A Rikers Island inmate locked up on attempted murder and other charges brazenly filmed a drill rap video inside the embattled jail, The Post has learned.
Taquan Jones, an alleged member of Brownsville’s notorious Choo gang, was indicted in 2020 and posted the video on social media in March, officials said.
The three-minute video, titled “NYC’s Boldest,” opens with what appears to be a brawl among several men inside a cell and then cuts to a group of inmates holding large chards of glass as if they were knives.
“Take the gun out my ankle then shot from an angle,” raps Jones, 27, who is at times clad in an orange jail uniform.
“He got shot in the chest, he ran out of breath then fell on his neck,” Jones, known as Tay627, says in another verse.
It’s not clear when the video, which was posted on YouTube and Instagram, was shot because Jones has been in and out of the jail and is now awaiting sentencing on multiple cases in Brooklyn and Queens, officials said.
The Department of Correction “became aware of the video when it surfaced online in March and conducted tactical searches obtaining the phone used and other contraband (weapons/drugs),” said spokesman Frank Dwyer.
Online viewers have been cheering the sheer audacity of the video.
“This has to go viral — send the song,” a user with the handle @rapstar_viral wrote on Instagram.
“NYC after realizing nothing will stop the violence” a user called @cbn.sk posted.
“Does it really matter how camaras or whatever got in there.. how bout the homie making HISTORY…free the gods,” @onlyxmee wrote.
Law enforcement sources were appalled.
“There’s clearly no control on Rikers Island,” said a galled police source. “This is where our tax dollars are going and they have them making rap videos?”
“It’s embarrassing first and foremost,” the source continued. “(Corrections Commissioner) Louis Molina should be held accountable. That is unacceptable. How do they make the video and then get it posted to YouTube? There’s cameras all over Rikers. How did that get out?”
After filming, Jones likely sent the footage to someone on the outside who produced it and added the graphics of blood running down the walls, the sound of bullets and other special effects, Rikers insiders said.
After learning of the video, the jail stepped up search operations and “increased its efforts to prevent contraband” resulting in the seizure of phones, weapons and drugs, one Rikers official told The Post.
Rikers has been plagued for years by inmate deaths and correction officer assaults — which are fueled by contraband like drugs and weapons that are illegally brought into the jail — and is under the oversight of a federal monitor.
There were 22 deaths in the city’s jails in 2022 and there have been five so far this year.
Randomized body scanning began on March 13 at the Robert N. Davoren Center (RNDC), the main holding building on Rikers, according to a Board of Corrections report.
Jail officials said staff and their vehicles would be periodically searched upon entry, according to the report.
Rikers officials have also floated the idea of banning mail to stop fentanyl laced paper and other contraband from being smuggled inside.
The video is a clear sign that the jail needs to get tougher with inmates running amok, said a second law enforcement source.
“There needs to be a broken windows approach in jail,” the source said. “If you allow these things to happen then you embolden them to assault other inmates and assault officers because there is no accountability and that needs to stop.”
“It’s outrageous that the inmates are brazenly demonstrating how easy it is for them to violate the rules and regulations of the jail because they know, and have known for some time, there are no consequences for their behavior,” the source continued.
Another law enforcement source blamed reforms to eliminate punitive segregation, which allowed jailers to keep inmates in their cells for long periods as punishment.
“These guys have no fear,” the source said. “That’s why they do whatever they want to do.”
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office in 2020 indictment charged Jones and 33 other alleged gang members — from the Choo, and its rival Woo gang — with various counts of attempted murder, illegal firearm possession, assault, rape, drug possession, robbery, burglary and other crimes.
Jones is awaiting trial.
Jones’ lawyer did not return messages seeking comment.
Additional reporting by Sofia Barnett
