Meanings
- An island in the East River between Queens and the Bronx, New York that is home to New York City's main jail complex.
Cause you might have been robbin', you might have been whylin' / But you won't be smilin' on Rikers Island
1990, “Rikers Island”, in Wanted: Dead or Alive, performed by Kool G Rap and DJ Polo1 more example
I have pieced it together by now: The Iranians are operating a terrorist sleeper cell in the United States, one arm of which operates out of the prison on Rikers Island.
2010, Seth Edgarde, Hart Island, Blackbird Books, →ISBN - broadlyThe jail complex on the island.
Mayor de Blasio on Friday vowed to shutter Rikers Island within a decade and replace the violence-plagued correction complex with “at least a few new facilities” to lock up inmates elsewhere in the city.
2017 March 31, Yoav Gonen, Rebecca Rosenberg, Golding, “New York City to close Rikers Island”, in New York Post
Cite this entry
Rikers Island. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Rikers%20Island
“Rikers Island.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Rikers%20Island. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Rikers Island,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Rikers%20Island.
Source: Rikers Island on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.