RIKERS (PBS)
PRODUCER
“No one understands the crisis created by mass incarceration and excessive punishment like the survivors who have endured the horrors created by our criminal justice policies. This is powerful journalism, transformational art and an unmistakable indictment of the American prison system.” — Bryan Stevenson, Founder, Equal Justice Initiative
Rikers is an award-winning PBS documentary told through the first-person accounts of men and women who endured incarceration at New York City's Rikers Island. With no experts or officials interpreting their experiences, the film brings viewers face to face with survivors as they describe—in their own words—the violence, isolation, and lasting human consequences of life inside the jail complex.
Produced by Rolake Bamgbose alongside Marc Levin and Mark Benjamin, the film reflects the journalistic foundation that continues to shape her work: listening closely, earning trust, and creating space for people to tell their own stories with complexity and dignity.
Rikers received the 2017 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for Media Advocacy and was nominated for the 2016 DOC NYC Film Festival Metropolis Grand Jury Prize.