 37, Thomas Earl Braunson III, age 35, Richard Blake, age 45, Jose Mejia Martinez, age 34, Robert Jackson, age 42, Brandon Rodriguez, age 25, Segundo Guallpa, age 58, Esias Johnson, age 24, Isa Abdul-Karim, age 41, Stephan Khadu, age 24, Victor Mercado, age 64, Malcolm Boatwright, age 28, and William Brown, age 55. Chief Medical Officer Ross McDonald attributed recent deaths to worsening conditions of the jail since the outbreak of COVID-19, calling the situation representative of a "new and worsening emergency".


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: Charlotte Brontë (, ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: She enlisted in school at Roe Head in January 1831, aged 14 years. She left the year after to teach her sisters, Emily and Anne, at home, returning in 1835 as a governess. In 1839, she undertook the role of governess for the Sidgwick family, but left after a few months to return to Haworth, where the sisters opened a school but failed to attract pupils. Instead, they turned to writing and they each first published in 1846 under the pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Although her first novel, "The Professor", was rejected by publishers, her second novel, "Jane Eyre", was published in 1847. The sisters admitted to their Bell pseudonyms in 1848, and by the following year were celebrated in London literary circles.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: Charlotte Brontë was the last to die of all her siblings. She became pregnant shortly after her marriage in June 1854 but died on 31 March 1855, almost certainly from hyperemesis gravidarum, a complication of pregnancy which causes excessive nausea and vomiting.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: Charlotte Brontë was born on 21 April 1816 in Market Street, Thornton, west of Bradford in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the third of the six children of Maria (née Branwell) and Patrick Brontë (formerly surnamed Brunty), an Irish Anglican clergyman. In 1820 her family moved a few miles to the village of Haworth, where her father had been appointed perpetual curate of St Michael and All Angels Church. Maria died of cancer on 15 September 1821, leaving five daughters, Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, and a son, Branwell, to be taken care of by her sister, Elizabeth Branwell.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: In August 1824, Patrick sent Charlotte, Emily, Maria, and Elizabeth to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire. Charlotte maintained that the school's poor conditions permanently affected her health and physical development, and hastened the deaths of Maria (born 1814) and Elizabeth (born 1815), who both died of tuberculosis in June 1825. After the deaths of his older daughters, Patrick removed Charlotte and Emily from the school. Charlotte used the school as the basis for Lowood School in "Jane Eyre," which is similarly affected by tuberculosis that is exacerbated by the poor conditions.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: At home in Haworth Parsonage, Brontë acted as "the motherly friend and guardian of her younger sisters". Brontë wrote her first known poem at the age of 13 in 1829, and was to go on to write more than 200 poems in the course of her life. Many of her poems were "published" in their homemade magazine "Branwell's Blackwood's Magazine", and concerned the fictional world of "Glass Town". She and her surviving siblings – Branwell, Emily and Anne – created this shared world, and began chronicling the lives and struggles of the inhabitants of their imaginary kingdom in 1827. Charlotte, in private letters, called "Glass Town" "her 'world below', a private escape where she could act out her desires and multiple identities". Charlotte's "predilection for romantic settings, passionate relationships, and high society is at odds with Branwell's obsession with battles and politics and her young sisters' homely North Country realism, none the less at this stage there is still a sense of the writings as a family enterprise".


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: However, from 1831 onwards, Emily and Anne 'seceded' from the "Glass Town Confederacy" to create a 'spin-off' called "Gondal", which included many of their poems. After 1831, Charlotte and Branwell concentrated on an evolution of the "Glass Town Confederacy" called "Angria". Christine Alexander, a Brontë juvenilia historian, wrote "both Charlotte and Branwell ensured the consistency of their imaginary world. When Branwell exuberantly kills off important characters in his manuscripts, Charlotte comes to the rescue and, in effect, resurrects them for the next stories [...]; and when Branwell becomes bored with his inventions, such as the Glass Town magazine he edits, Charlotte takes over his initiative and keeps the publication going for several more years". The sagas the siblings created were episodic and elaborate, and they exist in incomplete manuscripts, some of which have been published as juvenilia. They provided them with an obsessive interest during childhood and early adolescence, which prepared them for literary vocations in adulthood.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: Between 1831 and 1832, Brontë continued her education at Roe Head in Mirfield, where she met her lifelong friends and correspondents Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor. In 1833 she wrote a novella, "The Green Dwarf", using the name Wellesley. Around about 1833, her stories shifted from tales of the supernatural to more realistic stories. She returned to Roe Head as a teacher from 1835 to 1838. Unhappy and lonely as a teacher at Roe Head, Brontë took out her sorrows in poetry, writing a series of melancholic poems. In "We wove a Web in Childhood" written in December 1835, Brontë drew a sharp contrast between her miserable life as a teacher and the vivid imaginary worlds she and her siblings had created. In another poem "Morning was its freshness still" written at the same time, Brontë wrote "Tis bitter sometimes to recall/Illusions once deemed fair". Many of her poems concerned the imaginary world of Angria, often concerning Byronic heroes, and in December 1836 she wrote to the Poet Laureate Robert Southey asking him for encouragement of her career as a poet. Southey replied, famously, that "Literature cannot be the business of a woman's life, and it ought not to be. The more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure will she have for it even as an accomplishment and a recreation." This advice she respected but did not heed.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: In 1839, she took up the first of many positions as governess to families in Yorkshire, a career she pursued until 1841. In particular, from May to July 1839 she was employed by the Sidgwick family at their summer residence, Stone Gappe, in Lothersdale, where one of her charges was John Benson Sidgwick (1835–1927), an unruly child who on one occasion threw the Bible at Charlotte, an incident that may have been the inspiration for a part of the opening chapter of "Jane Eyre" in which John Reed throws a book at the young Jane. Brontë did not enjoy her work as a governess, noting her employers treated her almost as a slave, constantly humiliating her.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: In 1842 Charlotte and Emily travelled to Brussels to enrol at the boarding school run by Constantin Héger (1809–1896) and his wife Claire Zoé Parent Héger (1804–1887). During her time in Brussels, Brontë, who favoured the Protestant ideal of an individual in direct contact with God, objected to the stern Catholicism of Madame Héger, which she considered a tyrannical religion that enforced conformity and submission to the Pope. In return for board and tuition Charlotte taught English and Emily taught music. Their time at the school was cut short when their aunt Elizabeth Branwell, who had joined the family in Haworth to look after the children after their mother's death, died of internal obstruction in October 1842. Charlotte returned alone to Brussels in January 1843 to take up a teaching post at the school. Her second stay was not happy: she was homesick and deeply attached to Constantin Héger. She returned to Haworth in January 1844 and used the time spent in Brussels as the inspiration for some of the events in "The Professor" and "Villette".


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: After returning to Haworth, Charlotte and her sisters made headway with opening their own boarding school in the family home. It was advertised as "The Misses Brontë's Establishment for the Board and Education of a limited number of Young Ladies" and inquiries were made to prospective pupils and sources of funding. But none were attracted and in October 1844, the project was abandoned.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: In May 1846 Charlotte, Emily, and Anne self-financed the publication of a joint collection of poems under their assumed names Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. The pseudonyms veiled the sisters' sex while preserving their initials; thus Charlotte was Currer Bell. "Bell" was the middle name of Haworth's curate, Arthur Bell Nicholls whom Charlotte later married, and "Currer" was the surname of Frances Mary Richardson Currer who had funded their school (and maybe their father). Of the decision to use "noms de plume", Charlotte wrote:


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: Although only two copies of the collection of poems were sold, the sisters continued writing for publication and began their first novels, continuing to use their "noms de plume" when sending manuscripts to potential publishers.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: Brontë's first manuscript, 'The Professor', did not secure a publisher, although she was heartened by an encouraging response from Smith, Elder & Co. of Cornhill, who expressed an interest in any longer works Currer Bell might wish to send. Brontë responded by finishing and sending a second manuscript in August 1847. Six weeks later, "Jane Eyre" was published. It tells the story of a plain governess, Jane, who, after difficulties in her early life, falls in love with her employer, Mr Rochester. They marry, but only after Rochester's insane first wife, of whom Jane initially has no knowledge, dies in a dramatic house fire. The book's style was innovative, combining Romanticism, naturalism with gothic melodrama, and broke new ground in being written from an intensely evoked first-person female perspective. Brontë believed art was most convincing when based on personal experience; in "Jane Eyre" she transformed the experience into a novel with universal appeal.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: "Jane Eyre" had immediate commercial success and initially received favourable reviews. G. H. Lewes wrote that it was "an utterance from the depths of a struggling, suffering, much-enduring spirit", and declared that it consisted of ""suspiria de profundis"!" (sighs from the depths). Speculation about the identity and gender of the mysterious Currer Bell heightened with the publication of "Wuthering Heights" by Ellis Bell (Emily) and "Agnes Grey" by Acton Bell (Anne). Accompanying the speculation was a change in the critical reaction to Brontë's work, as accusations were made that the writing was "coarse", a judgement more readily made once it was suspected that Currer Bell was a woman. However, sales of "Jane Eyre" continued to be strong and may even have increased as a result of the novel developing a reputation as an "improper" book. A talented amateur artist, Brontë personally did the drawings for the second edition of "Jane Eyre" and in the summer of 1834 two of her paintings were shown at an exhibition by the Royal Northern Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Leeds.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: In 1848 Brontë began work on the manuscript of her second novel, "Shirley". It was only partially completed when the Brontë family suffered the deaths of three of its members within eight months. In September 1848 Branwell died of chronic bronchitis and marasmus, exacerbated by heavy drinking, although Brontë believed that his death was due to tuberculosis. Branwell may have had a laudanum addiction. Emily became seriously ill shortly after his funeral and died of pulmonary tuberculosis in December 1848. Anne died of the same disease in May 1849. Brontë was unable to write at this time.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: After Anne's death Brontë resumed writing as a way of dealing with her grief, and "Shirley", which deals with themes of industrial unrest and the role of women in society, was published in October 1849. Unlike "Jane Eyre", which is written in the first person, "Shirley" is written in the third person and lacks the emotional immediacy of her first novel, and reviewers found it less shocking. Brontë, as her late sister's heir, suppressed the republication of Anne's second novel, "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall", an action which had a deleterious effect on Anne's popularity as a novelist and has remained controversial among the sisters' biographers ever since.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: In view of the success of her novels, particularly "Jane Eyre", Brontë was persuaded by her publisher to make occasional visits to London, where she revealed her true identity and began to move in more exalted social circles, becoming friends with Harriet Martineau and Elizabeth Gaskell, and acquainted with William Makepeace Thackeray and G.H. Lewes. She never left Haworth for more than a few weeks at a time, as she did not want to leave her ageing father. Thackeray's daughter, writer Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie, recalled a visit to her father by Brontë:


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: Brontë's friendship with Elizabeth Gaskell, while not particularly close, was significant in that Gaskell wrote the first biography of Brontë after her death in 1855.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: Brontë's third novel, the last published in her lifetime, was "Villette", which appeared in 1853. Its main themes include isolation, how such a condition can be borne, and the internal conflict brought about by social repression of individual desire. Its main character, Lucy Snowe, travels abroad to teach in a boarding school in the fictional town of Villette, where she encounters a culture and religion different from her own and falls in love with a man (Paul Emanuel) whom she cannot marry. Her experiences result in a breakdown but eventually, she achieves independence and fulfilment through running her own school. A substantial amount of the novel's dialogue is in the French language. "Villette" marked Brontë's return to writing from a first-person perspective (that of Lucy Snowe), the technique she had used in "Jane Eyre". Another similarity to "Jane Eyre" lies in the use of aspects of her own life as inspiration for fictional events, in particular her reworking of the time she spent at the "pensionnat" in Brussels. "Villette" was acknowledged by critics of the day as a potent and sophisticated piece of writing although it was criticised for "coarseness" and for not being suitably "feminine" in its portrayal of Lucy's desires.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: Before the publication of "Villette", Brontë received an expected proposal of marriage from Irishman Arthur Bell Nicholls, her father's curate, who had long been in love with her. She initially refused him and her father objected to the union at least partly because of Nicholls's poor financial status. Elizabeth Gaskell, who believed that marriage provided "clear and defined duties" that were beneficial for a woman, encouraged Brontë to consider the positive aspects of such a union and tried to use her contacts to engineer an improvement in Nicholls's finances. According to James Pope-Hennessy in "The Flight of Youth," it was the generosity of Richard Monckton Milnes that made the marriage possible. Brontë meanwhile was increasingly attracted to Nicholls and by January 1854 she had accepted his proposal. They gained the approval of her father by April and married in June. Her father Patrick had intended to give Charlotte away, but at the last minute decided he could not, and Charlotte had to make her way to the church without him. The married couple took their honeymoon in Banagher, County Offaly, Ireland. By all accounts, her marriage was a success and Brontë found herself very happy in a way that was new to her.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: Brontë became pregnant soon after her wedding, but her health declined rapidly and, according to Gaskell, she was attacked by "sensations of perpetual nausea and ever-recurring faintness". She died, with her unborn child, on 31 March 1855, three weeks before her 39th birthday. Her death certificate gives the cause of death as phthisis, i.e. consumption (not tuberculosis, which was only one of many diseases included in this now outdated classification), but biographers including Claire Harman and others suggest that she died from dehydration and malnourishment due to vomiting caused by severe morning sickness or hyperemesis gravidarum. Brontë was buried in the family vault in the Church of St Michael and All Angels at Haworth.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: "The Professor", the first novel Brontë had written, was published posthumously in 1857. The fragment of a new novel she had been writing in her last years has been twice completed by recent authors, the more famous version being "Emma Brown: A Novel from the Unfinished Manuscript by Charlotte Brontë" by Clare Boylan in 2003. Most of her writings about the imaginary country Angria have also been published since her death. In 2018, "The New York Times" published a belated obituary for her.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: The daughter of an Irish Anglican clergyman, Brontë was herself an Anglican. In a letter to her publisher, she claims to "love the Church of England. Her Ministers indeed, I do not regard as infallible personages, I have seen too much of them for that – but to the Establishment, with all her faults – the profane Athanasian Creed excluded – I am sincerely attached."


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: Elizabeth Gaskell's biography "The Life of Charlotte Brontë" was published in 1857. It was an important step for a leading female novelist to write a biography of another, and Gaskell's approach was unusual in that, rather than analysing her subject's achievements, she concentrated on private details of Brontë's life, emphasising those aspects that countered the accusations of "coarseness" that had been levelled at her writing. The biography is frank in places, but omits details of Brontë's love for Héger, a married man, as being too much of an affront to contemporary morals and a likely source of distress to Brontë's father, widower, and friends. Mrs Gaskell also provided doubtful and inaccurate information about Patrick Brontë, claiming that he did not allow his children to eat meat. This is refuted by one of Emily Brontë's diary papers, in which she describes preparing meat and potatoes for dinner at the parsonage. It has been argued that Gaskell's approach transferred the focus of attention away from the 'difficult' novels, not just Brontë's, but all the sisters', and began a process of sanctification of their private lives.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: On 29 July 1913 "The Times" of London printed four letters Brontë had written to Constantin Héger after leaving Brussels in 1844. Written in French except for one postscript in English, the letters broke the prevailing image of Brontë as an angelic martyr to Christian and female duties that had been constructed by many biographers, beginning with Gaskell. The letters, which formed part of a larger and somewhat one-sided correspondence in which Héger frequently appears not to have replied, reveal that she had been in love with a married man, although they are complex and have been interpreted in numerous ways, including as an example of literary self-dramatisation and an expression of gratitude from a former pupil.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: In 1980 a commemorative plaque was unveiled at the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels (BOZAR), on the site of the Madam Heger's school, in honour of Charlotte and Emily. In May 2017 the plaque was cleaned.


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: "The Green Dwarf, A Tale of the Perfect Tense" was written in 1833 under the pseudonym Lord Charles Albert Florian Wellesley. It shows the influence of Walter Scott, and Brontë's modifications to her earlier gothic style have led Christine Alexander to comment that, in the work, "it is clear that Brontë was becoming tired of the gothic mode "per se"".


title: Charlotte Brontë

text: "At the end of 1839, Brontë said goodbye to her fantasy world in a manuscript called Farewell to Angria. More and more, she was finding that she preferred to escape to her imagined worlds over remaining in reality – and she feared that she was going mad. So she said goodbye to her characters, scenes and subjects. [...] She wrote of the pain she felt at wrenching herself from her 'friends' and venturing into lands unknown".


title: Speed (1994 film)

text: Speed is a 1994 American action thriller film directed by Jan de Bont in his feature film directorial debut. The film stars Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock, Joe Morton, and Jeff Daniels. Its premise revolves around a bus that is rigged by a terrorist to explode if its speed falls below 50 miles per hour.


title: Speed (1994 film)

text: The film premiered in Hollywood on June 7, 1994, and was released in the rest of the United States on June 10, 1994, it became critically and commercially successful, grossing $350.4 million on a $30–37 million budget, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of 1994 and winning two Academy Awards: Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Sound. A sequel, "", was released on June 13, 1997, without Reeves' involvement. David Edelstein considered it to be the worst sequel of all time.


title: Speed (1994 film)

text: LAPD SWAT bomb disposal officers Jack and Harry thwart an attempt to hold an elevator full of people for a $3 million ransom by an extortionist bomber, later identified as Howard Payne. As they corner Payne, he takes Harry hostage. Jack intentionally shoots Harry in the leg, forcing the bomber to release him. Payne flees and explodes the bomb, seemingly dying. Jack and Harry are praised by Lieutenant "Mac" McMahon, with Harry being promoted. Having survived the incident, however, Payne watches from afar. The next morning, Jack witnesses a mass transit bus explode from a bomb planted by Payne, who contacts Jack on a nearby payphone, explaining that a similar bomb is rigged on another bus, which will activate once it reaches and detonate if it drops below 50.


title: Speed (1994 film)

text: Payne also demands a ransom of $3.7 million and threatens to detonate the bus if the passengers are offloaded. Jack races through freeway traffic and boards the bus, but the bomb is already armed. He explains the situation to Sam Silver, the bus driver. However, a felon on board, fearing Jack is about to arrest him, wildly discharges his gun, accidentally wounding Sam. Another passenger, Annie Porter, takes over for Sam, but when she tries to slow down so he can get help, Jack is forced to reveal the bomb, to the passengers' shock and horror. Jack examines the bomb underneath the bus and calls Harry, who works to identify the bomber. The bus is cleared to drive on an unopened freeway section. Mac demands that they offload the passengers onto a flatbed trailer, but Jack warns him about Payne's plot.


title: Speed (1994 film)

text: Witnessing the events on TV, Payne calls Jack to reiterate his instructions. While he is convinced to allow the injured Sam to be offloaded for medical attention as a show of good will, Payne detonates a smaller bomb after witnessing a passenger attempt to get off, killing her. When Jack learns part of the freeway is incomplete, he persuades Annie to accelerate so they can jump the gap, which narrowly succeeds, before directing her to Los Angeles International Airport to use their unobstructed runways. Meanwhile, Harry identifies Payne's name, former occupation as an Atlanta PD bomb squad officer, and address. He leads a SWAT team to Payne's home, but the property explodes, killing him and most of his team. In a last-ditch attempt to defuse the bomb, Jack goes under the bus on a towed sled, but he accidentally punctures the fuel tank when the sled breaks from its tow line.


title: Speed (1994 film)

text: After the passengers bring him back aboard, Jack learns that Harry has been killed and that Payne has been watching the passengers on a hidden surveillance camera. Mac has a local news crew record the transmission and rebroadcasts it on a loop to fool Payne while the passengers are offloaded onto an airport bus. Jack and Annie escape through a floor access panel before the empty bus collides with a Boeing 707 cargo plane and explodes. Jack and Mac head to Pershing Square to drop the ransom. Realizing that he has been fooled, no one died in the explosion, and the LAPD are waiting for him, a furious Payne poses as a police officer to kidnap Annie and recover the ransom. Jack follows Payne into the Metro Red Line subway, and discovers that Annie has been fitted with an explosive vest rigged to a pressure-release detonator.


title: Speed (1994 film)

text: Payne hijacks a subway train, handcuffs Annie to a pole, and sets the train in motion while Jack pursues them. After killing the train engineer, Payne attempts a bribe with the ransom money, but is enraged when a dye pack in the bag explodes, tainting the cash. A crazed Payne battles Jack on the train's roof and gains the upper hand, standing onto of Jack and trying to strangle him. However, Jack pushes Payne's head up, and he is decapitated by an oncoming railway signal.


title: Speed (1994 film)

text: Jack deactivates Annie's vest, but cannot free her from the pole as Payne had the key to her handcuffs. Unable to stop the train, Jack accelerates it, causing it to jump the tracks, as it plows through a construction site and then bursts onto Hollywood Boulevard. The train car comes to a halt, on the street. Unharmed, Jack and Annie share a kiss while a crowd looks on in amazement.


title: Speed (1994 film)

text: Screenwriter Graham Yost was told by his father, Canadian television host Elwy Yost, about a 1985 film called "Runaway Train" starring Jon Voight, about a train that speeds out of control. The film was based on a 1963 concept by Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. Elwy mistakenly believed that the train's situation was due to a bomb on board. (Such a theme had in fact been used in a 1975 Japanese film, "The Bullet Train".) After seeing the Voight film, Graham decided that it would have been better if there had been a bomb on board a bus with the bus being forced to travel at 20 mph to prevent an actual explosion. A friend suggested that this be increased to 50 mph. The film's end was inspired by the end of the 1976 film "Silver Streak". Yost had initially named the film "Minimum Speed" reflecting on the plot element of the bus unable to drop below a speed. He realized that using "minimum" would immediately apply a negative connotation to the title, and simply renamed it to "Speed".


title: Speed (1994 film)

text: Yost's initial script would have the film completely occur on the bus; there was no elevator or subway scene, the bus would have driven around Dodger Stadium due to the ability to drive around in circles, and would have culminated with the bus running into the Hollywood Sign and destroying it. Upon finishing the script, Yost took his idea to Paramount Pictures, which expressed interest in green-lighting the film and chose John McTiernan to direct due to his blockbuster films "Predator", "Die Hard", and "The Hunt for Red October". However, McTiernan eventually declined to do so, feeling the script was too much of a "Die Hard" retread, and suggested Jan De Bont, who agreed to direct because he had the experience of being the director of photography for action movies, including McTiernan's "Die Hard" and "The Hunt for Red October". Despite a promising script, Paramount passed on the project, feeling audiences would not want to see a movie which takes place for two hours on a bus, so De Bont and Yost then took the project to 20th Century Fox which also distributed "Die Hard". Fox agreed to green-light the project on the condition there were action sequences in the film other than the bus. De Bont then suggested starting the film off with the bomb on an elevator in an office building, as he had an experience of being trapped in an elevator while working on "Die Hard". Yost used the opening elevator scene to establish Traven as being clever enough to overcome the villain, comparable to Perseus tricking Medusa into looking at her own reflection. Yost then decided to conclude the film on a subway train to have a final plot twist not involving the action on the bus. Fox then immediately approved the project.