JAILS TO JOBS: CITY EXPANDS RE-ENTRY SERVICES AND TRAINING FOR JUSTICE-IMPACTED INDIVIDUALS

City pledges $19M annually to fund comprehensive job training and re-entry services for all people leaving City jails through its Jails to Jobs initiative

  The City announced an expansion of its Jails to Jobs initiative with a $19 million annual commitment to re-entry services for formerly incarcerated individuals. In addition to providing job readiness workshops, therapeutic and other social services, qualified Jails to Jobs providers will now be able to offer transitional employment to all individuals leaving City jails, regardless of sentencing.

Jails to Jobs, launched in April 2018, provides individuals leaving City jails with one-on-one peer mentors, workforce training, educational subsidies, and short-term transitional employment. The program also requires all workforce providers to be trained in issues and laws related to working with people with criminal records. The initial Jails to Jobs was offered to approximately 5,200 individuals per year. Today’s announcement will expand these resources to all individuals leaving City jails, and will grow to be able to offer programming and services to approximately 9,000 people. Previously, paid transitional employment was only offered to individuals serving a city sentence.

Today’s event was held at Exodus, a Jails to Jobs partner that provides job training, wrap around case management services and paid transitional employment—often involving peer work. They also provide hot meals and social services, and are currently in the midst of expansion.

Over the last 20 years, Exodus has served over 25,000 people, advocating for their rights, helping them to build the skills necessary to join the workforce in career focused jobs, and building skills with them and placing these resilient, hard-working, talented individuals in jobs all over New York.

This builds on previous funding commitments from the Department of Correction (DOC) and Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ) for re-entry programming in City jails and re-entry services upon an individual’s release from custody. The RFP, issued by MOCJ, reflect the City’s continued commitment to provide programming based on best-practices for those in custody, as well as in the community, to provide stability for those leaving incarceration, while decreasing the likelihood of continued criminal justice system involvement.

The solicitation for re-entry services will significantly increase the breadth and coordination of services that help people find and maintain employment following their release from City custody.  Notable enhancements in this solicitation include:

·         Hybrid in-custody roles: To ensure the greatest levels of success, planning for release must begin while an individual is in custody. The solicitation creates specialized “hybrid” roles that connect service providers with people in custody prior to release. Providers will be able to assess the individuals’ needs and make connections to supports in the community upon discharge.

·         Enhanced day-of-discharge supports: Research demonstrates the period immediately following release is critical, particularly to ensure immediate needs are met during times of transition. The new solicitation aims to connect people with service providers at the point of release to provide basic needs and connect people to longer term services.

·         Peer mentors: People with lived experience in the criminal justice system are uniquely positioned to foster trusting relationships and promote service engagement for those with similar experiences, leading to increased stability upon release. To build on their expertise, the solicitation creates roles for credible peer mentors to assist individuals in their transition from jail back to the community.

·         Localized service provision: To ensure services are accessible to individuals released from jail, re-entry services aim to be localized in the neighborhoods to which most people return, including through partnerships with local organizations and institutions.

·         Expanded services: Comprehensive services, including paid transitional employment, job readiness workshops and supports, therapeutic services, and a variety of social services will be provided and coordinated as part of the solicitation.

“New York City believes in second chances. With Jails to Jobs, we are breaking the cycle of incarceration by making sure people in City custody have the opportunity to learn and grow while in jail and a pathway to stability as they return to their communities,”  said Mayor de Blasio.

“As the City jail population shrinks and our justice system looks to achieve safety through better means, it remains essential that we provide effective, empowering programming for people while in custody and as they return to their homes and neighborhoods,” said Elizabeth Glazer, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. “By improving programs and services, this Administration is continuing to demonstrate its commitment to creating the smallest, safest, fairest justice system possible.”

“The Jails to Jobs program affirms the value of what Fortune has learned over more than five decades:  jobs matter on the road to successful reentry,” said JoAnne Page, President and CEO of The Fortune Society. “When individuals emerge from the trauma of Rikers Island – even after a short incarceration – they have often lost their jobs, and too often jeopardized their housing as well.  The Jails to Jobs program gives Fortune participants an immediate opportunity to obtain paid work – work that helps put food on the table, support the family and most important, puts them on the pathway to permanent employment.  Employment is key to stopping the cycle of recidivism.  The Fortune Society is proud to partner with the de Blasio administration on this initiative as part of the commitment to reduce the jail population and, ultimately close Riker’s Island.”

Pelham Parkway Neighborhood Association invites you to our October 2019 Meeting!

Join us this Tuesday, Oct 15 2019 at 7:15 pm at Bronx House on 990 Pelham Parkway South as we welcome our guest, Borough Commissioner from the Department of Transportation Nivardo Lopez. Look forward to seeing you there!

Why I am Opposed to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Plan to Close Rikers Island

What You Should Know

By Councilman Rev. Ruben Diaz

District 18, Bronx County

You should know that after reading an editorial that was published on October 13, 2019 in the New York Post titled “The close-Rikers crusaders left reason behind a long time ago” I have decided to explain why I am going to cast my vote on Thursday against the construction of prisons in four boroughs and the closing of Rikers.

 

First, I would like to know why in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plans, Staten Island is not included in the construction of new prisons in New York City. The four other boroughs are included, while there is a lot of potential space in Staten Island.

 

Second: As of today, no one knows what is to be done with the prime piece of real estate where Rikers Island currently sits? There has been an incredible lack of transparency by Mayor de Blasio’s Administration about that valuable property, and no public hearings about that government-owned piece of land.

 

Third: Why does anyone think that housing inmates in skyscraper jails will ever facilitate the rehabilitation of incarcerated people?

 

According to the Post editorial:

 

“So the city still has time to consider alternatives, like the rebuild-at-Rikers alternative drawn up by the architectural firm of William Bialosky and Partners…. Bialosky points out that the Rikers lot offers something pretty valuable for building a truly humane jail: space. Why pack detainees into high-rise buildings when you can use existing ones for a more diffused, campus-like environment incorporating better access to daylight and greenery? The 45-page prospectus even calls for plots where inmates can grow crops.”

 

There is ample space at Rikers Island for all sorts of activities, none of which will be possible in any high-rise cages. Mayor de Blasio’s proposal to close Rikers will not improve the lives of New York’s inmates.

My dear reader, don’t be fooled. 

Incarcerated people need programs to help them to become rehabilitated so they can return to their families and loved ones, re-enter society and get jobs, and not be tempted to a life of recidivism. Our focus should not be how to prosper real estate developers so they can create new correctional center complexes in our boroughs.

 

You should also know that Mayor de Blasio somehow intends to reduce the number of inmates down to 3,300, and he has built that dream into his plan, giving no consideration to any possible crime wave.

 

It is also important for you to keep in mind that these proposed plans are not expected to going to go into effect until 2026, otherwise known as “the out years,” in the distant future when Mayor Bill de Blasio will no longer be in office.  

 

Ladies and gentlemen, I urge my colleagues in the City Council to reconsider where our focus needs to be: not on new jails, and not on the closing of Rikers Island.

 

I am Councilman Rev. Rubén Díaz, and this is what you should know.

PROJECTED CITY JAIL POPULATION FALLS TO 3,300 BY 2026

New York City’s historic decarceration efforts to accelerate ahead of the closure of Rikers Island, resulting in 700 fewer people in the jail system than previously forecasted

  City officials have revised the estimated jail population to 3,300 by 2026, down from the earlier estimate of 4,000, Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Johnson announced. The new figure will serve as the baseline for plans to build four smaller, safer, more humane facilities to replace the current outdated jails on Rikers Island and elsewhere. The revised population estimate will mark the lowest jail population in New York City in a century and is estimated to be the lowest jail population rate among the nation’s largest cities.

 "Mass incarceration did not begin in New York City, but it will end here, said Mayor de Blasio." With the lowest rate of incarceration of any major city, we are proving you don’t need to arrest your way to safety. New York is a telling a different story, one where we can keep fathers at home and kids in schools and still be the safest big city in America."

“Just a few years ago, the Lippman Commission’s projection of a 5,000 average daily population was considered by many to be overly optimistic. To now reach 3,300 is an extraordinary achievement, and the culmination of years of hard work to move away from the failed policies of mass incarceration. But we will not rest. We will keep fighting to bring this number down even further. New York City should be a model of progressive criminal justice reform nationwide,” said City Council Speaker Corey Johnson.

“The new city jail population estimate of 3,300 by 2026 reflects a new model of safety being built in New York City in which police, prosecutors and courts have lightened the touch of the criminal justice system while crime has continued to drop," said Liz Glazer, Director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice. "The City’s successful diversion and alternatives to incarceration programs, such as the nationally recognized Supervised Release program, keeps people from entering  jail. Our robust reentry services such as Jails to Jobs help people from coming back. And our community-based violence interruption programs, such as the Crisis Management System, helps people steer clear of the justice system entirely. This foundation of reform, built over the last five years, will provide current and future generations of New Yorkers with an even smaller, safer, fairer justice system.”

The updated jail population estimate will allow the City to build new facilities in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx appropriate for an even smaller number of detainees. Each facility will now anticipate an average daily population of fewer than one thousand people—less than half the population of the largest facility currently operating on Rikers Island.

The 3,300 estimate comes after City officials analyzed the impact of the City’s many successful reform measures, such as the award-winning, nationally recognized Supervised Release diversion program, which will now expand to further reduce the population of pretrial detainees that comprise the majority of individuals incarcerated in city jails. These estimates also reflect the major role bail reform and other state reform measures will have on the number of pretrial detainees in the city’s jails.

The lower population estimate is the latest announcement by Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Johnson ahead of the Council’s anticipated Oct. 17 vote to replace the current dilapidated jail facilities on Rikers Island, as well as the old borough-based jails in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and the barge in the Bronx. Those aging jails will be replaced with four new facilities that prioritize safety for staff and detainees, as well as programming and services that will help individuals to reenter their communities.

Earlier this month the Administration and Council leadership committed to change the zoning of Rikers Island to ban its use for incarcerating individuals going forward. This land use proposal will guarantee the permanent closure of jails on Rikers Island.

The new 3,300 population update reflects the City’s ongoing efforts to end the era of mass incarceration by providing a new model of safety and progressive justice, both in city jails and beyond. 

Dear Friend,

You have inspired and supported my professional life and community activism throughout the years. You have motivated, energized, and encouraged me to continue to serve our community. I am happy to report that I am running for the New York City Council District 14 and I am confident that with your support we will make a difference.

I migrated to this country almost 30 years ago, with no idea how I would build a life in this city, but a strong determination to figure it out. Since then, I have been on a journey that has forged my character for public service. I have gone from reporting on the needs and contributions of our communities for El Diario la Prensa and other local newspapers, to obtaining justice with the New York State Attorney General’s Office. I have learned about political theory at the CUNY Graduate Center’s PhD program and experienced the tactics firsthand while working inside the halls of power at the New York State Senate. Teaching at John Jay and Lehman colleges has allowed me to expand on this diverse experience and build knowledge for the future. Along the way, my wife and I have built a wonderful family and an active community life.

It is here in District 14, where I have spent the past 15 years within a diverse, vibrant and hardworking community with tenacious small business owners, that I see untapped potential. Whether in Morris Heights, University Heights, Fordham or Kingsbridge, people are living with major challenges. These range from student homelessness to high poverty levels and worrisome crime rates. Expanding inclusive housing opportunities and addressing preventable health issues also remain crucial priorities for our neighborhoods.

Over the next few years, this part of the Bronx will face major opportunities for development that benefits our people,and I will be at the forefront of the battle for social justice to ensure that our communities can attain a better quality of life.

As my campaign takes shape, I invite you to join our dynamic movement to bring new leadership to the West Bronx. With your ideas, support, and strong commitment to put community first, we can respond to our collective challenges and forge a brighter future.

I am ready, and so is the West Bronx. Your voice and participation matters. Together we will make a difference. Thank you for joining us.

Sincerely,

MULTI-DRUG PACKAGING MILL DISMANTLED IN THE BRONX: OVER 13 LBS. OF FENTANYL AND QUANTITIES OF HEROIN, COCAINE AND METHAMPHETAMINE

      

   

Private Elementary School and Day Care Centers Located Nearby

Bridget G. Brennan, New York City’s Special Narcotics Prosecutor, Ray Donovan, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) New York Division, New York City Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill, New York State Police Superintendent Keith M. Corlett and Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced the seizure of six kilograms of suspected fentanyl (over 13 lbs.) and quantities of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine destined for distribution in New York City.

On October 8, 2019, members of the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force (DETF) Group T-12 were conducting surveillance in the vicinity of a suspected drug packaging location at 2322 Andrews Avenue North in the Bronx as part of an ongoing investigation. At approximately 3:20 p.m., agents and officers observed defendant WADELY TAVERAS leave 2322 Andrews Avenue North, carrying a black backpack. Agents and officers approached TAVERAS and recovered three brick-shaped packages, each suspected to contain a kilogram of fentanyl, from inside the backpack.

Members of Group T-12 obtained a court authorized search warrant with assistance from the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor. At approximately 6:20 p.m., agents and officers conducted a court authorized search of 2322 Andrews Avenue North, Apt. 51, a three-bedroom apartment. Inside the master bedroom closet, agents and officers recovered three additional brick-shaped packages, each suspected to contain a kilogram of fentanyl, and several plastic bags suspected to contain 100 grams of methamphetamine, 200 grams of cocaine and 100 grams of heroin.

Elsewhere in the master bedroom, agents and officers recovered narcotics paraphernalia, including empty glassines used to package narcotics, a scale, grinders and a kilogram press.

A private elementary school and multiple day care centers are located on the same block as the drug packaging mill. The DEA estimated the wholesale value of the drugs recovered at over $300,000 and the street value at approximately $1 million. Results of laboratory analysis of the seized drugs are pending.

A criminal complaint filed by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor charges TAVERAS with three counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the First Degree, one count of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree, four counts of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree and two counts of Criminally Using Drug Paraphernalia in the Second Degree. TAVERAS was arraigned last night in Manhattan Criminal Court, where a judge set bail at $200,000 cash or bond.

Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan thanked Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark and commended members of SNP’s Special Investigations Bureau, the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force, including members of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the New York City Police Department and the New York State Police, and SNP’s Investigators Unit for their work on the case.

	Defendant	Charges
1	Wadely Taveras; Bronx, NY; 3/7/1984	CPCS 1st – 3 cts; CPCS 2nd – 1 ct; CPCS 3rd – 4 cts; Criminally Using Drug Paraphernalia 2nd – 2 cts

The charges and allegations are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Multiple Homicides in the 77 Precinct, Brooklyn October 12, 2019

Remarks as Delivered by Chief of Detectives Dermot F. Shea

Good morning everyone. I'm joined here by Chief Rodney Harrison, Chief of Patrol, members of the Patrol Services Bureau and Detective Bureau. At about 6:55 this morning a 911 call over for shots fired at 74 Utica Avenue. That's the location over my right shoulder. At this point what it appears to be is an illegal gambling location set up inside that first floor location. When the first calls came over we had members of the 77 Precinct respond.

I [have to] really point out a phenomenal job by the patrol response to set up a scene here, render aid to the individuals. A bit of a chaotic scene. The individuals that in fact responded had just made a gun arrest, were processing it and rand back out here. What they encountered inside this location, we have four males deceased inside. They are still at the scene. We are awaiting the Medical Examiner.

We have an additional three individuals that are shot and receiving treatment at local hospitals. That's two males and one female.Those injuries I would consider at this point non-life threatening. There was a report of an eighth person shot. That person is in fact not shot. They sustained a minor leg injury attempting to flee this location.

It's a very, very preliminary report. Our Homicide detectives are on the scene now. We have some individuals back at the 77th Precinct, and we're trying to piece together exactly what transpired inside that location. We do have at this point, and it's possible that it's going to go up, two firearms recovered. There's evidence of multiple shots fired. All appears at this time to be contained within that location. The ages of the deceased and shot range in age from 32 years of age to 49 years of age.

The identities of the deceased are pending proper family notification.

Attorney General James' Statement On Shooting In Crown Heights

   Attorney General Letitia James released the following statement in response to this morning’s shooting in Crown Heights:

“Once again, senseless gun violence in our communities has claimed the lives of several individuals. The shooting this morning in Crown Heights is deeply upsetting, and we hope that those injured will make full and speedy recoveries. As the details are still unfolding, I urge anyone with information to please contact the NYPD at 1-800-577-TIPS.”