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I Work at Rikers Island and Have Urgent Questions About My Health
A cook, who works in New York’s biggest prison, tells us how he’s coping with his fear of coronavirus
The writer’s byline has been removed to protect their identity.
Language shifts with time and with tragedy. The global Covid-19 pandemic has introduced us to new terms like “social distancing,” “shelter in place,” “flatten the curve,” and “essential workers.” But it’s the last of those three that deserves particular focus.
Preparing and serving food, driving people to destinations, and caring for the ill have all been deemed essential jobs. Yet, these are the same jobs—and the same people doing those jobs—that have historically been demeaned, ignored, treated as marginal. And now they’re on the front lines, pressed into service and possible danger. Nations can only remain powerful if they can protect and advance all citizens; yet, right now, the United States is failing to protect a vast majority of its own.
Add to that majority the country’s prison population. While society grants attention to the young, healthy, and free, more than 2 million incarcerated Americans are among the forgotten—as is the workforce that tends to them.
