Rikers Island inmates at the East River jail recently celebrated walking across the stage, beating the odds of an uncertain future behind bars. These 63 Rikers high school graduates exchanged their jumpsuits for robes of excellence while they wait for the courts to decide their fate.
Tylik Thomas, the class’s valedictorian, said, “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.”
He crossed the 3-mile bridge earlier this year, ending up in Rikers Island on a nonviolent weapons charge…