Margaret Egan
9:07:21
My name is Meg Egan, it is my honor and privilege to lead the Women's Prison Association.
9:07:26
Chair Salaam, I wanna thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
9:07:31
Throughout our one hundred and eighty year history, WPA has been a force for change, challenging the systemic inequities that criminalize and marginalize women, particularly black and brown women.
9:07:42
For these women, incarceration is not merely a consequence of a single event, but the result of compounding systemic failures, poverty, housing instability, trauma, and lack of opportunity.
9:07:54
The harms and failures of Rikers Island are real.
9:07:56
The cost of families, communities, and the city is immeasurable.
9:08:01
Mothers are separated from children, communities lose contributors.
9:08:05
The cycle of inequity perpetuates and deepens.
9:08:08
But what if there was a different way?
9:08:11
A way that prioritized prevention, provided support, and treated justice as an opportunity for restoration rather than punishment.
9:08:19
WPA envisions that path forward.
9:08:22
There are just over 400 women held on Rikers Island right now.
9:08:25
We believe that together with our partners, we can develop the services and support to make the community the safety minded default rather than Rikers Island.
9:08:36
Our work will center on the following priorities to develop the infrastructure of services to meaningfully address the compounding systemic failures that diminish safety.
9:08:46
As Megan said, the city must not just restore the ATI and reentry funding currently cut, but expand these essential and effective programs.
9:08:56
We are also requesting funding to lay out a clear and practical pathway to make incarceration for women obsolete in New York City.
9:09:04
Funding to provide robust clinical care to our clients and improve outcomes, to improve outcomes and public safety.
9:09:11
And funding to develop a robust discharge planning infrastructure to ensure that planning begins the moment a woman sets foot on Rikers Island.
9:09:20
Through this work, WPA will break barriers, shatter systems, and reshape societal norms to significantly reduce the number of women incarcerated in New York City.
9:09:30
This will significantly increase the opportunity, financial security, and stability for women, their families, their communities,
