Liz Swavola of Women's Prison Association urges community-based care and Rikers closure
Liz Swavola, Chief Impact Officer at WPA, supports anti-shackling and postpartum sentencing legislation. She says incarceration costs $500,000 per person at Rikers and urges investment in community-based care and closure of Rosie's.
Good afternoon.
I'm Liz Suavola, Chief Impact Officer at the Women's Prison Association.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
For more than 180 years, WPA has served women impacted by incarceration.
We provide a continuum of care with women in the community at Rikers Island and Bedford Hills and as they transition home.
Our work includes case management, alternatives to incarceration and pretrial detention, reentry, housing, and trauma-responsive clinical care.
We appreciate the urgent need to address maternal mental health for people in DOC custody.
Pregnancy and the postpartum period are challenging and vulnerable times full of uncertainty and physical and emotional demands, all of which are exacerbated by incarceration and the trauma it inflicts.
WPA agrees that no person should be shackled while pregnant or postpartum, and that postpartum mental health struggles should be a mitigating factor.
We hope to see these pieces of legislation pass immediately.
At the same time, we urge council members to work diligently to reduce the footprint of incarceration and close the Rose M.
Singer Center, the jail for women at Rikers.
It costs a staggering $500,000 to incarcerate someone at Rikers.
Instead, those funds should be invested in helping women heal and thrive through community-based care and support.
Incarceration is not inevitable.
There are better pathways for women enmeshed in the criminal legal system.
including those who are pregnant and postpartum.
Incarcerated women are more likely to have histories of trauma, abuse, and mental health challenges that require access to treatment and care tailored to their unique needs.
Research also shows that pregnant people often come into the system with experiences that can increase complications and adverse outcomes, such as poverty, being unhoused, chronic health conditions, and substance use disorders.
Jails and prisons are not equipped or designed to provide the necessary level of care.
The number of women incarcerated at Rikers recently surpassed 500, nearly double what it was five years ago.
While the number of men is decreasing, we are moving backwards when it comes to women.
Thank you.