The Q100 bus to Rikers can be a lifeline for families with loved ones inside the jail
The city bus is one of the only ways in or out of New York's Rikers Island jail. Conditions there have been declared a crisis. Detainees say the only way to check on their loved ones is in person.
Came'e Lee sits alone on a fall day, waiting for the Q100, at a quiet New York City bus stop that seems all but forgotten on the edge of the East River. She's fidgety: she keeps checking her phone and looking around at the other people at the bus stop. A few days before, she got a call from Rikers Island Correctional Facility.
It was her son.
He's 20 years old. He had been at Rikers for around a month. He'd violated a protection order. There was no information regarding when he'd be released or get a trial. On the phone, he told her he was struggling. He also said he'd been beaten up. For his safety, NPR is withholding his name.
"He wanted me to know that if he doesn't make it, he did not kill himself," she says.
