Last week the NY Times’ front page was about Rikers. This week the New York Magazine front cover was about Rikers. Lately, news on TV has been about Rikers.

Following yesterday’s column, here’s Part 2 from recent Rikers Island graduate William Mersey. Since he’s looking to do a book, he’s now avoiding parts where the prison’s officially called a hellhole: “2019 my crime was underreporting income from selling adult ads to escorts for the Village Voice, New York Press, New York Magazine, etc. After MCC [Metropolitan Correctional Center] prison, I was transferred to Rikers.

“Inmates I watched over [at both jails] included a prisoner who’d chopped his lawyer’s head off. Jeffrey Epstein turned up July 2019. I had his 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. watch. Unlike Paul Manafort who’d been my celly, was in for 11 months and could handle it, Jeffrey was scared to death. I asked him if Clinton liked his girls young. His emphatic response: ‘No. Bill liked his women mature.’

“Little reading material was available, so Rikers 200 inmates waited in line at the same time to go outside for rec. As for food? Not enough. We had to eat at the speed of light. Dispense your tray quickly or hear about it. At MCC prisoners could take a little more food back to the unit.

“My Rikers kitchen job’s five hours mopping floors and sweeping included heaving bags and bags of garbage into loading dock dumpsters. One day an officer asked, ‘Looking for sentenced help?’ This meant sentenced inmates relocating to other facilities for work duty when those facilities need workers. He meant MDC, colloquially known as the Tombs, another city jail next to [the courthouse at] 100 Centre St.

“Handcuffed and ankle-chained I was escorted there in back of a Corrections bus. Next morning I’m cleaning courthouse cells, asking evil-looking [women] to move their feet so I could sweep their holding areas. Not pretty. You don’t flirt with them. They are not receptive.

“My final Rikers time required appearing before a judge. This meant sitting in six more holding cells an entire day handcuffed, ankle-chained, put in a plastic enclosure. Finally, 8 p.m., I was escorted to the bus station, sold a MetroCard and released. The end of my almost year of NYC imprisonment.

“Now, months later, I still don’t have my commissary money and I’ve made 100 calls trying to find it!”

Meanwhile on the opposite side of the snitch and famous were Justin and Hailey Bieber sunning and splashing. In the Maldives. At Soneva Jani. I mean, doesn’t everyone? Have respect. It’s one of Earth’s only hotel groups with over 1 million Instagram followers.

Plus there’s civilization, according to Salma Hayek’s husband François-Henri Pinault, CEO of global luxury group Kering, which owns Gucci, St. Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Brioni and now sniffing out 57th and 5th’s fourth corner — Bergdorfs. He’s seen Disneyland, likes running in Central Park, practices magic tricks on international flights, so his favorite place? He says, “I especially like the Aeolian islands.” Listen, don’t we all say the same? He did not mention Rikers.

Another favorite place to visit belonged to William Shatner. Years before Captain Kirk’s recent publicized journey, he was itchy to schlep into the wild blue yonder — for real. Also anxious to soar beyond her scrapbook was “Aliens” actress Sigourney Weaver. In 2004, she asked British tycoon Richard Branson to book her on his Virgin Galactic spacecraft. Also, Moby. In 2010, sources said he’d already paid his fare to officially become the first musician in space.

So if ever we and the Rikers grad can safely happily start traveling again, we have now suggested new getaways. And coming up is George Washington’s birthday — first in war, first in peace and first to have the nation juggle his moment of nativity just to make a long weekend.