"A Crime Prevented Is Far Better Than a Crime Prosecuted": Manhattan District Attorney holds Communities and Justice Conference

On Wednesday, July 28th and Thursday, July 29th, experts from around the country, including prosecutors, community advocates, and academic specialists gathered at John Jay for an innovative"Communities and Justice Conference: Partnerships & Challenges for the 21st Century" sponsored in partnership by the New York County District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer, and Jeremy Travis, President, John Jay College. The conference focused on addressing national trends in prosecution, crime prevention, and criminal justice strategies. During the opening remarks, District Attorney Vance, Scott Stringer, and Jeremy Travis were joined by Mayor Bloomberg. Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly also served as a keynote speaker.

One of the hot topics of the day was the role of reentry as a crime prevention strategy. District Attorneys from around the country including Michael D. Schrunk, District Attorney of Multnomah County, Oregon and Daniel F. Conley, District Attorney of Suffolk County, MA (as well as those close to home, such as Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes) endorsed reentry as a legitimate and necessary effort to reduce crime. District Attorney Hynes, who began the hugely successful reentry program ComALERT in 1999, expressed his hope that "every prosecutor's office in the country will have a reentry program."

During the reentry panel that I had the honor to moderate, reentry experts and pioneers, DA Charles Hynes, Martin Glenn, Vice President of the Fortune Society, George McDonald, Founder and President of the DOE Fund, and Ali Knight, President of the New York City Justice Corps highlighted the innovative and effective reentry initiatives that they lead. When I asked Mr. Hynes,"Why run a reentry program out of an office traditionally responsible for only prosecution?" Mr. Hynes stressed that his office's role was to reduce crime and further justice and that reentry was an effective, economical, and humane way to do this. He also added that the legitimacy that a District Attorney's Office can lend when involved in a reentry initiative is important for helping people find employment. George McDonald, Founder and President of The DOE Fund, whose organization partners with the Brooklyn DA's office to provide paid transitional work and support services to parolees involved in ComALERT shared his belief that the key to successful reentry is "rapid attachment to work." Glenn Martin offered his experience combating resistance to the creation of housing for formerly incarcerated individuals at the Fortune Society and described how his organization eventually won the support of opponents. To illustrate the change in attitude towards those individuals housed at Fortune, Glenn spoke about the haunted house the residents create every year at Halloween which has become a huge success. As he tells it, "The community now bring their kids to be scared by people they used to be scared of." Ali Knight, President of the New York City Justice Corps spoke about his program for formerly incarcerated youth that connects them with work in the community and engages them on the unique issues that individuals entering adulthood face when released from confinement.

Another reoccurring theme of the day was the need to improve relations between the community and law enforcement. At an afternoon panel entitled, "Hot Button Issues Affecting Communities and Law Enforcement," each panelist identified the obstacles that distrust in the
police and district attorney's office creates when trying to fight crime. Ms. Anita M. Alvarez, State's Attorney of Cook County, Illinois and Professor David Kennedy discussed the prevalence of the "no-snitch" code among shooters and highlighted the recent shooting in Chicago where police arrived at a crime scene to find a young man shot and dying. When asked by the police to identify the shooter, the man told officers," I know, but I ain't telling you shit." Moments later the young man died. In an effort to improve the legitimacy of law enforcement, David Kennedy spoke about the effectiveness of "call-ins," (See also "What's New at the Task Force? Considering Parolee Notification Forums) where police and district attorneys unite with social service organizations to address gun offenders about the consequences of engaging in gun violence and offer services and employment assistance as an alternative.

The conference was a huge success and we look forward to our continued partnership with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office as we work together to improve public safety and combat recidivism in our county.

To read the USA Today article about the conference, click here.

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Letters from Coxsackie: Part 1

On, June 29, 2010 I attended the New York Department of Correction's first Reentry Symposium and Coxsackie Correctional Facility and wrote about it on my July 1st blog post. During the sessions, I had the opportunity to engage in a longer discussion with a few men, some who have life sesentences, but hope to be granted parole at their upcoming board hearings. A few weeks later,I received a few letters from the men, with their thoughts on a possible return home and their hopes for the future. I was moved by the insight some of these men had on the crimes they had committed, their recognition of the pain they had caused, and their thoughtfulness regarding their life circumstances that contributed to their behavior. I was also touched by their resolve to change their lives and makes amends with the community, if ever given the opportunity. I wrote back to the men asking for permission to post their letters. As of today, two have them have replied with a enthusiastic "yes", wanting their stories to be shared. Today I will post the first.

Dear Ms. Boar,

I spoke with you during the morning hours while you were Coxsackie. You might not remember me because you spoke with alot of people. I was the guy who was speaking to you about my next parole boarding hearing date coming up this August.

I had a lengthy conversation with you at the very end of the morning session. I was explaining to you how I been incarcerated for 31 years straight. How I want to come home and become an advocate, speaking to the youths about my unfortunate journey in life.

Hopefully, I can deter them from traveling down the same road I travel down. I want this to be my life time passion traveling anywhere I am invited to speak to the youth. I am not looking for any monetary gains for speaking, I just want to give back to the community that I took from.

I took an innocent man's life through a senseless robbery when I was 21 years old along with other robberies. In prison I got into a lot of trouble fighting and smoking marijuana.

It took me alot of decades to say enough is enough. Sometimes, Ms. Boar, it takes certain people longer to get their lives together. I am finished smoking pot. I have a good family. They are still in my corner. My grown daughters and grandchildren, my mother, my ex-wife and my other baby mother.

I would like to stay in touch while I am still in prison and eventually gain my freedom. I want you to help me find places where I can speak to people so I can tell them my story. I have a serious story to tell. I also have two brothers in prison . They be down for almost 24 years. And God willing, I pray that my story can deter those individuals who are living a similar lifestyle that I once lived to stop before its too late.

I will tell them the horrors of prison life, how your family and friends slowly start to abandon you--I can go on and on but I will save that for my future audience.

I will now bring this letter to a close. Take care. I want you to know that I do appreciate all of you who came to Coxsackie for the reentry session. Have a nice day and enjoy the 4th of July holiday!

Sincerely yours.

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Newark Youth Court: "A Story of Hope"

Yesterday morning, the topic of New Jersey Public Television's “Due Process” program was the Center For Court Innovation's Newark Youth Court. The program features the work of the Youth Court which hears low level offenses and responds to youth with sanctions that restore the damage to the community and seek to positively influence the youth's trajectory. This alternative to traditional court procedures is described by Newark's Mayor, Corey Booker, as a "story of hope" in his speech at the Newark Youth Court's first graduation.

Stream the episode on-demand from the following link http://www.njn.net/television/webcast/dueprocess.html.

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"Doing Time on the Outside": Six Questions with "Hard Straight" Filmmaker Goro Toshima

Director/Producer Goro Toshima is promoting his PBS Award winning documentary, Hard Straight, about "doing time on the outside." In his words, the film “shows
what it's really like to make the radical transition from prison life to society, by following the post-release stories of three people in close and unflinching detail...”

---A gang member, who spent his childhood in foster homes, juvenile detention, and the gang life. Now, he’s a 2-striker and another conviction will land him in prison for the rest of his life..

---A recidivist who has logged more time in prison for parole violations than for his original sentence. "My friends are few, and my world is cold," he confides, waiting on a street corner notorious for drug deals.

---A mother whose oldest daughter has taken in the two younger children during her prison term. Life becomes very complicated very quickly once she gains her freedom and struggles with methamphetamine addiction.

Mr. Toshima filmed for two years, “portraying the ecstatic moment of their release from prison and the inevitable frustrations and setbacks." You can view a 15 minute clip of the film here and purchase the movie here.

I asked Mr. Toshima a few questions about the experience of making the documentary:

What inspired you to make a documentary about individuals on parole?

I heard a radio piece by a guy named Joe Loya, writer and ex-prisoner. I went and talked with him, and he said the hardest part of doing time was after he got out, the difficulties of transitioning and trying to go straight after a lifetime of crime and incarceration. It sounded like the parole process would make for a dramatic and interesting documentary so I started researching and talking to more people. The more I learned, the more I knew it would be a good film.

How did you choose your subjects and what type of relationship did you develop with each as you shared their lives with them?

I visited prisons throughout California and spoke with many, many prisoners about to get out (taking pre-release classes). The three in the film I met through this process. With all three, I knew immediately that they'd be good for the documentary. They were honest, straight-forward, open with me, and had interesting backgrounds: gangmember, mother, recidivist. But the most important thing was just a feeling of connection between me and them and feeling that they would be good subjects on screen.I got close to two of the three (Smiley and Regina). Over the course of the two years, I spent 2-3 days every week with both of them. So we got close. They let me into their lives, for better/worse, and allowed me to document what was happening. So, it was a pretty intimate situation.

How do you think that filming the reentry process affected the lives of your subjects?

I think it was a cathartic process for them. None of them had anybody in their lives that they could open up to and talk about this intense and confusing period. And Smiley and Regina, in particular, really wanted to talk things out. A lot was going on. Also, I think it helped a bit, at least a first, to have some motivation to stay straight. But, of course, after a while, they strayed. But they still let me film and wanted their mistakes to be a part of their story. But, in the end, I think they got something from the film...being able to express what was going on in their lives.

What most surprised you about the experience of individuals on parole?

The biggest surprise was just getting to know the individuals in the film and their personalities. Smiley and Regina, in particular, are complex and interesting people. the good and bad inside them range in a much bigger way than in most people.

How are your subjects doing today?

Regina is doing great...She got a job in downtown San Francisco, working for a homeless organization. She's with her kids, who are all doing well too.Smiley is sort of doing the same [as he was before]...one foot out and one foot in. Shep finished out his sentence and is no longer on parole. He's back on the streets in the Tenderloin. Regina actually works down there and sees him all the time.

As an outsider who observed the reentry process, how do you think the correctional system, the Division of Parole, and the community could better respond to someone returning to the community?

The thing I felt was the lesson of this film was that all three had major problems before entering prison...Smiley was a gang member, who had traumatic childhood. Regina had drug problems. These are the problems that led them to prison in the first place. And when they got out, the same problems existed. I think the correctional system could be improved if it addressed these issues in a more efficient way.

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Paterson's SMART 2010 Programs Links Unemployed with Potential Job Openings

State of the Art Web Based System in Albany that Electronically Connects the Unemployed with Potential Job OpeningsSMART 2010 Web Program Revolutionizes the Way the Department of Labor Connects Workers and Businesses

Although this press release was issued in October, many unemployed individuals will find it useful today!

Governor David A. Paterson today announced a revolutionary E-Government tool that will help nearly 875,000 unemployed New Yorkers receive job leads in their regions immediately. The Department of Labor's ground-breaking, web-based Skills Matching and Referral Technology (SMART) 2010 program analyzes resumes for skills and work experience, then electronically contacts unemployed New Yorkers via e-mail, recommending job openings in their areas to them based on their past work history, experience and skills. “Throughout my administration, state government has become a national leader in utilizing technology to make government more transparent and accountable,” said Governor Paterson.“By harnessing the power of the Internet, the Department of Labor’s innovative new SMART 2010 program will increase job opportunities for the unemployed and help them become more marketable. I encourage every unemployed New Yorker to visit their nearest One-Stop Career Center and let this amazing technology work for you.”

In the age of globalization, the Internet has become one of the primary destinations for individuals to conduct job searches. As Danielle Lazzaro of Nassau County can attest, “I've been looking for a full-time job since the beginning of June, spending a minimum of six hours a day conducting job searches on the Internet. This has, in a sense, become my full-time job.”
Many job seekers possess skills for jobs they may not be considering in their day-to-day job searches. SMART 2010 goes beyond buzz words and keywords and looks at the entire person – their strengths, skills and talents. The program then develops a holistic approach to find the best job openings available, immediately opening the door to more job opportunities.

State Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith said, “We know that job seekers are on their computers every day, searching through job openings and trying to find their niche. SMART 2010 already knows their niche, and can also find other occupations out there they may not even have considered. With one click of the mouse, this program takes everything we’ve done in our 100 year history and changes the way we do business for the better.”

Every unemployed New Yorker is encouraged to visit their nearest One-Stop Career Center to get immediate help in crafting a resume. Once a resume is completed in an electronic format, a Labor Department counselor will feed the resume into the SMART 2010 system. Within 24 hours of submitting a resume, the individual will receive an e-mail containing one to 10 job matches from the Department of Labor’s database of employment opportunities. Job openings will be within a specific geographic radius, depending on the region. These e-mails will continue every day thereafter. Customers without an individual e-mail account or computer skills are encouraged receive assistance from Department of Labor staff.

To increase the effectiveness of SMART 2010, the Labor Department also encourages every business across the state with job openings to list them on the New York Job Exchange. To find your nearest One-Stop Career Center or to post a job with the State Labor Department, please visit http://www.labor.ny.gov/.

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New York Times Writes in Support of Common Sense Laws to Address Employment Discrimination

An Editorial in today's New York Times entitled "Hiring and Fairness" shines a light on a growing trend to address employment discrimination for persons with a criminal conviction. Too often, especially in poor communities of color, the formerly incarcerated are routinely denied the opportunity to compete for work based on their criminal record. Municipalities and those contractors doing business with them are an important source of well paying local jobs with benefits. According to the Editorial, states are passing laws that remove barriers to municipal hiring and licensing for persons with a criminal conviction.

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Shackled Births: Incarcerated Women In Labor

NPR's recent broadcast, "Difficult Births: Laboring and Delivering in Shackles," tells the stories of incarcerated women who were restrained with handcuffs, shackles, or both while giving labor. New York is one of ten states that has legislation banning the practice.

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"Making Second Chances Work": Conference Website Released

Via the National Reentry Resource Center:

Making Second Chances Work
Conference Website Released

The National Reentry Resource Center, with support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, has launched the Making Second Chances Work conference website. Conference participants and others interested in reentry can view the videotaped sessions with experts and download materials used during the conference on some of the most pressing issues facing the field.

Making Second Chances Work: A Conference for Grantees Committed to Successful Reentry was held May 26-27, in Washington, D.C. It brought together 2009 Second Chance Act grantee representatives. Individuals from state and local governments, community and faith-based organizations, and federally recognized Indian tribes participated in two days of meetings with experts in the fields of housing, employment, mental health and substance abuse treatment, community supervision, and other areas important to people transitioning from prison or jail to the community.

Many sessions focused on grantees making the most of the federal investment in their programs by highlighting accountability issues and key practices such as assessing an individual's risk for committing future crimes, designing data-driven programs, and effectively allocating the limited resources available for people returning from prisons and jails. Special attention was dedicated to sharing strategies on meeting the distinct needs of youth returning to schools and families from detention in a secure facility in an effort to interrupt the costly cycle of crime and incarceration.

To visit the website, please click here.

If you have any questions, please contact Shawn Rogers at 646.383.5745 or by e-mail at srogers@csg.org.

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New York Reforms Youth Prisons

Federal Oversight for Troubled N.Y. Youth Prisons
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/nyregion/15juvenile.html?emc=eta1

Published: July 14, 2010
Four of New York's most dangerous and troubled youth prisons will be placed under federal oversight, strict new limits will be imposed on the use of physical force by guards, and dozens of psychiatrists, counselors and investigators will be hired under a sweeping settlement finalized on Wednesday between state and federal officials.

The settlement, filed in federal district court, will usher in the most significant expansion in years of mental health services for youths in custody, the vast majority of whom suffer from drug or alcohol problems, developmental disabilities, or other mental health problems.

Until now the state did not have a single full-time psychiatrist on staff to treat youthful offenders.Guards at the youth prisons, known as youth counselors, will be prohibited from using physical force to restrain youths except in cases in which a person's physical safety is threatened or a youth is seeking to escape from one of the facilities.

Guards will only be allowed to use the most controversial method of restraint - in which a youth is forced face-down to the ground - for a maximum of three minutes, with evaluation by a doctor to follow within four hours each time such a restraint is used.

The United States Department of Justice had threatened to take over New York's entire juvenile justice system unless the state took significant steps to rectify problems so severe that many youthful offenders never any services they were entitled to or that would help them adjust to life outside jail.

"It is New York's fundamental responsibility to protect juveniles in its custody from harm and to uphold their constitutional rights," Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's civil rights division, said in a statement. "We have worked cooperatively with New York officials to craft an agreement to ensure that the constitutional rights of juveniles at the four facilities are protected, and we commend New York and the New York State Office of Children and Families for their willingness to work aggressively to remedy these problems."

The settlement comes almost a year after federal investigators found that staff at the four facilities - the Lansing Residential Center and the Louis Gossett Jr. Residential Center in Lansing, and two residences, one for boys and one for girls, at Tryon Residential Center in Johnstown - routinely used physical force to discipline children, resulting in broken bones, shattered teeth, concussions and dozens of other serious injuries over a period of less than two years.

"With this historic Settlement Agreement, New York takes another step towards achieving true transformation of our juvenile justice system," Governor David A. Paterson said in a statement.

Mr. Paterson, who has been trying to address the problems plaguing the juvenile justice system, introduced a bill in June that would allow judges to sentence youths to juvenile prisons only if they had been found guilty of a violent crime or a sex crime or were deemed to be a serious threat to themselves or others.

"I urge the Legislature to act on my juvenile justice reform bill, which seeks to provide appropriate oversight and accountability in the system and provides that only children who are truly a danger to their communities are placed" in juvenile jails, Mr. Paterson said.

The federal inquiry began in 2007 following a spate of incidents, including the 2006 death of an emotionally disturbed fifteen-year-old after two employees at the Tryon center pinned him down on the ground.

Two monitors, jointly chosen by federal and state officials, will oversee the state's efforts to enforce the new rules over the next two years, making regular progress reports to a federal judge, who must approve the settlement before it goes into effect. Money to pay for the new staff - including one full-time psychiatrist at each of the four prisons, five licensed psychologists, and more than a dozen social workers and nurse practitioners - was included in portions of the state budget approved by the Legislature in recent weeks. Currently, New York's entire youth prison system does not employ a single full-time staff psychiatrist.

The federal settlement echoes recommendations issued last December by a state task force, which found major problems throughout the state's entire youth prison system. The task force recommended substantially expanding mental health care and replacing most of the residential youth prisons with a system of smaller centers closer to the communities where most of the families of the youths in custody live.

While the federal settlement only formally applies to the four facilities in question, state officials said they hoped to use the agreement as a springboard to seek broader changes through the juvenile system, which currently houses roughly 667 youths in 26 facilities around the state. (Two facilities, including the boys' residential center at Tryon, are scheduled to close early next year.)

"It continues to move us in the right direction," said Gladys Carrión, the commissioner of the Office of Children and Family Services, the agency that oversees the juvenile justice system. "It's an affirmation of the work we have done already and of the recommendations of the governor's task force."

Ms. Carrión, who has moved aggressively in recent months to reduce the number of youths in state custody and limit the use of force by guards, said she would require all youth prisons in New York to abide by the new federal restrictions on physical restraint of youths. She said the state also planned to hire a chief psychiatrist to oversee drug regimens and mental health counseling at all of the state's youth prisons.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/nyregion/15juvenile.html?emc=eta1

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If you haven't read it yet this morning...

If you haven't checked out the NY Times yet this morning, you should. "A Few Blocks, 4 Years, 52,000 Police Stops describes the NYPD's use (and many would say abuse) of Terry stops ("stop and frisk") in a fascinating and detailed article.

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New York becomes a "Secure Community" State

Via The Wall Street Journal and Vivir Latino, "New York has signed onto a controversial federal program that will allow jails in some communities to begin checking the immigration status of every person booked." To further this program, referred to as "Secure Communities," the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the I.C.E. which will allow undocumented immigrants to be identified for deportation. "Secure Communities" is a program initiated by President George W. Bush aimed and expanded by the Obama Administration. In four years, the measure could result in a tenfold increase in undocumented immigrants identified for deportation, current and former U.S. officials said.

Although the program supposedly prioritizes the deportation of undocumented immigrants convicted of 'serious criminal offenses,' it has been criticized for targeting low-level criminal offenders for deportation, as well as those who have been charged with a crime, but not convicted. "In New York state, Secure Communities would replace the Criminal Alien Program, in which immigration agents seek out charged or convicted immigrants in county jails who are eligible for deportation. Secure Communities would have a substantially larger reach, and be more comprehensive." (uncoveringthetruth.org).

The program has received strong criticism by civil liberties organizations. Via uncoveringthetruth.org, "'Anytime anyone is arrested for anything and booked for anything, no matter how minor, their fingerprint gets sent to immigration,' said Bridget Kessler, a clinical teaching fellow at the Immigration Justice Clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. 'It’s not a program where the police officer is actually deputized to enforce immigration law, but there’s a perception that police are running immigration checks because, in effect, they are.'The agreement between New York State and the immigration agency states that those charged with a crime, but not convicted, could be deported under the program. According to the dictates of the agreement, whether a person is actually guilty or innocent of a charged crime is not relevant."

According to the Wall Street Journal, "it's too early to tell if the program will be implemented in New York City, whose policies have been perceived as largely immigrant-friendly."

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Drug Policy Alliance Study: Black Americans arrested for pot at up to quadruple the rate of Whites in California

The Drug Policy Alliance, the nation's leading organization advocating alternatives to the war on drugs, has released a report that documents widespread race-based disparities in the enforcement of low-level marijuana possession laws in California. Focused on the 25 largest counties in the state, the report finds that African Americans are arrested for marijuana possession at substantially higher rates than whites, typically at double, triple or even quadruple the rate of whites. Further, blacks are arrested for marijuana possession far out of proportion to their percentage in the total population of the counties.

According to the report, “Targeting Blacks for Marijuana,” these disparities in marijuana possession arrest rates between whites and blacks cannot be explained by their patterns of marijuana use. U.S. government studies consistently find that young blacks consume marijuana at lower rates than young whites. The report was released to coincide with the official endorsement of Proposition 19, the Control and Tax Cannabis Initiative 2010, by the California State Conference of the NAACP. Proposition 19 will appear on the general election ballot November 3rd.

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My visit to Coxsackie: Department of Correction's first Reentry Symposim

On, June 29, 2010 the New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) held its first Reentry Symposium at Coxsackie Correctional Facility in Coxsackie, New York. Coxsackie is a maxium security prison holding approximately 1,000 men. I, along with most of New York State's other County Reentry Task Force Coordinators, came to the facility that morning ready to meet with men beginning to prepare for their reentry back into their communities.

While trying to arrange my trip up to Coxsackie, located about two and half hours from New York City, I encountered the same type of obstacles that families hoping to visit their loved ones upstate meet--transportation and time. First, there is no direct bus from NYC to Coxsackie. To make it to Symposium on time, I would have to take a bus to Albany the night before and sleep over at a hotel. I would then have to catch a bus to Coxsackie and take a cab to the facility. Then, I would have to catch a bus back to Albany the next morning, which would mean another night in a hotel, this time in Coxsackie. Not many families with a loved one in prison can afford such a trip. The distance, time, and cost of the trip made very real the barriers to reentry that locating our prisons so far away from the city have created. The importance of family and community in the reentry process cannot be overstated and without resources and time, it is nearly impossible to maintain a supportive relationship with an incarcerated individual, prepare reentrants for the reunification process, or to conduct in-reach.

With the luxury of my trip being paid for, I decided to take a car, sleep over one night, and drive back after the Symposium.

On the morning of the 29th, I entered the prison ready to answer questions and distribute our Coming Home Guide, and other brochures from non-profits that assist individuals returning to their communities. 180 men being released within the next six months would be attending the Symposium. Although I knew from my work that a disproportionate number of inmates would be returning to Manhattan (about 5,000 return to Manhattan each year), I was not prepared for the line that formed at my table. While other counties spoke in a relaxed manner with a few men, a line quickly formed by my table and remained steady throughout every session. While other Task Force Coordinators would likely see many of the men they connected with at the prison in their Case Management programs, unless they were placed in one of the 250 spots in our reentry programs at the Harlem Community Justice Center, it was unlikely that I would see many of these men again. The challenge of reentry posed by the sheer numbers of individuals returning to Manhattan was illustrated for me by the lines formed at each county's table and the very few minutes I had to talk with each individual.

During the Symposium, I had many conversations with men about their excitement and anxiety about their upcoming release. Nearly every man I spoke with approached me with two questions, the first: "Where will I live?" Many feared not being able to return to public housing because of their criminal record. Others could not live with their families because someone in their family was on parole. While some feared returning to difficult home situations, a more frequently expressed fear was being released to live in shelter, a fate one man described as a "recipe for reincarceration." A seventy two year old man, who had been incarcerated for thirty years, was particularly fearful of having to live in a shelter and not being provided the health care he needed.

Even more common than fears about housing were worries about finding a job. I acknowledged the reality of difficulties finding a job with a criminal record, but offered the hope that many individuals do find work post incarceration. I also directed them to the diverse and rich network of workforce intermediaries that offer services to formerly incarcerated individuals in Manhattan.

When I left the prison that day, I thought about the meaning behind DOC's sponsorship of the first Reentry Symposium in a New York State Correctional Facility. I thought about the positive movement that such a event signals. And I thought about all the work the Task Force has ahead of us and the unique challenges that Manhattan faces. With the collaboration taking place among state and local government,non-profits, faith-based initiatives, and academic partners in Manhattan County, I am hopeful that each year my lines at DOCS' Symposiums will get a little bit shorter.

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