Opening Hart Island to New York
Accessible only boat, Hart Island is in the middle of the Long Island Sound on the eastern edge of the Bronx. Since the late 1800s, Rikers Island inmates have buried well over 1 million unidentified New Yorkers in mass graves on Hart Island. Melinda Hunt been documenting the 131-acre island through her photography for 26 years. She created a nonprofit called The Hart Island Project to help family members connect with their deceased and perhaps forgotten loved ones.