. >> when we met joseph regan in one of the massive kitchens at new york city's rikers island jail, he was serving 90 days for misdemeanor assault, criminal mischief and petty larceny. >> they're not always as clean as they should be. you got cockroaches in here, stuff like that. but, you know, i haven't seen anybody die lately, so i guess they get away with it. >> while regan may never get a job as a rikers island spokesman, he offered a plug for life here. >> if you like being told what to do, if you like being told what to eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, [ bleep ], scratch your ass, if you like taking a chance of getting your ass kicked or getting killed, whatever, we inmates or police, if you like this type of thing, then this is the place for you. >> like many other inmates here, regan has had multiple arrests. >> most people that come to jail stay in jail. regardless whether they go home, they come back, come back. spend the rest of their life in jail. >> while inmates can sometimes be in denial about the circumstances that have brought them to jail, regan was crystal clear. >> m

he was sent to new york's rikers island jail to await trial. for his father, ronny drayton, it was a nightmare. >> you would stand right here and look across? >> yes, i would. >> what would you ask for? what was your hope? >> just to give me my baby back. simple as that, you know? >> neither donovan nor his father had any idea how long the wait would be. >> i looked outside my window and i see the triborough bridge. and i just started crying. i was like, damn. would i ever drive across that bridge again? will i ever go across that bridge again? it's like whew, i called my father and i was like damn dad, like the view i have is so nice. but am i going to be in that view like any time soon? you know what i'm saying? >> and what did i say? >> you said "of course you will be, man". >> you know you have this thing, you see law & order on tv you know they have the trial, he has a section, they go to court, they do this and that's it. >> it happens nothing like the movies now. >> no, no, no, no, no, no. they don't, they don't... >> what's the biggest

talk about criminal justice reform in america, and it would be hard to find a place rikers island, the most important jail in new york city. located in the middle of the east river, rikers holds about 10,000 inmates. it's a volatile mix. some have been convicted of minor crimes; but as many as 80% are awaiting trial. many are there because they can't make bail. and, in a trend that reflects a growing national problem, rikers holds a rising number of mentally ill inmates. the mentally ill now make up more than 40% of the population. correction officers are not adequately trained to deal with this population. the result is a disturbing pattern of neglect and excessive force that is the focus of our story tonight. it has led the u.s. attorney preet bharara to intervene. >> preet bharara: what you really had, we found was-- was a culture of violence on top of a code of silence, and that is a deadly combination. found in a number of cases that we have brought in connection with riker's island. >> whitaker: concerned by those deaths and a stream of alarming reports about rikers island, preet bharara-- who is th

. >>> reikers island is the biggest jail in new york city and one of the most violent in the nation. some violence is blamed on corrections officers who work nine rikers' officers are on trial right now chared with beating a prisoner three years ago and covering it up. since 2012 more than 50 corrections officers faced charges including assault, falsifying reports and smuggling contraband. bill whitaker took a look behind the prison bars for "60 minutes." >> what you really have was a culture of violence on top of a code of silence. and that is a deadly combination. and i mean that literally. as we found in, in a number of cases, that we have brought in connection with reikers island. >> reporter: concerned by the deaths and a stream of alarming reports about reikers island, the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, launched a two-year investigation into the jail complex. >> we found in an alarming number of cases, there was no discipline with respect to officers at all even an officer who had dozens of complaints against him and never disciplined once or maybe one and that's something that has to change. people have to understand that