Benjamin Adam

[Content warning: Gay/trans protective custody, officer harassment, shock incarceration]

Benjamin Adam grew up in Farmington, CT and moved to New York at age 18. Adam served time at Rikers from 2002-2003, where they recall the day-to-day experience of "oppressive boredom." Adam explains how corrections officers employed scarcity as punishment, from access to food to the amount of chairs and tables in visitation areas. Before being relocated upstate to Shock Incarceration Program, they were placed in gay/trans protective custody, which has since closed as of 2015. They explain how this enabled the prison system to appear less liable for the safety of incarcerated people, saying, "Gay protective custody has never been something that queer activists have fought for, because prison can't be safe (...) gender-responsive cages are still cages." Adam describes Rikers as "a place that should be a distant memory", and believes Rikers should close in the context of "a total revision of how we address social issues", advancing transformative justice. (Summary written by: Carson Stachura)