{"id":4757,"date":"2023-03-17T11:10:27","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T15:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/?p=4757"},"modified":"2023-04-16T11:43:34","modified_gmt":"2023-04-16T15:43:34","slug":"hunters-roosevelt-house-takes-on-aging-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/2023\/03\/hunters-roosevelt-house-takes-on-aging-in-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunter’s Roosevelt House Takes on Aging in Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the USA having one of the largest prison populations worldwide, Hunter\u2019s Roosevelt Public Policy Institute invited four formerly incarcerated individuals to share their experiences and advocate for a more equitable parole process to students earlier this week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Moderating the session, Hunter College\u2019s Director of the Public Policy Program Dr. Basil A. Smikle introduced students to Jos\u00e8 Salda\u00f1a, Vanessa Santiago, Roslyn Smith, and Anthony Dixon, all o<\/span>f whom used their transition from prison to everyday life as motivations for their non-profits.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Jos\u00e8 Salda\u00f1a, holding the mic, shares facts about the parole system alongside Dr. Basil A. Smikle, Vanessa Santiago, and Anthony Dixon, pictured left to right. Photo by Nethya Samarakkodige.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While their experiences differed, their sentiments on the parole system are identical: instead of being used to reward good behavior, it is used as a form of \u201cperpetual punishment.\u201d Incarcerated individuals can submit a request for a hearing for the parole board to re-evaluate their sentence every two years. In Jos\u00e8 Salda\u00f1a\u2019s case, his request for parole was denied nine times, meaning he served an additional 18 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI can\u2019t change the nature of my crimes, I can only change myself,\u201d Vanessa Santiago said in retort to the aggressive parole denial culture upheld by the Federal Government. Just like Salda\u00f1a, her request for parole had been denied three times, adding six years to her sentence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Combining these additional years served with the lack of support within prisons, Anthony Dixon notes that incarcerated individuals never get the chance to leave the transitionary phase of leaving prison. \u201cThere is no past tense to this,\u201d Dixon said, \u201cThere is no \u201ced\u201d to any of these adjustments.\u201d As Director of the <\/span>Parole Preparation Project<\/span><\/a>, Dixon works to provide professional resources and support to newly freed prisoners. To Dixon, these services helped him get back up onto his feet; they are the reason he got his first job three days after being released.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond career resources, Santiago emphasized the difference furniture and housing could have on recently freed prisoners. Having to choose between furniture or rent, sleeping on the floor made her feel as though she was back in prison, where at least she had a cot. In response, Santiago founded the <\/span>Gift It Away, Inc.<\/span><\/a> program, where donated furniture is given to formerly incarcerated individuals in need.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, resources shouldn\u2019t only be available to prisoners after being released. For Roslyn Smith, getting her Bachelor\u2019s degree gave her the tools she always needed. \u201cCollege changed my life. It made me see my purpose in an entirely different way. I finally had hope,\u201d Smith shared with students. Prior to receiving her degree, a hopeless Smith was adamant to rebel, due to former President Bill Clinton\u2019s 1994 Crime Bill. This bill has stonewalled prison and parole reform ever since its inception.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The hopelessness induced by the aggressive parole hearing process leaves many older adults convinced they will die in prison. \u201cAt a certain point, I began preparing to die in prison at a young age,\u201d said Salda\u00f1a. Director of the <\/span>Release Aging People in Prison<\/span><\/a> (RAPP), Salda\u00f1a credits his success in rehabilitation to his older mentors and is one of the biggest advocates for New York State to release prisoners at 55 years old or after having served 15 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

COVID-19 introduced issues that only worsened these circumstances. All four speakers shared how the pandemic allowed for quarantining to be used as a punishment, both in terms of solitary confinement and denying prisoners from adequate social distancing and masks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dixon, Salda\u00f1a, Smith, and Santiago concluded by urging students to join them and RAPP on April 17th in Albany for <\/span>Parole Justice Advocacy Day<\/span><\/a>.\u201cThere\u2019s power in numbers, only together can we make a change,\u201d said Santiago.<\/span><\/p>\n

Interested students can contact RAPP <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the USA having one of the largest prison populations worldwide, Hunter\u2019s Roosevelt Public Policy Institute invited four formerly incarcerated individuals to share their experiences and advocate for a more equitable parole process to students earlier this week.\u00a0 Moderating the session, Hunter College\u2019s Director of the Public Policy Program Dr. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[514,512,366,513,511,510],"class_list":["post-4757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-aging","tag-publicpolicy","tag-roosevelthouse","tag-socialjustice","tag-college-event","tag-prison"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4757"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4884,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4757\/revisions\/4884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}