North Brother Island is a 22-acre piece of land in New York City that has been abandoned since 1963. Less than a mile from Manhattan — one of the priciest and most densely populated places in the world — sits North Brother Island, a mysterious island that people abandoned more than half a century ago. New York City owns the 22-acre plot, which pokes out of the East River between the South Bronx's industrial coast and a notorious prison: Rikers Island Correctional Center. It's illegal for the public to set foot on North Brother Island and its smaller companion, South Brother Island, without permission from the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. In 2017, producers for the Science Channel obtained the city's permission to visit North Brother Island, and the crew invited Business Insider to tag along.

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Organizations: Morning, New York City, Correctional, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Science Channel, North Locations: Brother, New York City, Manhattan, New, North Brother