Osborne offers testimony at the NYC City Council Committees on Aging and Criminal Justice

On Friday, February 17, Osborne joined partner organizations and service providers, advocacy groups, and others at the joint NYC City Council Committees on Aging and Criminal Justice for the Justice in Aging hearing. Osborne staff and participants submitted testimony describing the unique needs of the growing number of older people returning to New York City from incarceration and offered recommendations to strengthen the reentry experience for older New Yorkers.

The hearing is a culmination of efforts by Osborne and other advocates to sound the alarm about the crisis of aging in prison and the urgent need to develop and implement effective solutions to ensure that older people live “healthy, fulfilling lives with dignity and independence and have opportunities to contribute.”

In their testimony, Tanya Krupat, Vice President for Policy and Advocacy, and Christina Green, Director of Osborne’s Marcus Garvey Supportive Housing, shared that, “close to one in 4 people in NY State prisons is over age 50. As of this week, 802 older people (50+) are incarcerated on Rikers Island. The NYC Comptroller calculated that one year on Rikers for one person costs $556,539, an astounding and deeply concerning figure considering what people- and all of us- are “getting” for this amount of money. With this figure, we are currently spending more than $446 MILLION to keep older people on Rikers.”

When older New Yorkers are released, it is too often to an overburdened, underfunded, and inadequately prepared shelter system. “...[T]housands of people are discharged from prison directly to NYC homeless shelters, which cost up to $300/ day (that’s $9,000 per month!), and includes rules like being locked out all day, which can increase the likelihood of rearrest generally or for parole violations.”

In addition, as our program participants shared at today’s hearing, discrimination prevents older formerly incarcerated New Yorkers from finding housing, and for people living with a disability, there is a low likelihood of finding accessible permanent housing. Jose Vega, a resident of Osborne’s Marcus Garvey Supportive Housing, looked for safe and stable housing for four years after his release. “Everywhere I sought housing assistance, I was turned down. There was no suitable housing available for formerly incarcerated people with disabilities like me. I was told over and over to go to a shelter. The public shelter system is … unimaginable for a person [that] is wheelchair bound.”

For nine decades, Osborne has worked to transform lives, communities, and the criminal legal system. The success of our Elder Reentry, Kinship Reentry, and Marcus Garvey Supportive Housing programs shows that new models are possible. A full continuum of care that starts when people are incarcerated and extends to release and reentry is required. By passing Resolution 0241-2022, (Fair and Timely Parole and Elder Parole Bills), investing in community-based programs, accessible housing, peer support models, and other solutions, we can provide a path out of prison for older New Yorkers.

Read Osborne’s testimony here.