2019年经济学人 哈特岛的穷人墓（在线收听）

United States

来源于《美国》版块

Burying the poor

埋葬穷人

Potters’ fields

伯德菲尔德公园

What happens to the corpses of those who die poor or unclaimed in NYC

那些死在纽约的穷人还有无人认领者的尸体怎样处理

“No one who sleeps there had a dollar to their name in life…the bodies interred here are as utterly forgotten and wiped away as if they never existed.” This is how the New York Herald described Hart Island in 1874, five years after the city began burying its poor on the island off the Bronx. A century and a half later the poor and unclaimed are still buried in pine coffins, usually marked only with numbers, not names. These are stacked three deep in a trench, three feet below the surface. Each trench holds 150 adult coffins. Roughly 1,200 people are buried there each year.

“那些睡在那里的人，生命中没有一美元是属于他们的……埋葬在这里的尸体，就像从未存在过一样，被彻底遗忘和抹去。” 这是1874年《纽约先驱报》对哈特岛的描述。自1874年，纽约已经连续五年将穷人埋葬在布朗克斯附近的哈特岛。一个半世纪后，穷人和无人认领的人仍然被埋在松木棺材里，通常只有数字，没有名字。棺材堆放在一个深3英尺的沟里，在地表下3英尺。每条沟可容纳150具成人棺材。每年大约有1200人被埋在那里。

Jurisdictions across America are wrestling with what to do with their unclaimed dead. A state fund in West Virginia, which has been hit hard by opioid overdoses, ran out of money to bury the unclaimed dead last year. Some cities, including Los Angeles, cremate the unclaimed after a certain period, which is cheaper than burial. In North Carolina unclaimed bodies are cremated, then stored for three years before being scattered at sea. In Washington’s King County, which includes Seattle and its suburbs, the poor and the unclaimed are cremated and stored until a biennial burial ceremony. Because of the high number of migrant deaths in Pima County in Tucson, Arizona, its medical examiner’s office handles more unidentified remains relative to population than any office in America.

美国各地的司法管辖区都在为如何处理无人认领的死者而绞尽脑汁。西维吉尼亚州的一个州基金因阿片类药物过量而遭受重创，去年用于埋葬无人认领死者的资金告罄。包括洛杉矶在内的一些城市，在一段时间后将无人认领的人火化，这比埋葬更便宜。在北卡罗莱纳，无人认领的尸体被火化，骨灰保存3年，然后散在海上。在华盛顿的国王县，包括西雅图及其郊区，穷人和无人认领的人死后火化并保存起来，两年举行一次葬礼。由于亚利桑那州图森市皮马县移民的高死亡率，其法医办公室处理的身份不明的遗体与人口的比例超过了美国任何一个法医办公室。

Those who die without the means to pay for a funeral, which costs nearly $9,000 on average, end up on Hart Island. Nearly two-thirds had next of kin who opted for a public burial. In all about 1m people lie there. The earliest victims of aids were buried there in 1985, far away from the other graves. Hart Island may be the largest cemetery for victims of the epidemic. During heavy rains bones are sometimes washed away and end up on nearby beaches.

一个葬礼平均花费近9000美元，那些死后无力支付葬礼费用的人，最终埋在哈特岛。近三分之二的死者近亲选择了公开安葬。大约有100万人死后葬在那里。最早的艾滋病患者于1985年被埋葬在那里，远离其他坟墓。哈特岛可能是这个流行病受害者的最大墓地。骨头有时会被大雨冲走，最后留在附近的海滩上。

The island, which has a stark beauty, is under the jurisdiction of the city’s Department of Corrections. Four days a week eight inmates from Rikers, New York’s biggest jail, travel to the island to dig graves and lower coffins into them. They are paid a $1 an hour.

这座岛屿有一种荒凉的美，隶属于该市的劳改部门。纽约最大的监狱赖克斯岛监狱每周有4天的时间安排8名犯人到岛上挖坟墓，并将棺材放进去。他们的工资是每小时1美元。

Because of Hart Island’s close connection with jail and prisoners, it is difficult for relatives (or anyone else) to visit. “It is clear to me we can do better, much better for the people buried on Hart Island,” says Corey Johnson, the Speaker of the city council. “This needs to be changed immediately.” He is backing a bill that would transfer operations to the Parks Department, create an office to help those who need help with a burial and make travel to the island easier. The city also needs to think about what to do when Hart Island is full. The Department of Corrections says there will only be space for eight or ten more years.

由于哈特岛与监狱和囚犯关系密切，埋葬者亲属(或其他人)很难去探望。“我很清楚我们可以做得更好，为埋在哈特岛上的人们做得更好，”市议会议长科里·约翰逊表示。“这需要立即改变。”他支持一项法案，该法案将把埋葬工作转移到公园管理部门，并设立办公室来帮助那些需要帮助埋葬的人，并使去往该岛更容易。纽约还需要考虑哈特岛葬满时该怎么办。劳教部门表示，这里的空间只够再使用八年或十年。