A History of Ward's Island Told Through Marginalized New Yorkers Sent to Live There

For almost two centuries, New York has used Ward's Island as a space to house its most marginalized residents. Philip T. Yanos, a professor of psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, grew up on the island in the 1970s on the grounds of the Manhattan State Hospital, where his dad worked as a psychiatrist. Yanos has written a new book, Exiles in New York City: Warehousing the Marginalized on Ward's Island, and he discusses his research and listeners who've visited or lived on Ward's Island share their stories.