New York, USA.

Abstract

I work as a psychiatrist in the mental health clinic at the Anna M Kross Center (NY, USA), the largest jail on Rikers Island, where I evaluate and provide continuing care for patients following their arrest. My patients are mostly black and brown men, 80% of whom are awaiting trial and innocent under the law, living through the profoundly dehumanising experience of detention. Physical contact, privacy, freedom of movement, and a quiet place to sleep are among the many things lost to them. The vestigial language of the jail system (eg, “bodies” instead of people, and “pens” instead of waiting rooms) reduces them to objects or animals.