For Immediate Release:
Contact
Christopher Watler, Project Director, Harlem Community Justice Center
170 East 121st Street, New York, NY 10035
Telephone: (212) 360-4110 / Fax: (212) 828-7416 / cwatler@courts.state.ny.us
or
Rev. Chloe Breyer, Executive Director, Interfaith Center of New York
475 Riverside Dr. Suite 540, New York, NY 10115
(212) 870-3532 or Cell: (917) 420-1214
cbreyer@interfaithcenter.org
When: Thursday, June 7, 2012, 6pm
Where: Harlem Community Justice Center, 170 East 121st Street (between Lexington and Third Avenues), New York, NY 10035
The Harlem Community Justice Center, in partnership with the Interfaith Center of New York and J.C Flowers Foundation announces the launch of a new Harlem family & faith prisoner reentry initiative at the Justice Center’s bi-annual reentry graduation event. Graduates will be honored by their families, peers, parole officers, and the larger Harlem community for their accomplishments in securing employment and stable housing, reconnecting with their families, and maintaining crime-free lives upon their return from prison. The graduates will include an initial set of participants from the J.C. Flowers’ Family and Faith Reentry Circles of Support initiative.
The J.C Flowers’ Family and Faith Reentry Circles of Support initiative works with young men and women, ages 18-26, returning from incarceration to the Harlem community. The program harnesses the power of participants’ natural support systems—their families and communities of faith—both before and after release from prison with the assistance of a Family Social Worker and a network of faith-based partners. The program is exploring the role that families and faith communities can play in lowering recidivism.
On average, over 2,200 formerly incarcerated persons on parole – roughly half the total for all of Manhattan – are assigned to the parole bureaus serving Upper Manhattan neighborhoods each year. Young adults under parole supervision are significantly more likely to be rearrested and reconvicted of new crimes during the first three years following release from prison. As compared with all parolees released to Manhattan between the years of 2001-2008, young adults were 6% more likely to be rearrested in year one, and 9% more likely in years two and three. Three years out of prison 60% of young adults in Manhattan will be rearrested, as compared with 51% of older adults.
The Harlem Parole Reentry Court – located at the Harlem Community Justice Center — helps parolees from the Harlem community make the transition from life in prison to responsible citizenship in the first six months of their release. The Reentry Court works in cooperation with the N.Y.S Division of Criminal Justice Services, Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the N.Y.S Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, N.Y.C Mayor’s Office, Center for Employment Opportunities and other local service providers. A recent evaluation of the Reentry Court demonstrated that graduates were less likely to commit new crimes. Funding for the Reentry Court is provided under a U.S Department of Justice Second Chance Act grant.
The Interfaith Center of New York is a nationally-recognized non-profit organization that catalyzes collaborations among hundreds of grassroots and immigrant religious leaders and civic officials (judges, teachers, and social workers) to address New York’s most pressing social problems. Drawing on its relationships with New York City communities of faith, The Interfaith Center of New York is creating a network of congregations whose members will provide a variety of different supports to parolees returning to Harlem and their families.
