The Box: A Teen’s Horrifying Tale of Solitary Confinement at Rikers

This post first appeared at The Center for Investigative Reporting.

Every year, thousands of teens are held in solitary confinement in jails, prisons and juvenile halls nationwide. This is the story of Ismael “Izzy” Nazario and the time he spent in solitary confinement in New York City’s Rikers Island jail. Izzy’s dialogue is taken from transcriptions of audio recordings from several interviews.

There are currently thousands of kids in solitary confinement nationwide. New York state prisons recently agreed to ban solitary confinement as punishment for inmates younger than 18. But this doesn’t apply to Rikers Island and other New York jails.

The New York City Department of Correction declined interview requests and would not let the Center for Investigative Reporting visit the box.

Izzy is now a case manager for teens and adults coming out of Rikers Island.

Illustrated and designed by Anna Vignet. Senior multimedia producer: Michael Schiller.

Daffodil Altan is a bilingual video producer at The Center for Investigative Reporting. As a print and multimedia journalist, her work focuses on immigration, Latino and youth culture, criminal justice and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues.

Trey Bundy is a reporter for The Center for Investigative Reporting. In 2009, he won the national Hearst Journalism Award for article of the year.