Ryker's Island

The island is named after Abraham Rycken, a Dutch settler of the 1630s. His family owned the island to 1884. Their name evolved to "Riker" over time. 
 
During the American Civil War (1861 - 1865), the island was  used as military training ground for units originating in New York. Both European American and African American regiments were trained there. 
 
The Riker family produced a military leader of their own in the person of John Lafayette Riker (1822 - 1862), leader of the 62nd New York Volunteer Regiment. He was killed at the Battle of Fair Oaks.
 
In 1884 the Riker family sold it to New York City. The island was converted to a jail farm. In 1932, the City built a prison for men on it. The original penitentiary building was completed in 1935, remaining in use to 2000. Since the island was only 90 acres in size, by the 1950s the facilities were overflown with prisoners. 
 
By 1954, landfill had been added to the island, artificially expanding it to 415 acres in size. Jail facilities were expanded accordingly.  The island now held prisoners of both sexes. By the early 1990s, the island had been overflown with prisoners again. This time the authorities added a barge, able to accommodate 800 prisoners.
 
Riker's Island has a long history of corrections officials abusing their authority. Illegal strip-searches of nonviolent inmates, beatings, indifference or encouragement of violence among inmates have all been reported over the years. Repeated indictments or convinctions of the prison personel have failed to resolve the problem.
  
Ryker's Island has plenty of security cells, each one designed specially for each super-prisioner. Many of Spider-Man's, Avenger's and Fantastic Four's foes are locked in this special state prision.