Credit: Karen Wise
Mary E. Buser worked in the Mental Health Department on Rikers Island from 1995 to 2000. She cofounded the Samaritans of New York suicide prevention hotline and served as its first executive director. She is an outspoken advocate against the inhumane treatment of the incarcerated, especially the mentally ill, and those in solitary confinement. She has been published in The Washington Post and featured in The New York Times and the NY Daily News. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.