“I’m Detained at Rikers Island and I’m Sick With Coronavirus”
New York’s jails have become a focus of COVID-19, with 103 inmates and 80 staff testing positive already. One Rikers Island detainee told Jacobin about the outbreak in the prison — and the inhumanity of trapping people in a hotbed of infection.
Rikers Island prison seen from the air. Tim Rodenberg / flickr
My first symptoms was like a sore throat, sneezing, runny nose. I had fatigue and a bad headache, too.
Last week, before I felt sick, I was put on sanitation duty. They had us doing last-ditch efforts going around the whole jail, like spraying a chemical that kills coronavirus and also spraying bleach. We were spraying all the bars, the correction officers’ keys, the door handles. But it was a last-ditch effort.
Me and an officer I was working with was talking about the coronavirus — how it was like overrated and stuff because it’s not deadly. She joked like, “Yeah, that’s true, because I’ve been around people that’s positive, and I feel fine.”
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