TESTIMONY
Barbara Hamilton, Supervising Attorney of Incarcerated Client Services at Legal Aid, on Expanding Services in City Jails and the Need for Increased Programming
4:55:17
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138 sec
Barbara Hamilton testifies on the necessity of expanding legal aid services and increasing programming within city jails to support incarcerated individuals.
- Hamilton highlights the obstacles faced by people in custody and Legal Aid's efforts, including a crisis hotline and paralegals in each jail.
- She urges the City Council to provide more funding for these services and explains the negative impacts of recent funding cuts on programming.
- Despite a recent funding announcement by the mayor, there is still a shortfall in the budget for programming.
- Legal Aid advocates for reinstated and increased funding to move towards a more just system.
Barbara Hamilton
4:55:17
My name is Barbara Hamilton.
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I've been working on city jail issues since 2008, and I am now the supervising attorney.
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Of incarcerated client services at legal aid.
4:55:27
Thank you for the opportunity to testify here briefly about the need to expand our work within the city jails as well as the need to increase programming within the city jails.
4:55:38
Needless to say, people in cultural settings have significant obstacles at hand.
4:55:43
And legal aid has worked to support and to improve those conditions of confinement in the city jails.
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And to further this end, Legate operates an incarcerated person's crisis hotline.
4:55:57
And has paralegals posted in every facility to address the needs, not only of our own clients, but everybody within the city jails.
4:56:06
And through this testimony, legal aid is urging the city council to invest more funding, to expand our hotline services, and our facility staff in each one of those jails.
4:56:18
DOC has even filed a letter of support in our funding application to the city council and they recognize us as a critical resource and the need for expansion.
4:56:29
And second, at a time when the city is supposed to be on a half to closing Ryker's Island and creating smaller and more humane gels.
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Divestments in programming for incarcerated people are actually contrary to these significant goals.
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And recent during the last fiscal year to programming predictably had a decline for people in custody and to date service providers at Rykers are now working for free with limited services and limited staff.
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This, of course, is not sustainable and not sustainable for the future of the city jails in New York.
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And although the mayor has recently announced $14,000,000 in programming.
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This is still $3,000,000 short of the $17,000,000 budget cuts.
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That happened last fiscal year.
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And to remedy this, legal aid urges the city council not only to reinstate the funding, but to look to increase it, moving forward.
4:57:31
So we can further that goal of creating a more just system.
4:57:35
Thank you.