To Watch: Prostitutes: Leaving the Life

Oprah's new network does it again with another documentary i can't wait to get my hands on. Prostitution: Leaving the Life is about the lives of women who have been arrested for prostitution and their struggle to leave that life with. So intense!

This is something I'm super interested in, considering the work that I've been doing lately analyzing prostitution arrest data in the Bronx lately. Prostitution arrests are up and more women (since they are mostly women) are coming through the criminal justice system, but over 30 percent of those have been arrested more than once-- some of them many, many more times. How can we really help them leave the life? That's the million dollar question. But the billion dollar question is-- how do we get rid of the demand?

Irene and Riker's Island

When Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, thousands of inmates were left locked in jails and prisons for days while the rest of the city evacuated. 

I just read an article in Solitary Watch titled "Locked Up and Left Behind: Hurricane Irene and the Prisoner's on New York's Rikers Island", and realized that though I wour with the criminal justice population, I had completely forgotten about what would happen to the people loacked up in the many deteniton facilities around the city. But it looks like I wasn't the only one. 

A few days after Hurricane Irene came sweeping up the east coast without causing major damage to New York City, it is easy to brush of the mandatory evacuations as just the city being overly cautious. But the day before the hurricane was to hit, the city was a in a panic. I was anxiously following developments and the mandatory evacuation of low lying areas of the city. Nearly everyone I know filled their bathtubs on Saturday night and charged their phones, convinced that we'd be without power and wake up to howling winds. The anxiety was real and the possiblity for some major damage was as well. However, with all of the preparations made by the city, including shutting down the entire public transportation system, Riker's Island was not evacuated. it wasn't even in an evacuation zone, though built on a landfill and surrounded by water. In fact, the Department of Corrections admitted that there was no evacation plan for the 12,000 prisoners on Riker's Island. We are lucky that Irene didn't hit. Many of us were a little bummed out that it really seemed like NOTHING happened in the city aside froma few downed branches (we do realize that parts of the country were really devastated). But when we think about what could've happened had the storm been a little bit worse, I think we can all agree that we avoided a major tragedy. Had Irene lived up to her forecast, we don't know if we would be facing a Katrina-like situation with a vulnerable, immobile population trapped in locked cells full of water. I hope that the city DOES create an evacation plan. No matter what crime someone committed (and Riker's is a jail housing mostly midsdemeanor and low-level felony offenders usually serving no more than a year), they don't deserve to be abandoned or forgotten.

Suing after stillbirth

This isn't one of my usual criminal justice themes, but it does have to do with courts and hits close to home. 

Just read this article in the NYTimes about women suing hospitals after stillbirth. I have such mixed feelings about that. They are suing because they felt that malpractice by the doctors and the hospital caused the death of their babies, and they are asking to be compensated for emotional distress to the tune of 1 million dollars. One case in Brooklyn succeeded. On the one hand, such a payout will most certainly lead to the hospital being much more careful. On the other hand... only in about 30% of stillbirths is the cause known. How can you put a price on the mother's emotional distress? It is hard to go through that, but it is hard to lose your baby or child at any point in time and I'm hesitant to say that suing actually would help alleviate the emotional distress. Especially if the court cases drags on for 13 years like the Brooklyn one did. People die. There are accidents. People make mistakes. Doctors aren't perfect. People have the right to sue if they want to, but my gut says- money and fighting won't help you heal.  

After Stillbirth, Courts Try to Put a Price on a Mother’s Anguish

By WILLIAM GLABERSON

Published: August 23, 2011

Two New York cases offer a view of the legal system’s first computations to set a new value on elemental maternal loss.

Should felons be allowed to vote?

The Crime Report had a great op-ed piece about why felons should be restored the right to vote. And the reason isn't just that they've done their time and should be granted their civil rights again, or that it is a racist policy to control elections (both of which are reasons), but it actually helps to reduce recidivism among felons. The right to vote, which so many people don't take advantage of, is fundamental to feeling like you are part of society- you belong.

Viewpoints

NY Bill to curb assistance by Rikers to Immigration Officials

Council Bill Would Curb Assistance by Rikers to Immigration Officials

By SAM DOLNICK

Published: August 1, 2011

Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn said federal officials at Rikers Island had misused a program that was meant to detain only dangerous immigrants.

Riker's Island is a jail here in NYC that typically houses low level felony offenders and misdemeanor offenders. Not a maximum security site. Look, if someone is here illegally and committing crimes, my initial reaction is deportation should occur. Get rid of the bastards. But then after watching "World's Most Dangerous Gang" on MS-13 where deportation of gang members led to the spread internationally of a violent gang, and the increased use of extreme violent tactics by gang members in the US, my sentiment on deportation has changed a little bit. Exporting the problem isn't the solution, necessarily.  

But back to Rikers. Bottom line for me is-- let's focus on the high-level or repeat offenders, and let's not worry about the immigration status of defendants whose case is dropped or who have a first time offense. Is that what this bill will do? it sounds like it, so I vote yes.  But i'm open to having my mind changed. 

This is why we need a continuum of care

I just read an article in the NYTimes 8/3/2011 titled "Teenager's Path and a Killing put Spotlight on mental Care"  about a young man with a violent past, severe mental illness and trauma history, who killed a staff member at a transitional housing shelter in Massachusetts. It's a tragic story that, as you follow the paper trail, led to the inevitable conclusion of murder. Foster homes, instability, violence, psychiatric care, criminal charges.... This young man was known within the system, but the parts of the system didn't communicate with each other. The police didn't know about the mental illness, the psych hospital didn't know about the violence, the homeless shelter didn't know about any of it. A friend of mine is working on a city-wide system to enroll mentally ill clients at the hospital into a program where their information is shared with other city agencies. So if the police show up, they'd be able to find out that this individual is schizophrenic and receiving treatment, and can connect with their treatment provider, creating a continuum of care. I acknowledge that it is a lot of information for government agencies to have about you, but they already have it and it does them no good to have it all, locked away on a computer somewhere, if it can't be used to actually help. This case is just one of many that exemplifies why information sharing is vital, especially as funding for mental health services is cut.