Decarceration activists, joined by family members of people who have died while imprisoned on Rikers Island, hold a rally to demand the closing of Rikers Island, on January 26, 2023, in Queens, New York.Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis / Getty Images In February 2022, a 31-year-old woman named Mary Yehudah arrived at the Rose M. Singer Center, the women's facility at one of the nation's most notorious jail complexes, Rikers Island.