danielle
11-21-2002, 05:10 PM
Ex-Prisoner's Center to Open
By Bryan Virasami
STAFF WRITER
November 18, 2002, 5:57 PM EST
Prisoners from Rikers Island who have no place to go after their release will notice a welcome sign at a new 24-hour center slated to open Tuesday in Long Island City.
The center on 29th Street near Queens Plaza, operated by the Fortune Society, is located steps away from where a bus drops off inmates.
The Fortune Drop-In Center will focus on providing a wide range of services including referrals to health care, career counseling and development, education and substance abuse treatment.
“Our goal is that it’s going to be a model for other states about how you bring people home,” said the society’s deputy director, Stanley Richards. “We are very excited about that.”
For years, prisoners being freed from Rikers have been transported by bus in the early morning hours to Queens Plaza, where they’re released.
While some are picked up by family or friends, many are left to wander the streets with nowhere to go or sleep, according to the society.
“Isn’t it a wonderful way to catch people as they get out?” Richards said of the center.
The society describes its focus to be on assisting former prisoners, ex-offenders and those facing prison time, in addition to providing alternative programs to incarceration.
Richards said a major aspect of the drop-in site will be to intercept and assist HIV-positive people.
He said the 24-hour staff of about 14 will guide prisoners away from being repeat offenders and into normal society.
The society currently runs two sites in Manhattan in addition to a 59-person homeless housing site on 140th Street in Harlem.
Tuesday, politicians including Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem), are expected to launch the organization at Donuts Unlimited on Queens Plaza South.
The shop was picked because it is a popular hangout for just-released prisoners who can get a table and coffee in the early morning hours.
Like most of Fortune’s staff, Richards is a former inmate who operates on the belief that the best time to intervene and help someone is immediately after their release.
The daily inmate population at Rikers is between 14,000 and 19,000, according to the city’s Department of Correction.
Up to 50 prisoners are transported on a bus to Rikers Island each morning.
By Bryan Virasami
STAFF WRITER
November 18, 2002, 5:57 PM EST
Prisoners from Rikers Island who have no place to go after their release will notice a welcome sign at a new 24-hour center slated to open Tuesday in Long Island City.
The center on 29th Street near Queens Plaza, operated by the Fortune Society, is located steps away from where a bus drops off inmates.
The Fortune Drop-In Center will focus on providing a wide range of services including referrals to health care, career counseling and development, education and substance abuse treatment.
“Our goal is that it’s going to be a model for other states about how you bring people home,” said the society’s deputy director, Stanley Richards. “We are very excited about that.”
For years, prisoners being freed from Rikers have been transported by bus in the early morning hours to Queens Plaza, where they’re released.
While some are picked up by family or friends, many are left to wander the streets with nowhere to go or sleep, according to the society.
“Isn’t it a wonderful way to catch people as they get out?” Richards said of the center.
The society describes its focus to be on assisting former prisoners, ex-offenders and those facing prison time, in addition to providing alternative programs to incarceration.
Richards said a major aspect of the drop-in site will be to intercept and assist HIV-positive people.
He said the 24-hour staff of about 14 will guide prisoners away from being repeat offenders and into normal society.
The society currently runs two sites in Manhattan in addition to a 59-person homeless housing site on 140th Street in Harlem.
Tuesday, politicians including Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem), are expected to launch the organization at Donuts Unlimited on Queens Plaza South.
The shop was picked because it is a popular hangout for just-released prisoners who can get a table and coffee in the early morning hours.
Like most of Fortune’s staff, Richards is a former inmate who operates on the belief that the best time to intervene and help someone is immediately after their release.
The daily inmate population at Rikers is between 14,000 and 19,000, according to the city’s Department of Correction.
Up to 50 prisoners are transported on a bus to Rikers Island each morning.