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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Tasha Burnett, Formerly Incarcerated Individual
3:54:32
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126 sec
Tasha Burnett, a formerly incarcerated individual, shared her personal experiences with the criminal justice system and the challenges of reentry. She emphasized the importance of housing and support programs in successful rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
- Burnett participated in alternative incarceration programs and received support from organizations like CCF and Fortune Society, which helped her attend college and obtain a CDL.
- She highlighted the critical role of stable housing in preventing recidivism, sharing how lack of housing led to her relapse and return to federal prison.
- Burnett expressed confidence in Chair Nurse's commitment to addressing these issues, based on her community work in Brooklyn.
Tasha Burnett
3:54:32
Thank you.
3:54:32
How you doing, chair nurse?
3:54:35
I don't know if you recognize my face, but I always see you in my community in Brooklyn working.
3:54:40
You work with Bishop Hezekiah Walker.
3:54:43
We did the groundbreaking.
3:54:44
Then we did the I will graduate.
3:54:48
I love you.
3:54:49
I appreciate you and seeing you here today.
3:54:53
I'm a formerly incarcerated individual.
3:54:55
I'm just representing myself and knowing that I have five felonies.
3:54:59
I just got out of the feds during I I was in the feds during COVID.
3:55:03
Twelve years of holiness.
3:55:05
Bishop taught me how to get on my feet through programs like CCF, Fortune Society.
3:55:12
That's all I could think of.
3:55:13
That really helped me go to college.
3:55:16
I made it through college.
3:55:18
Y'all told me to get my CDL in 02/2006 when I did the formally what what is that?
3:55:25
Alternative incarceration.
Sandy Nurse
3:55:28
Alternative incarceration.
Tasha Burnett
3:55:29
Yes.
3:55:29
I did that.
3:55:30
It was beautiful.
3:55:31
I got my CDL, worked that since 02/2017, started my own bus company.
3:55:38
But then it's like the city failed me when I'm filling out applications to get a place to live.
3:55:44
I lost my mind because I couldn't find no place to live.
3:55:47
So I relapsed, I backslid.
3:55:50
Backsliding, I'm a minister.
3:55:52
So that means I converted back into the streets and doing what I wanted to do and God wasn't pleased.
3:55:58
And I went back to the Feds.
3:56:00
But the thing is housing is the most important things for anybody because I started in juvie, getting kicked out of my house, being a runaway, covenant house helped me, taught me how to cook.
3:56:12
You know, I just always landed on my feet no matter what.
3:56:15
But the thing is I always stayed in the street because I didn't have a place to live.
3:56:20
So this is very important.
3:56:22
I know chair nurse and whatever the committee, I see her doing the work, so I'm not even here begging for bills to be passed.
3:56:30
I know she's gonna do the right thing, whatever that is.
Sandy Nurse
3:56:35
Thank you so much.
3:56:35
Thanks for coming Yep,
Tasha Burnett
3:56:37
you're welcome.