Dominican Aylin Restituyo, when she had just turned 18, made a mistake that led her to be impacted by the criminal justice system in New York. Today, in full freedom, with her life rebuilt, she is an active community worker, helping women, and those who identify as such, to find paths to help, as a bilingual leader of the Women’s Prison Association (WPA) founded in 1845.
The truth is that despite the profound reforms carried out in New York on how someone who has had problems with the law can face probation and pre-trial supervision processes, community reintegration for this population remains difficult. Very difficult.
“The most important thing for me is that in this case, the female population understands once and for all that in our city there are resources that allow them to rebuild their lives. What I have seen is that many people do not come to seek information out of fear. But I can tell them that there are resources, that they can reorient their lives,” Aylin stressed.
The young islander feels proud to be an example of transformation.
But most importantly, she feels like a valuable factor in multiplying, in English and Spanish, that since the WPA, the female population, who have had some interaction with the justice system, have access to very valuable free resources.
“We focus on mental health. If this issue is not addressed, it is very difficult to make progress in any other area. We can motivate people in many ways, but if there is no personal decision, almost nothing can happen.”
Like the WPA, dozens of organizations targeting specific groups offer paths to change for this type of population.
Parole is the process by which the Court has determined that an individual can avoid prison or jail and remain in the community under the supervision of the City.
Health and harmony
Aylin was part of a health and wellness services fair this week that brought the options offered by municipal agencies and organizations on health and harmony to the neighborhoods of the Bronx, to people who have been affected by the justice system.
The City of New York, through the Department of Probation (DOP), in response to the persistent scenario of stories of people who continue to have doors closed to them due to the powerful stigma of having been in jail or prison, organized the 25th annual Pretrial Supervision, Probation and Parole (PPPS) Week in the heart of the Bronx.
This access to services program, aimed at people who have been impacted by justice, aims to help reduce recidivism, provide job training, employment, housing and a safe space in many ways.
“PPPS Week raises awareness of the critical work performed by our probation officers and staff and recognizes their invaluable experience, perspectives, compassion, commitment, resilience, and impact,” said DOP Commissioner Juanita N. Holmes.
This municipal agency is dedicated to improving public safety and reducing criminal recidivism by providing individuals with effective, individualized supervision, support, and opportunities for personal growth.
The other side of justice
In all this dynamic of resources for people who have crossed the criminal justice line in New York, Hispanic Marcia Hernandez is part of the DOP program support team. She says she feels proud to be a witness “on the other side of justice,” where hundreds of organizations are able to connect with job opportunities, housing, and counseling on issues of addiction and mental health.
“I have seen with great emotion how people of all nationalities can turn their lives around, including through the different programs they can graduate, start working and even join community work in our agency. And help people who have gone through similar situations with greater closeness and passion,” she says.
Marcia recalls that through the DOP they provide food, clothing and tools for this population that generally goes through very difficult times when they are released.
There are hopes
There are many testimonies of how this package of programs and the organizations that lead them, crystallizes positive changes for those who have had some type of interaction with the criminal justice system, to turn them into productive and law-abiding citizens.
As island activist Aylin Restituyo argues, it will be a very long process to achieve a massive and harmonious integration of people who, for making a mistake, must face trial, prison, jail, and then terrible discrimination when they return to the streets.
“Now, there is hope. There are resources, and we need to make them known. And we must always remember that it is precisely women of color, Hispanic and black women, who are most disproportionately affected by the criminal justice system,” the activist recalled.
In New York, probation is administered locally under the general supervision of the state. Today, the New York City Probation Department is second in size only to its counterpart in Los Angeles County.
In this way, the philosophy of this agency according to its statutes is that “parole becomes a stage of opportunities within the justice system and a time to create a highly individualized ‘new now.’
Women on the edge of risk
As Puerto Rican Elizabeth Quiñones, 60, tells it, three decades ago, while trying to defend herself from her husband’s beatings, she accidentally ended up killing him in a knife fight. She says that the way justice looked at her was very different. She remembers as if it had happened yesterday, that there was no consideration at all, because she was an obvious victim of domestic violence.
“For the system, I was a murderer, period. I killed my partner. Obviously, due to the lack of adequate lawyers and being so ignorant, you sink easily if you make a mistake. When I was released on parole, I didn’t find the help that there is now. It was all drugs, the streets and suffering. Nobody wants to hire you. Nobody wants to rent you a home, not even a basement full of rats,” she described.
As Elizabeth shares her devastating story, the female prison population in the Big Apple is actually growing.
While four years ago, in the midst of the pandemic, there were 203 women in custody of the New York City Department of Corrections (NYC DOC), by the first quarter of 2024, that number had climbed to 378. More than 80% are black and Hispanic, according to data shared by the Vera Justice Center.
But behind these numbers, there are little-described realities, which have to do with stories of sexual abuse, aggression and violence behind bars, which has put a group of 15 female members of the Municipal Council on alert, who sent a letter last April to the municipal government, to open the possibility of releasing as many detainees as possible, especially those who have been waiting for a trial for months.
To date there is no response to this request.
The resources:
- To learn about NYC Department of Probation (DOP) resources, call (212) 510-3700 or go to: nyc.gov/site/probation
- For information on Women’s Prison Association (WPA) services in all five counties, please visit the website: wpaonline.org
- To access programs offered by an organization like Hope for Prisoners, connect to hopeforprisoners.org