Jail- and prison-based Pre-Release
Planning is offered
by WPA at Rikers Island’s Rose
M. Singer Center for women and at
several women’s prisons in
New York State. Women
who are returning to the community
following a period of incarceration
commonly face uncertainty about where
they can live, how they will support
themselves, whether they will reconnect
with family, and how they will manage
their health. Whenever possible,
WPA arranges for a peer mentor to
meet a woman upon release and help
her navigate the initial days and
weeks of life in the community.
Women with HIV can work with WPA staff
at Rikers Island Jail, and at Bedford
Hills, Taconic, Bayview, and Beacon Correctional
Facilities to develop a plan for meeting
health, welfare, housing, and support
needs after leaving incarceration. WPA
works with criminal justice, medical,
and mental health staff at the correctional facility to find the best
options for the client.
WPA staff collaborate with other providers
to assemble health and mental health
records and to assure that the client
will leave prison with photo identification,
eligibility for public benefits, and
prescriptions for all her medications
and a means to pay for them. Women who
return from prison to New York City are
usually connected with WPA community-based
case managers and counselors who are
able to follow through on the discharge
plan in coordination with jail and prison-based
staff.
WPA staff visit the other women’s
prisons in New York (Albion and Lakeview)
a few times each year to provide information
about WPA and other services available
for women who will return to New York
City upon release from prison. WPA works
closely with the designated discharge
planning agency for those prisons, which
refers City women for pre-release screening
and discharge planning during these visits.
City-sentenced women at Rikers Island
can elect to participate in the jail’s
RIDE (Rikers Island Discharge Enhancement)
program and take advantage of WPA assistance
with planning for life after jail. WPA’s
jail and community-based staff provide
group informational sessions and individual
assistance with developing a plan for
establishing a law-abiding, self-supporting
life in safe community housing. Most
of these City-sentenced women can benefit
from participation in addiction treatment;WPA
staff connect them with an appropriate
treatment program and environment. WPA
staff can drive women from Rikers Island
to the community upon release from jail
and provide continued case management
services and support in the community.
Women are encouraged to participate in
WPA’s employment
and housing workshops and the Day
Program,
particularly if they do not have a full
schedule of daily activity.
