Jillian Modzeleski of Brooklyn Defender Services supports Resolution 497
Jillian Modzeleski directs the Women's Defense Project at Brooklyn Defender Services and supports Resolution 497. She says no one should labor or give birth behind bars or in restraints and calls for trauma-informed gynecological care.
Good afternoon.
My name is Jillian Majuleski, and I'm the director of the Women's Defense Project at Brooklyn Defender Services.
Thank you to Chairs Brooks, Powers, and Farias for inviting us to testify today about maternal health in the criminal legal system.
Brooklyn Defender Services is a public defense office representing about 40,000 people in Brooklyn and Queens each year.
I helped launch the BDS's Women's Defense Project in 2020 after years of representing criminalized trafficking victims in the Human Trafficking Intervention Court.
Our interdisciplinary team of attorneys and social workers serve cisgender and transgender women who have experienced history of violence,
exploitation, and abuse that has directly or indirectly led to their involvement in the criminal legal system.
In my practice, I have represented people who are pregnant, postpartum, parenting, and experiencing pregnancy loss, all while navigating the criminal legal system.
The vast majority of women with criminal legal system involvement have experienced violence or trauma in their lives prior to incarceration.
Foremost, no one should be forced to labor or give birth behind bars, in restraints, or in a courtroom.
For New York to continue to subject people to these conditions is a devastating reflection of cruelty embedded in our carceral system.
All people in...
The criminal legal system deserves to be treated with care, compassion, and dignity.
We strongly support Resolution 497 and are grateful that the State Senate and Assembly passed this critical legislation.
I'm looking at my time, and one point I do want to raise before my time is up is access to care.
Most of my clients have experienced some sort of sexual assault or violence, and that really prevents them from accessing care.
Gynecological exams can be very intimidating for those people, so it's important that the care that is provided for them in Rikers is trauma-informed around that point.
Thank you for your time.