Jail and Prison Services

Osborne works inside jails and prisons not only to prepare individuals for life after they return to our communities, but also because the time people spend detained or incarcerated has value, like any period of their lives, and people have the capacity and the right to use that time well.

In the same way, we serve families visiting jails and prisons because we know — many of us from experience — that these relationships have essential meaning and worth during separation and planning for reentry. 

In the U.S., more than half of incarcerated people are the parents of minor children, leaving more than 2.7 million children with a mother or father currently behind bars and disproportionately harming Black and brown communities. Incarcerated fathers and mothers have the right, capacity, and responsibility to parent their children. Children want, need, and have the right to contact with their incarcerated parents. And when barriers are removed, parenting responsibilities and family love can be powerful motives for individual transformation. 

Inspired by these truths, our staff are on the ground delivering programming in Rikers Island jail facilities and in 38 of New York State’s 41 correctional facilities. We offer in-prison parenting and relationship education, reentry planning, HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis-C prevention and peer support, support and transportation for in-person and video visits to jails and prisons, and hospitality and family centers that aid family members coming to see their loved ones.