LVN/DOHMH Community Conversation 2

Anna Pastoressa, Kandra Clark, and Virginie Ladisch discuss the culture of dehumanization and violence towards visitors and women. They also explain the movement to close Rikers. The conversation is facilitated by Piper Anderson, Director of Design and Engagement for the Rikers Public Memory Project.

Anna Pastoressa's son was incarcerated at Rikers Island for six years awaiting trial. Visiting her son weekly for six years, she saw blood, violence, and abuse. She discusses the degradation of the visitation process, during which she and her daughter were subjected to abusive talk and strip searches. As an immigrant to the U.S., expecting opportunity and freedom for her family, she experienced Rikers as "the worst shock of my life." She was enraged by her son's prolonged incarceration and became an activist with JustLeadershipUSA's Close Rikers campaign. Her vision for the future of Rikers involves destroying all of the jail buildings and turning the island into a renewable energy facility or a park. (Summary written by: Annie Anderson)

Kandra Clark grew up in a small town in Illinois. She arrived in New York City in 2008 and lived in East Harlem. She spent several months on Rikers Island in 2010 before being sent to state prison. She describes her attempts to build community with other incarcerated women amidst Rikers' culture of dehumanization and violence. She was sexually harassed every day at Rikers by male officers, and she estimates that 90% of the women she met while locked up experienced physical or sexual abuse as children. Following her release from prison in 2011, Clark began working in a variety of re-entry positions with The Fortune Society and JustLeadershipUSA. Clark is now the Vice President of Policy and Strategy at Exodus Transitional Community, a re-entry organization in New York City. She is actively involved in the campaign to close Rikers Island. (Summary written by: Annie Anderson)

Currently residing in Washington D.C. after 15 years in Brooklyn, Virginie Ladisch works at the International Center for Transitional Justice. Although she has dedicated much of her career around mass atrocity in other countries such as Gambia, Uganda, and Tunisia– in the past 6 years she has moved her focus to the U.S. Despite not having a personal connection to Rikers Island, she does work as an advisor to the Rikers Public Memory Project and supports the movement to close Rikers. When asked about supporting and cultivating the health and well-being of people returning home from Rikers she mentions the need to provide “more holistic and responsive care” while asking local representatives “to connect with the community that you're trying to serve and see how they want to be served. Don't pretend that you can guess their needs, ask them, and involve them.” (Summary written by: Anne Lacy)