Diane Rettino

Diane Rettino grew up in Brooklyn and lived most of her adult life in New Jersey. In her late 50s, with no previous experience of the criminal justice system, she was detained at Rikers for five weeks. She lived with 60 other women in a crowded dorm, sleeping on cots spaced less than three feet apart. From her dorm windows, she saw planes taking off and landing at LaGuardia Airport. A few weeks into her detainment, she had to undergo open heart surgery at an offsite medical facility, where she was haudcuffed to her hospital bed. She was bailed out but later returned to Rikers to continue her sentence. She worked as a suicide prevention assistant, earning $0.75 an hour, which was a good wage at Rikers. She later served time in state prison, where she led meditation and yoga groups. She insists we need to rethink the purpose of jail, introducing more humane conditions and robust programming. "There is some level of rehabilitation [in prison] there if you want it," she says. "There is no reason why that can't be instituted at the jail level." (Summary written by: Annie Anderson)