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It's Not Impossible: How NYC Can Transform Jail Conditions
In a city that has long vaunted its accomplishments in making life better for its residents, its jails stand as a startling and unmitigated failure. Over the past three years, 33 people have died in the jails, and its past and present reveal one horrendous abuse after another, as a recent Gothamist investigative series on rape in the jails has detailed.
Reform efforts in the 1920s to move from the dark, crowded and unsanitary conditions of city jails to an island in the East River with space and fresh air failed. And a reform effort over the past decade, aimed at moving back to better designed jails in the city centers, has stalled. A long line of federal consent decrees, covering the terms of five mayors and 25 correction commissioners, has not fixed the problems. Levels of violence are astronomically above the 2015 conditions that a federal consent decree was aimed at curing. Today, it seems an impossible mission to return even to those 2015 unconstitutional levels.
Is there any way out? Vital City, Columbia Law School, CUNY Institute of State & Local Governance (ISLG), John Jay College of Criminal Justice and NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service will bring together a virtual panel consisting of some of the leading experts on jails, their operation and their reform.
Introductory Remarks: Stanley Richards, President & CEO of The Fortune Society, Former First Deputy Commissioner of NYC Department of Correction
Moderator: Jan Ransom, Reporter, New York Times
Panelists: Stan Brezenoff, former first deputy mayor City of New York, former chair of the Board of Correction
Jordan Hyatt, Drexel University Criminology and Justice Studies Professor, Director of the Center for Public Policy, and co-PI of the Scandinavian Prison Project
Michael Jacobson, Executive Director of CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance, former NYC Correction Commissioner
Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia, Managing Director of Justice Initiatives, Chicago Beyond
This event is co-sponsored by Vital City, Columbia Law School, CUNY Institute of State & Local Governance (ISLG), John Jay College of Criminal Justice and NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
How NYC Can Transform Jail Conditions: A Panel
Speakers
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Stanley Richards is the President and CEO of The Fortune Society, a service and advocacy non-profit organization in New York City, founded by David Rothenberg in 1967. The Fortune Society’s mission is to support successful reentry from prison and promote alternatives to incarceration. Stanley is a formerly incarcerated man of color with decades of experience in the criminal justice field. In 2014, Stanley was recognized by the Obama administration as a Champion of Change for his commitment to helping individuals impacted by the justice system, and became the first formerly incarcerated person to be appointed to the NYC Board of Correction.
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Jan Ransom is an investigative reporter for The New York Times focusing on criminal justice issues, law enforcement and incarceration in New York.
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Stanley Brezenoff is a longtime leading civil servant, formerly serving as chair of the Board of Corrections and president and CEO of Continuum Health Partners. Brezenoff previously served as executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and as first deputy mayor under Mayor Ed Koch.
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Jordan Hyatt is an associate professor in the Department of Criminology and Justice Studies, and serves as director of the Center for Public Policy, at Drexel University. Much of his work has focused on action research within the carceral environment. This has included projects on programming, staff well-being, and prison climate. He is the co-PI of the Scandinavian Prison Project.
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Michael Jacobson is ISLG's founding Executive Director as well as a sociology professor at the CUNY Graduate Center (GC). Prior to joining CUNY in May 2013 to help create ISLG, Michael was president of the Vera Institute of Justice, serving from 2005 to 2013. He is the author of Downsizing Prisons: How to Reduce Crime and End Mass Incarceration (New York University Press 2005). Holding a Ph.D. in sociology, he has had an ongoing academic career coupled with more than 20 years of government service. From 1998 to 2005 he was a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the GC. He was New York City correction commissioner from 1995 to 1998, New York City probation commissioner from 1992 to 1996, and worked in the New York City Office of Management and Budget from 1984 to 1992 where he was a deputy budget director. In 2010 to 2012, Michael served as the chair of Altus, a global alliance working across continents and from a multicultural perspective to improve public safety and justice.
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Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia is the Managing Director of Justice Initiatives at Chicago Beyond, a national philanthropic organization committed to addressing systemic inequity by backing solutions led by people closest to the issues. An experienced psychologist, she has led efforts in criminal justice reform, mental wellness, and trauma support. Previously, she served as Warden of Cook County Jail in Chicago, becoming one of the first psychologists in the U.S. to lead a correctional facility. At Chicago Beyond, she brings people incarcerated, correctional staff and administrators together to enhance safety and wellness using Chicago Beyond’s Holistic Safety Framework.