LVN/DOHMH Community Conversation 1
Trent Taylor, Elena Weissman, and Brandon Holmes discuss inadequate resources inside Rikers, the lack of resources for people re-entering after incarceration, and toxic pollution on the island. The conversation is facilitated by Piper Anderson, Director of Design and Engagement at the Rikers Public Memory Project.
Trent Taylor grew up in Virgina and lives in Harlem. He was detained three times at Rikers, including one two-year stint. He discusses the inadequate resources offered at Rikers, where "there's no help for anyone who has mental illness. ... It really makes it worse." He talks about the need for housing, job training, and community-based mental health services for individuals leaving Rikers. He also thinks people returning home would benefit from having someone help them prepare for job interviews and find professional clothing. Taylor recently returned home after spending 16 years in prison. He currently works in a nursing home. (Summary written by: Annie Anderson)
Elena Weissman is the director of the Bronx Freedom Fund, a community bail fund in the Bronx and Queens. She visits Rikers to meet with people held there pretrial and helps bail them out. She discusses the envoronmental harms that people incarcerated at Rikers and the nearby Bronx jail barge nicknamed "The Boat" face, including toxic pollutants from garbage dumps, cars, and fish markets situated along the East River. She thinks that people returning home from jail would benefit from having a healthcare advocate connecting them to doctors and low-cost therapy providers to help them process the trauma of being held at Rikers. Weissman says: "incarceration is not healing anybody, it's not solving anything. It doesn't require anyone to be accountable, or to say that they're sorry or to repair harm." (Summary written by: Annie Anderson)
Brandon Holmes is a criminal justice reform advocate who works for JustLeadershipUSA. He's had several relatives serve time at Rikers, including his teenage cousins. Of incarceration, he says: "I've been able to witness the impact it has on families who are not incarcerated [who] lose those connections with their loved ones." Holmes discusses the need for housing, medical care, and mental health services for people returning from prison and jail. When asked what a healthy New York City would look like, he responds: "A healthy NYC provides the funding and resources to local communities to be able to establish their own restorative justice and accountability programs outside of law enforcement ... I think my idea of these healthy communities is actually funding them at the scale that we fund all the punitive institutions that exist." (Summary written by: Annie Anderson)