Justice
Journeying to Rikers Island by Bus
This photo series depicts an unseen side of the criminal justice system: its effect on the families of incarcerated people.
Around six months ago, the photographer Salvador Espinoza began spending a lot of time riding the Q100 bus through Queens, New York. The bus departs from Queens Plaza in Long Island City, winds north through Astoria, and ends at Rikers Island, the jail complex in the East River.
The Q100 is the only form of New York City public transit that reaches the jail, Espinoza says. If inmates have no one to bring them home upon release, they’re handed a MetroCard and directed to the bus.