THESE WALLS

In the tradition of Locking Up Our Own and Evicted, a deeply reported work of narrative nonfiction that takes readers behind-the-scenes of the debate around closing Rikers Island, and the national conversation around prison reform and restorative justice.

When New York Mayor Bill De Blasio announced to fanfare that Rikers Island would be closed by 2028, replaced with new buildings designed to reflect new outlooks, the decision - which seemed to be a step towards a more humane, more understanding system of incarceration in an age where abolition and "Defund the Police" were becoming common conversation - sounded like an unalloyed good to many, including reporter Eva Fedderly. But while heading up Architectural Digest's feature coverage of the closure, and speaking to the constituencies most affected, she discovered that the consensus was hardly universal.

The question of whether imprisonment is made to punish or rehabilitate has been argued for centuries in America; from Quakers vs. Catholic; to the Pennsylvania System vs. the Auburn; to our current tension between the status quo of Jim Crow-style mass incarceration and the liberatory possibilities inherent in restorative justice. America is at a turning point, with New York at the tip of the fulcrum. But, almost all of those day-to-day living on the inside of the issue told Fedderly that new jails wouldn't solve anything. What could were programs, both in the jails and the communities, that could give people the chance they need to succeedand for the racist, violent culture inside the walls to change. So why was no one listening? Over the course of two years, Fedderly spoke to nearly every stakeholder, from reformists, justice architects, abolitionists, state senators, prison guards, and most wrenchingly, the incarcerated themselves, to find out why. The result is a compelling blend of on-the-ground reporting, sweeping social and architectural history, that captures the texture of this centuries-old debate, and challenges our long-held beliefs about what constitutes justice, in the tradition of Matthew Desmond's Evicted and James Forman's Locking Up Our Own.

Eva Fedderly is a contributor at Architectural Digest, The Christian Science Monitor, New York Magazine, and Engineering News-Record, where she writes about architecture, culture, and social justice. She was previously a staff writer at Courthouse News, where she covered the 11th Circuit, and wrote exposés on sex trafficking and corporate pollution. She is also the founder of Spun, a public relations firm, where she maintains an active network of journalists, editors, and producers. Fedderly holds a Master's in Liberal Arts in Journalism and Creative Writing from Harvard University.