Kelly Briem

Kelly Briem was born in Connecticut and moved to New York City at age 18, living in every borough but Queens. She served three stints at Rikers in the 90s while experiencing homelessness, and recalls corrections officers confiscating her shoes at intake and being barefoot when they had none to give her. Briem attributes surviving the trauma of Rikers to her found family there, recalling their voices, their words of affirmation, and how they would uplift each other by throwing dance parties and mock fashion shows. She remembers the amount of women there who were sick, the overwhelming smell of Pine-Sol, and how suffocating it felt to breathe the air on Rikers. When asked about what should be remembered about Rikers, Briem responds, "(...) mass human suffering (...) I just remember the despair. You could cut the air with it." (Summary written by: Carson Stachura)