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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Daniele Gerard, Senior Staff Attorney at Children's Rights on Closing Rikers Island
4:18:03
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93 sec
Daniele Gerard, representing Children's Rights and the New York City Jails Action Coalition, testified in support of closing Rikers Island, expanding supportive housing access, and prioritizing social services in the budget. She urged the committee to focus on improving conditions for incarcerated individuals and preventing youth incarceration.
- Supported Intro 1100 to expand access to supportive housing and Resolution 371 for state reentry assistance
- Advocated for realigning budget priorities towards alternatives to incarceration, supportive housing, mental health services, and education
- Emphasized the need for humane jail conditions, including meaningful programming, education, recreation, and adequate food
Daniele Gerard
4:18:03
Excellent.
4:18:05
Thank you chair, nurse, and committee members.
4:18:07
My name is Danielle Gerard.
4:18:08
I'm a senior staff attorney in children's rights, a member of the New York City Jail's Action Coalition.
4:18:13
We advocate for young adults on Rikers.
4:18:15
We support closing Rikers as soon as possible, Intro 1,100 to expand access to supportive housing, and resolution three seventy one in support of this in support of the state reentry assistance bill.
4:18:28
Thank you for your efforts to rightsize the administration's lopsided budget.
4:18:32
Please continue to focus on budget priorities that improve the lives of our incarcerated neighbors and other desperate New Yorkers.
4:18:39
We urge you to continue to put social services at the forefront of any budget expenditures.
4:18:45
We stand with you in your efforts to restore and increase funding for alternatives to incarceration and justice involved, supportive housing, community mental health services, a better education for our children, and other priorities for keeping our young people out of the carceral system in the first place.
4:19:02
We stand with you to make our jails as humane as possible with meaningful programming, educational opportunities, recreation, and enough food so that people incarcerated on Rikers don't go to bed hungry.
4:19:15
We urge you to consider the testimony that we submitted on March 7 for your preliminary budget hearing and that we resubmitted a few days ago.
4:19:24
It explains in detail how Children's Rights believes the city's criminal legal budget priorities should be realigned to fulfill the objectives we just outlined.
4:19:34
In the meantime, thank you very much for your work.