The processional music swelled, the guests stood and the graduates filed in wearing caps and gowns of blue and ivory and crimson and gold \u2014 one color for each of the Rikers Island jails that held them.<\/p>\n
It had the trappings of any graduation. Gold balloons spelled out the year. “Congratulations” up on the walls. The graduates’ names scrolled across a screen in the corner of the chapel. And still, security cameras watched from the ceiling and correction officers lined the walls with zip-tie handcuffs on their belts. Their radios crackled under the music.<\/p>\n
The theme printed on the program named the gap the day was trying to bridge: \u201cFrom fracture to future.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 57 graduates had earned high school diplomas and GEDs this week through East River Academy, the New York City public school that operates inside the jails as part of the Education Department’s District 79. Most were between 18 and 21, though some were later-in-life students.<\/p>\n
Mayor Zohran Mamdani came to the island to deliver the keynote.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of you arrived on Rikers in a cloud of uncertainty and despair,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd yet you did not surrender to that alienation.\u201d<\/p>\n
He compared the city, and life itself, to a merry-go-round, full of highs and lows, but always moving: \u201cThere is always a seat open for anyone who wants to climb on board. By entering this program, by choosing to hope, by choosing possibility over doubt, you have already chosen to climb on board.\u201d<\/p>\n
For most of the graduates, though, graduation wasn\u2019t the end. They are planning their next steps while they wait for plea deals, for trials and for transfers to state prison upstate.<\/p>\n
Ivan Maldonado, the class salutatorian, said he had been in and out of Rikers for the past two years. He faces charges of robbery and criminal possession of a weapon, according to city records. He also posted the second-highest GED scores in the class, the mayor said during his speech.<\/p>\n
One day, he wants to study mortuary science and open a funeral home, \u201cprobably with my name in it, and have a little business with myself.\u201d He guessed the interest just grew out of \u201ca love of crime shows.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maldonado’s not sure, though, when he\u2019ll be out. Soon, he said, he\u2019ll be transferred to a facility upstate, \u201cand hopefully that’s a trip that goes well for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his speech to the class, Maldonado gave his case number and his cell number. \u201cBut that will not always be my life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not our booking number, we are not our charges, we are not the worst thing we have ever done. We are proof that change is possible,\u201d Maldonado told his fellow graduates.<\/p>\n