Dreams deferred, not denied: Graduation held for young inmates at Rikers Island | Exclusive
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Rikers Island has a decades-long reputation of spiraling dysfunction, brutality, and even death against those awaiting trial.
The East River prison allowed Eyewitness News onto their grounds to witness the triumph and determination of young detainees, awaiting their cases to be adjudicated by the courts.
As their future is uncertain, these 63 students, graduating from high school at Rikers, are beating the drum of redemption, behind the cinderblock walls they live behind.
"4,200 feet. 1,300 meters. That's the length of the bridge we crossed over one day, not knowing the day they would return to the other side miles away from family and friends," said graduate Tylik Thomas, who crossed the 3-mile bridge earlier this year, landing him on Rikers Island
"In some of the harshest and roughest living conditions known to man, we found light in a place where darkness and negativiy reign supreme," he said.
He's serving time for a non-violent weapons charge. Now, he towers over his fellow classmates as their valedictorian.
The 63 graduates traded in their jumpsuits for robes of glory. Their heads held high, trying to find a steady stride. Their identities are hidden, as their future weighs in the balance.
"Our theme is resilience. It means that they can overcome, that coming to jail is just not the end stop for them, that there's hope and there's a future for them," said Tonya Threadgill, principal of the East River Academy.
Threadgill celebrated this triumphant accomplishment with their largest class since 2014, partnered through New York Public Schools and the Department of Correction.
The bold step they've taken won't grant freedom, but rather marching orders that their story is far from over.
"From day one, my directives were clear, how do we improve the literacy capacity of our students, as they've expressed, because I can't read, I'm making decisions that are not in my best interest, unable to read the charges brought against them," said Glenda Esperance, Superintendent, District 79, Department of Education.
There's a contrast between low literacy skills and incarceration. According to the Literacy Project Foundation, three out of five people in U.S. prisons cannot read. Other research has estimated illiteracy rates in prisons are as high as 75% of the population.
Diplomas in hand, they are a symbol of a dream deferred, not a dream denied. For their families, they have a renewed sense of hope.
Tylik's uncle showed up to the ceremony to sit in on this crowning achievement.
"By the power invested of the State of New York, You are now official high school graduates," it was announced at the ceremony.
Tylik like so many others, couldn't wait to see their loved ones.
Their raw emotion, is a story in itself.
"Joy, happiness, I see so much of myself in him," said Malcolm, Tylik's uncle, explaning what he was feeling.
Said Talik: "I should have done it way earlier. This is a long time coming its finally came ... don't waste your time, wasting your freedom," he said.
Tylik travels that bridge back into the real world this November. Hopes, dreams, ambitions, full speed ahead.
The sky is the limit.
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