HART ISLAND MASS BURIAL 1990

Mass burials on Hart Island in the Bronx are conducted by inmates from the NYC Riker’s Island Jail on weekday mornings throughout the year. In 1990 Eileen Riley received permission to create a trailer for a film never made. This portion, taken from a VHS tape given to The Hart Island Project, shows a burial process largely unchanged since New York City public burials began on Hart Island in 1869.