Prisoners review their jails on Yelp: The staff at Sing Sing are 'rude' and watch out for the roaches of Rikers Island

Best known for its honest and sometimes scathing consumer reviews of restaurants, Yelp has now expanded to include inmates ratings for prisons.



Prisoners, their lawyers and family members are joining the growing band of internet reviewers on Yelp who critique everything from bowling alleys to plumbers.



And with typical candor, reviews make plain that employees at New York's Sing Sing Correctional facility are the 'most unprofessional staff in the world and the rudest', while at New York City's Rikers Island, 'If the roaches and rats don't mess with you the correctional officers will.'

This helpful review of Riker's Island Correctional Facility provides any visitors, future inmates and family members a guide as to what to expect inside the prison

However, some are asking why bother to review your period incarcerated inside a jail or prison.



Attorneys, who do a majority of the reviewing, reply that it is boredom that began the latest Yelp reviewing trend and that not all the reviews are negative.

The Washington Post interviewed Robert Miller, who has worked as a private defense lawyer in Southern California for 18-years.



While he says he has visited five prisons and 17 jails during his career, he has reviewed only three of them.

Elvis D. believes that roaches and rats will be the end of most inmates at Rikers Island Correctional Facility

The buildings of the jail at Rikers Island - the prison lies to the north of New York City at the top of the East River near to La Guardia airport

He found one jail to be at fault for its 'kind of very firmly rude staff' while his most recent review of Theo Lacy Jail in Orange County, California is complimentary of the 'very nice' deputies.



One Yelp reviewer even offered handy hints on survival at New York's infamous Rikers Island jail.



'Things you MUST remember: No matter what religion you (really) are/aren't, say you're 'Jewish,' says Yelp reviewer U.N.O.



'Why? Because, you'll get a box of Matzoh ('crackers, as some call it), a bottle of grape juice (both weekly) and, you'll get a trip to meet the Rabbi (A VERY nice man who lets you use his phone).'



Despite the humor derived from prison reviews on Yelp, the growth could throw up malpractices inside the prison system that need to be investigated.

One Yelp reviewer known as Judith condemned Sing Sing prison as 'hell on earth'

Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the town of Ossining, in the U.S. state of New York

It almost accepted practice that to survive prison one must keep their head down, but David Fathi, director of the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union has a different opinion.



'Prisons and jails are closed institutions, and the lack of outside scrutiny and oversight sometimes facilitates mistreatment and abuse,' Fathi said to The Washington Post.

'So anything that increases public awareness of prison conditions is a positive thing.'



However, negative reviews which are not instantly verifiable could lead to extra work for the authorities.



'Every allegation we get, we investigate,' said Stephen Whitmore, spokesman for Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca.

