Rikers Island, New York: Prisoners in cell blocks at Rikers Island Prison. An air view of Rikers Island, New York City's main jail complex and the name of the 413.17-acre island on which it sits, in the East River between. Shanahan’s Captives identifies Rikers Island as the black hole at the heart of the city, something like Times Square’s 'necessary opposite,' summoned up out of the muck and mire of the East River: 'at the same time that Rikers is removed from the city, a space of enforced isolation surrounded by the East River, it is also thoroughly constituted by New York City, and,.