Abstract
The purpose of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) Intake Questionnaire is purportedly to evaluate the “risk of victimization” and “risk of abusiveness” for each incarcerated person in the New York City jails. Corrections officers completed it during the intake process through a blend of observations, records searches, and documentation of the incarcerated person’s responses. This visual essay engages with and disrupts the carceralities embedded within this triplicate form.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 Unfortunately, you are not permitted to photograph or record on Rikers Island without special media permissions. The result is a visual essay that is absent of the visual images of the site itself.
2 These questions include: “(Is the inmate small in stature?),” “Does the inmate have only a non-violent offense history?,” “(Is the inmate here only for civil immigration purposes? The answer is typically NO).” Officers are then required to answer “does the inmate appear lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or gender non-conforming?”
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Ariel Ludwig
Dr. Ariel Ludwig is the Florence Levy Kay Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Machine Learning, Law, and Racial Justice at Brandeis University. Her current work addresses mass incarceration, health, and technology. [email protected]