Poverty Creates Pipeline to Jail, Critics Say

photo by Hannah Grossman

 

By Hannah Grossman

 

Over a hundred nonprofit agencies met on Wall St to discuss ending what they call the “poverty to prison pipeline.”

According to executives of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA), who organized the discussion, poverty is the key issue in the problem of so-called mass incarceration.

Those who have been involved in the criminal justice system find it hard, even after serving time, to transition back to their communities and find employment.

Making a transition from prison to a self-supporting life is the stigma against formerly incarcerated men and women. Hoping to start life over, many find themselves stuck in a recurring cycle of poverty and prison. One of the speakers, John Ducksworth of the New York Theological Seminary, said that the stigma itself can be worse than being incarcerated.

In its preliminary report, the FPWA says those who have been incarcerated often cannot get needed social help after their release.

The Oct. 8 meeting of nonprofit agencies entailed networking and strategizing, in an effort to find solutions to the poverty to prison pipeline. In a related concern, the participants expressed concern that the looming 2020 Census could cause New York State to lose some of the $53 billion dollars in federal funding. That’s because, they and other critics say, the federal counters will not tally all of the residents of New York. The Census ultimately determines how many representatives a given state will have in the House of Representatives and the amount of federal funds that it will receive.

The nonprofit actives offered a resounding “amen” as they vowed to continue advancing the causes of their communities. They said they were doing so against countervailing policies of the administration of President Donald Trump.

“What is coming down the pipe right now, we know what is going on in our city. We know there are much needed services that we’re not getting, and we know we need to keep fighting that fight,” Jennifer Jones, the FPWA’s Executive Director, said. The audience responded, “amen.”

Among the solutions to the prison pipeline decreasing the prison population and splitting up big jails like Riker’s Island into smaller jails. So said Marc Greenberg, the Executive Director of the Interfaith Assembly of Homelessness and Housing, who was involved in putting together the FPWA’s report.