Oral history interview with Robert Crocker III, 2018

Biographical Note

Robert Crocker III was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He has been a corrections officer at Rikers Island since 2013

Scope and Contents

Robert Crocker III discusses his childhood in Brooklyn and the influence of his father. He talks about his years as a corrections officer at Rikers Island. He talks about the difference between a jail (like Rikers) that holds detainees who have not been sentenced or are serving a short sentence, and prison, where people are serving a sentence. He details prison conditions, the relationship that guards and inmates have in prisons, the arrest process and his personal views on the legal system as it applies to Black Americans. He discusses how one's ability to pay for the right lawyer can severely impact verdicts and sentencing, and how one mistake can change someone's life, particularly for Black people. He talks about his thoughts on closing Rikers and some structural changes like bail reform and marijuana legalization. He talks about Kalief Browder and how some inmates try to protect themselves in prison by remaining in isolation. He describes the dynamic of being a Black man working in corrections

Subjects

• Bail--Law and legislation--United States.
• Boone, Kurt B., interviewer.
• Correctional personnel--Interviews.
• Crocker, Robert--Interviews.
• Drug legalization--United States.
• Families, Black--Effect of imprisonment on.
• Interviews.
• Jails--Law and legislation--United States.
• Marijuana--Law and legislation--United States.
• Mass incarceration--United States.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Prison discipline--United States.
• Recidivism--Black people--United States.
• Rikers Island (N.Y.)
• Solitary confinement--United States.

Access Conditions

Copyright by Robert Crocker III. The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York hold a non-exclusive license to enable library activities