TESTIMONY
Akiana Smith on the Impact of the Mayor's Budget on Incarcerated Women and Gender Expansive New Yorkers
5:36:47
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115 sec
Akiana Smith, Community and Court Navigator at the Women's Community Justice Association, delivers testimony on the negative impacts of the mayor's budget on incarcerated women and gender expansive New Yorkers, highlighting the case of the Rosenzinger Center on Rikers Island.
- Smith represents the Beyond Roses campaign, focusing on communities at risk due to the mayor’s budget.
- She emphasizes that a significant portion of the incarcerated population at the Rosenzinger Center faces charges for nonviolent survival crimes, lacks housing, and struggles with mental health issues.
- Smith criticizes the budget for prioritizing incarceration over necessary services like supportive housing and mental health care.
- She concludes by recognizing the efforts of Council member Sandy Nurse and the majority-women-led city council in seeking justice.
Akiana Smith
5:36:47
Good afternoon chair and members of the committee.
5:36:50
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to testify.
5:36:53
I also want to acknowledge that today is International Women's Day.
5:36:57
My name is Akiana Smith, and I'm the community and court navigator at the Women's Community Justice Association, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and gender expands of New Yorkers impacted by mass incarceration.
5:37:11
I'm here today on behalf of the Beyond Roses campaign.
5:37:14
And on behalf of communities, in particular, danger of being negatively impacted by the mayor's budget.
5:37:20
As of this week, at least 1 in 5 of the women and gender expanse of people currently incarcerated at the Rosenzinger Center on Rikers Allen is on house.
5:37:30
1 in 5.
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In the charges that the population faces are overwhelmingly for nonviolent survival crimes.
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Crimes they wouldn't have needed to even consider if they had access to resources to which every New Yorker, every human being, has a fundamental right.
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Over 77% our caregivers and over 80% have mental health concerns.
5:37:52
The mayor's budget prioritizes incarceration over essential services and alternatives.
5:37:59
And if passed, it will create a New York where even more people are incarcerated because of the absence of those services and alternatives.
5:38:07
This is not what justice looks like.
5:38:09
True justice is supportive housing.
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True justice is accessible mental health services that allow people to stay in their communities.
5:38:17
True justice is food, it is health care, and it is offering employment opportunities, it is prioritizing alternatives to locking away our mothers and daughters for the crime of surviving in this hostile world.
5:38:31
Lastly, we would like to thank the chairwoman of the Criminal Justice Committee Council member Sandy Nurse, the fierce speaker, and our majority women led city council for sparking the changes needed.
5:38:41
Thank you.
