Discovering New York’s secret graveyard
(Originally published by New Internationalist)
Few visitors to New York are aware that a wooded island off
the coast of the Bronx is home to one of the world’s largest burial grounds. Since
1869 over 850,000 corpses have been buried on Hart Island, yet the site – which
is run by the Department of Correction and dug by prison inmates - is shrouded
in so much secrecy that even relatives of the dead are denied the right to
visit the graves.
Joseph’s baby, Tomika, died shortly after she was born prematurely in 1978. Tomika had been transferred to another hospital to undergo heart surgery and when her mother phoned up days later doctors told her the baby had already been sent away for a public burial. It wasn’t until 2009 that she discovered her daughter was buried on Hart Island 2009.
“She was not poor, she was not unwanted, she was not a criminal to be in the criminal justice system. It was a real travesty of justice for this to happen to me and many, many other people,” she protests.
While Joseph was eventually granted access, others have been
less fortunate. Growing up in the Bronx, Belinda Brecska’s father was rarely
around during her childhood. He left home when she was four years old and was
frequently in trouble with the law. When she was 16 his parole officer got in
touch with her to arrange a meeting and in 1992 they were reunited.
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Elaine Joseph visits her daughter's grave |
Many of the dead buried on the island were homeless,
destitute or never claimed by friends or relatives. However, an unknown number
of corpses – including many stillborn babies - are interred there against the
wishes of family members who are only allowed access to a memorial Gazebo
erected nearby the graves.
Melinda Hunt, founder of the Hart Island Project, an
organisation which advocates for relatives seeking access to the graves argues
that New York City Council should transfer control of the Island from the
Department of Correction to the Department of Parks.
“They’re really the wrong city agency to be managing
visitation. They view it as a threat to the sense of total control that they
feel they need over the prison system,” she says.
In March, after successfully petitioning the Department of
Correction for proper access to the site, Elaine Joseph, a retired nurse and
former lieutenant commander in the Navy, became one of the first relatives to
visit the site.
Joseph’s baby, Tomika, died shortly after she was born prematurely in 1978. Tomika had been transferred to another hospital to undergo heart surgery and when her mother phoned up days later doctors told her the baby had already been sent away for a public burial. It wasn’t until 2009 that she discovered her daughter was buried on Hart Island 2009.
“She was not poor, she was not unwanted, she was not a criminal to be in the criminal justice system. It was a real travesty of justice for this to happen to me and many, many other people,” she protests.
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This article was published in New Internationalist magazine |
When Brecska discovered she was pregnant a year later, she
phoned her father’s parole officer to get hold of him only to receive
devastating news. “She said to me ‘your father passed away, he’s buried on Hart
Island’. I was the only living being that could have identified him and she
said they couldn’t contact me. They make you feel like you’re lost, you will
never be able to visit any grave site because now he belongs to the state.”
Last month Brecska discovered the Hart Island project. Through
the website she was able to acquire details of where her father was buried but
remains unable to visit the island herself. Brecska has applied for her
father’s death certificate after which she hopes to make an appointment with
the Department of Correction to arrange a visit. She remains aware, however, of
the large numbers of people who have been turned away in the past.
“If they can open up their hearts and put
themselves in the situation…and make it possible for us to visit regularly when
we like. We don’t want any trouble we just want to have the privilege to freely
visit the gravesite,” she pleads.
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