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Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez speaks on the Family Connect Act to improve jail visitation
0:36:01
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68 sec
Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez addresses the importance of the Family Connect Act, which aims to improve the jail visitation process in New York City. She emphasizes how the current system is dehumanizing and counterproductive to rehabilitation, and explains how the new legislation will make visitation more accessible, transparent, and dignified.
- The Act creates an online system for scheduling visits and removes barriers that have kept families apart.
- It ensures accountability by preventing arbitrary reduction or denial of visits and requiring clear communication on visitation decisions.
- Gutiérrez highlights that 80% of Rikers detainees are in pretrial detention and 50% have a mental health diagnosis, underlining the urgency of the issue.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
0:36:01
Thank you so much.
0:36:02
For too long, visiting a loved one in jail has been a dehumanizing ordeal, punishing not just the incarcerated but their families and communities.
0:36:10
This isn't just an inconvenience.
0:36:12
It's a systemic failure that makes reentry harder and recidivism more likely.
0:36:16
Many of us, myself include included, have made a difficult journey to visit at Rikers.
0:36:21
We know the toll it takes.
0:36:22
That's why the Family Connect Act is so important.
0:36:25
It makes visitation accessible, transparent, and dignified by creating an online system to schedule visits, removing barriers that have been that have kept families apart.
0:36:34
This bill also ensures accountability, preventing visits from being arbitrarily reduced or denied, and requiring clear communication on visitation decisions.
0:36:43
This is about justice and humanity.
0:36:45
With eighty percent of Rikers detainees in pretrial detention and fifty percent with a mental health diagnosis, families should not be forced to suffer alongside their loved ones.
0:36:55
With this bill, we are making it clear.
0:36:57
Families matter, dignity matters, and every person deserves a system that treats them with respect.
0:37:03
I wanna thank, speaker Adams for her support and leadership and my co sponsors, including committee chair, council member, nurse.
0:37:09
Thank you.