Narrator: Karren Jaime
Summary: Karren Jaime grew up in Puerto Rico and later moved to New York City. She was incarcerated multiple times at Rikers Island. She found comfort and felt most at home at the Rikers Island church. She also found community and hope through the jail’s NA and AA meetings. While at Rikers, she felt like she was there to be “corrected,” not helped, seen, or heard. She wishes Rikers would be more therapeutic, with counseling, support groups, and more doctors on staff to help people navigate mental health issues. (Summary written by: Annie Anderson)
Interview Date: 7/30/20
Partner Organization: Planned Interviews
Interviewer: Carlin Zia
Tags: Rikers Island, Incarceration, Prison abolition, New York City, Oral history, Rikers Public Memory Project, RPMP, Getting arrested, Threats and fears, Physical impact of incarceration, Psychological impact of incarceration, Prison facilities, Violence normalization, Intake, Threats and fears, Correction Officers, Sexual assault, Social interactions in prison, First impressions, Medical evaluations at Rikers, Re-incarceration, Insufficient health services, Solitary confinement, Lack of resources/services, Working in Rikers while incarcerated, Coping mechanisms, Defense mechanisms, Personal history of incarceration, Being released from Rikers, Impact on outside relationships, impact on communities
To read the transcript of this interview, click here