The Women’s Community Justice Association (WCJA) is a non-profit dedicated to improving the lives of women and gender expansive New Yorkers affected by mass incarceration. Founded in 2018, WCJA is led by justice-impacted women and focuses on change through policy advocacy, community organizing and service. WCJA leads the #BEYONDrosies campaign and the Justice 4 Women Task Force.
Dear Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams,
The women and gender-expansive people at the Rose M. Singer (Rosie’s) jail on Rikers Island have often been treated as an afterthought. Under the borough-based jail plan, they would be relocated to a new Kew Gardens, Queens facility that is connected to a men’s building and won't open until 2027.
In October, Governor Hochul and the city started moving women and gender-expansive people to state prison in Westchester to address the humanitarian crisis at Rikers. Four months later they are returning to Rosie’s without any progress towards a better solution.
These mothers, daughters and sisters deserve a coordinated plan for decarceration. Former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, head of the Rikers Commission, has endorsed a plan for the state to transfer closed prisons in Manhattan to the city for women and gender-expansive people.
As governor and mayor, you can address the crisis at Rikers and improve safety and justice for the women and gender-expansive people at Rosie's.
