PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 4, 2021
I Got Covid at Rikers. I’m Still Suffering.
A firsthand account of contracting Covid-19 inside Rikers Island—and confronting the lasting health consequences after release.
READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE →
THE STORY
Rikers felt like ground zero.
Michele Evans arrived at Rikers Island in January 2019. When Covid-19 reached New York’s jails, distancing was impossible, protective supplies were scarce and fear moved through the dorms as quickly as the virus.
In her New York Times opinion essay, Michele recounts the onset of her symptoms, isolation inside the jail and the health crisis that followed. Upon her June 2020 release, she learned that she had Stage 3 kidney failure. She also experienced the prolonged fatigue, shortness of breath, memory problems and other effects associated with long Covid.
The essay connects one woman’s experience to a broader public failure: incarcerated people were placed in crowded facilities where they could not protect themselves, then left to carry the consequences long after the first wave of the pandemic passed.
WHY IT MATTERS
The virus left the island. The consequences did not.
This essay is part of Michele’s continuing work documenting incarceration from lived experience and holding public systems accountable for the harm they cause.