Shanahan traces the power struggles between municipal authorities, prison guard unions, and inmates in forming the present day iteration of the notorious Riker's Island jail. As is often the case with histories of carceral institutions, the facility was originally proposed as a more humane alternative to the borough-based jails in NYC. As some argue for closing Riker's and replacing it with supposedly more humane jails, Shanahan's meticulous account urges us to not repeat history. In addition to its urgency, the book's prose is gripping, as page-turning narratives of daring prison revolts and escapes are interspersed with detailed political-economic analysis of the evolution of New York's caging apparatus. This book should be mandatory reading for everyone who has ever lived in New York or cared about its future.