the new york city department of corrections reported that in fiscal year 2012 more than 14.4 percent of all adolescents detained at rikers island between the ages of 16 and 18 were held in at least one period of solitary confinement while detained. the average length of time young people spent in solitary confinement at rikers island was 43 days. more than 48 percent of adolescents at this institution have diagnosed mental health problems. as violence associated with the crack epidemic became increasingly common, new measures were taken. the red id card system, instituted in the early 1990s, was a way of identifying inmates with histories of inciting riots, cuttings, stabbings, and other dangerous behaviors. it almost always meant the convict had spent time in a notorious ward designated for punitive confinement called "the bing" (hdm 5 block). prisoners pavle stanimirović, james rosado, tyrone green, pedro hernandez, willie bosket, hector rivera, ángel díaz, john maldonado and dominick pollatti all spent time in "the bing."