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Q&A
Council Member Farías questions Dr. Stossel on her approach to the Board of Corrections
0:26:54
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149 sec
Council Member Amanda Farías asks Dr. Lauren Stossel about her perspective on joining the Board of Corrections and how she plans to approach her role. Dr. Stossel responds by discussing her limited knowledge of the Board's inner workings, her appreciation for their proactive approach during COVID, and her desire to understand the Board's priorities before proposing changes.
- Dr. Stossel expresses interest in seeing plans for violence reduction and culture change in borough-based jails.
- She emphasizes the importance of listening and understanding the Board's current priorities before taking action.
- Dr. Stossel acknowledges past tensions between the Board and the Department of Corrections, stressing the need for a collaborative working relationship.
Amanda Farías
0:26:54
Thank you, chair.
0:26:55
I just have a quick question on your how you perceive your role being like at least coming from the mental health perspective into this board, how you hope to facilitate larger conversations and dialogue around where we hope to see some of the policies implemented, if you've already kind of seen from outside looking in how the board functions and how members or member priorities are able to be motivated or utilized and then what you see in either a passive or proactive reactive way.
0:27:28
From your specific perspective, was super appreciative
Sharon Brown
0:27:33
of a
Amanda Farías
0:27:33
lot of your responses to your questionnaire.
0:27:35
I thought they were really intentional and deliberate and also a future forward with where I think this body particularly would like to see the Department of Corrections go.
0:27:45
So I'd love to hear just your perspective on that.
0:27:48
I
Dr. Lauren Stossel
0:27:48
hope I can answer this question adequately.
0:27:50
I mean I think my insight into sort of the inner workings Board of Corrections is pretty limited.
0:27:57
As an outsider, I think we were really appreciative of the efforts that they made to try to be proactive about COVID, you know, asking for a plan, trying to sort of get accountability that steps of the plan were being followed.
0:28:13
I like that model of sort of saying, we'd like your leadership to get together and bring us a plan.
0:28:20
I'd like to see that done with things like violence reduction and something related to a culture change for the borough based jails, a plan to make sure that we're not repeating some of the same mistakes that have been sort of ongoing at Rikers.
0:28:37
I certainly think it's important to listen before you start to talk.
0:28:41
So you know I have my own ideas about what I'd like to see, but I'd like to get more of an understanding of what the board is prioritizing right now and you know what they're thinking of as being major issues, what the culture is among the board members and where there are tensions.
0:28:58
I think certainly there have been tense relationships between the board and DOC at points over the last several years.
0:29:06
And I think nothing gets done without a collaborative working relationship.
0:29:10
So I'd like to try to sort of do a little bit of a needs assessment before you know jumping in.
Amanda Farías
0:29:16
That makes sense, thank you.
Keith Powers
0:29:20
Cool.
0:29:20
Thank you.
0:29:21
Thanks so much.
0:29:22
Yeah.
0:29:22
Appreciate it.
0:29:22
Our next public hearing for today will be on the designation by the council of part Patricia Marthone for reappointment by the mayor to Health and Hospitals Corporation.