Most people in New York City jails are eligible to vote. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy for them to register or cast their absentee ballots. That’s where volunteers come in.

Keri Blakinger’s new book, “Corrections in Ink,” began with Susan Begg, an older woman the author met on her second day in jail. If only Susan had lived to see it in print.

When Rebecca Figueroa was arrested two months into her pregnancy, she didn’t worry because she wasn’t guilty. But seven months later, she was still in jail and totally unprepared for a high-risk pregnancy, childbirth in restraints and the constant fear of losing her daughter.

Rikers Island has been notorious for violence and neglect for decades. But detainees, corrections officers and officials tell us the New York City jail complex has plunged into a new state of emergency.