By Sadie
On January 24th, my social justice group visited an ATI which stands for Alternative to Incarceration. This ATI was a place where mothers can serve jail/prison time but they don’t have to be separated from their children. It is part of Housing Plus Solutions and is the only program in the country of its kind. The location we visited was a small apartment building in Brooklyn called the Drew House. At the Drew House, mothers receive the support they need to become independent. Whether it is therapy, schooling or help finding a job, Rita Zimmer, Sharon Price and Sharon White are always there. Rita Zimmer is on the board for the Housing Plus Solutions program, Sharon White is the Drew House Director and Sharon Price is the house manager. When we met them, I was very struck by their dedication to helping the mothers and children at the Drew House. We originally contacted Rita Zimmer through a friend of my mother’s, Mamie McIndoe who is also a board member. Through a series of emails, Ms. Zimmer and I set up a date. So on Thursday, we took the C train to Rockaway Avenue and walked a couple blocks to the Drew House. The building wasn’t the biggest on the block but it had windows and was a nice pinkish color. Inside there were still decorations up from the holidays and the office was quite lively. They were interested in our trip to Washington D.C. so for a while we just talked about the inauguration and our experience seeing our nation’s capitol.
The goal of this fieldwork was to establish a connection at the Drew House and learn about ATIs so we could be informed about solutions to youth incarceration and incarceration in general. The Sharons and Rita told us that ATIs like the Drew House save government money and prevent the children from going to prison while not compromising public safety. Here are two facts/statistics I learned from them: one year of incarceration costs 55,000 plus the cost of one year of foster care for two children (72,000) equals 127,000 versus one year at the Drew House for a mother and two children which costs 34,000. Also children with incarcerated parents are 6 to 8 times more likely to end up in the incarceration system.
We are trying to get a lot done in February before the Teach-In. We are currently working towards meeting a former incarcerated youth, meeting with an lawyer who defends youth in court, talking to the Brooklyn DA, Charles Hynes, who founded the Drew House, tagging along with someone who talks to kids about staying out of prison and jail and watching the movie “Scared Straight”. We are also going to continue going to Brooklyn and help with the kids. Maybe we can get Rita, Sharon and Sharon to come to school and speak with the class too.
