As a retired state Supreme Court judge in Manhattan who presided over the trials of some of Manhattan’s most dangerous and violent drug gangs and drug organizations for over twenty years, I am deeply concerned with the fair administration of justice and its impact on community safety. It is clear that a lengthy period of incarceration is the only realistic solution to vicious and violent gang leaders, gang members and their criminal conduct. However, for certain low level non-violent offenders, rehabilitation is a better alternative to incarceration.
One in three released offenders will return to jail in New York State. And the recidivism rate in the United States is 70 percent. For non-violent offenders, our prison system serves as an incubator for criminal behavior. How are they supposed to stay out of trouble if prison only teaches them to be better criminals and educational and training programs are few and far between.
What we know is that the culture of crime spreads through a family, from parent to child, sibling to sibling. To stop the cycle, we must address more than the individual who has committed the crime. It is essential that those who are close to the offender be given the tools to break the cycle that leads to incarceration. This requires that the families of offenders, and especially their children, be provided with the resources and direction to avoid the conduct and fate of their parent(s).

Among the best examples of this approach are Abraham House and the Andrew Glover Youth Program, rehabilitation programs located in the South Bronx and Lower East Side respectively. Abraham House is in the center of the most impoverished congressional district in the country. It has an intensive, holistic and community-based approach to rehabilitation. The program was started in 1993 by Sister Simone Ponnet and Father Peter Raphael - both chaplains at Rikers Island for twenty years - along with Department of Corrections personnel William Sutton, James Washington and Robert Jones. Abraham House offers offenders what prison can not: a structured lifestyle designed to educate and train them so that they can become productive members of society rather than more skilled criminals.
As a judge, I had countless opportunities to learn about and utilize various alternatives to incarceration for offenders who stood before me. I turned again and again to Abraham House. Why? Because Abraham House works. Sister Simone Ponnet, the director, is a person with a keen ability to identify people with the motivation and resilience needed for successful rehabilitation. She and her staff are able, through in-depth interviews with prisoners and their families, to glean the essential information they need: does this person have the will to change and can his family support him in that effort and learn to live a law-abiding life with him?

Let me tell you about the first person I placed in Abraham House in 1993, John Lopez. When I first met John Lopez, he was standing before me charged with Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the First Degree, the highest level felony in the state. There did not seem to be anything positive to say about him. However, his attorney suggested that a fledgling program called Abraham House would be a better place for John instead of jail. After meeting Sister Simone and discussing Abraham House, I became convinced that John should be placed in her program after he pled guilty and faced a life sentence if he did not complete the program successfully. I took a chance. John    worked hard in the program and ultimately turned his life around. He is now a member of the Abraham House Board.
The program was, and still is, small. It has ten to twelve offenders enrolled at any one time. Its success is based on the guiding principles of discipline and accountability as well as a rigorous admission process that screens out those who might believe that Abraham House is an easy way out of a jail sentence.
Sr. Simone runs Abraham House’s alternative to incarceration program as a practical, no-frills operation. For more than a decade, it has functioned thanks to individual and foundation contributions. The program has probably saved the City of New York and its taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars by successfully reintegrating more than 165 graduates. Of those who have completed the program, fewer than 1% have returned to jail.
This unique program works because its residents learn the skills needed to be productive members of society through a holistic approach. Families of offenders participate in extensive programming. Guided by highly-qualified Abraham House staff, they learn how to communicate, cooperate, respect one another and deal with the daily frustrations that have previously led to anti-social and criminal behavior. Through involvement in the Family and Pastoral Center, which serves the formerly incarcerated and their families, residents establish relationships with other people who share the same struggles. The Abraham House after school program, focusing on the children of offenders, affords the residents a unique opportunity to be a part of an intergenerational effort to break the cycle of crime. And the children love it – painting, dancing, playing and homework together!
The guidance and support Abraham House provides to the children and spouses of the incarcerated undoubtedly help establish stable families and prevent many children from following in an incarcerated family member’s footsteps. Abraham House is on the front lines of the fight against crime, diverting a future generation of potential criminals toward productive lives.
Another successful community based alternative to incarceration program is the Andrew Glover Youth Program. The Andrew Glover Youth Program began in 1979 and works with at risk youth in the Lower East Side and East Harlem. Its approach, like Abraham House, is holistic. The programs focuses on one-on-one counseling with the young offender and delivers support to family members to effectuate a permanent change in behavior. A young offender is carefully evaluated so that the right individualized program that combines education, employment and rehabilitation can be developed. Ninety-one percent of its participants move on to become productive, law-abiding members of their communities.
The success of current crime fighting strategies cannot be denied. They should and must be continued. Long criminal sentences still should be the rule, not the exception, for violent offenders. However, there is a vital place for alternative sentencing for those who deserve a second chance. The safety of New York City depends on Abraham House, the Andrew Glover Youth Program and like minded programs which recognize that a criminal victimizes not only his intended target but also those in the family he leaves behind while in prison. Providing support, guidance and hope for a better life for all victims of crime by rehabilitating appropriate non-violent offenders is not only an exercise in compassion but also a further investment in a safer future for New York City.

 

 Abraham House

Abraham House was founded in 1993 by three Rikers Island chaplains (who have more than 60 years experience at the prison) and Department of Corrections personnel.

 The initial goal of Abraham House was to break the cycle of recidivism (which is a disheartening 70% in New York State) with a demanding residential program that serves no more than a dozen offenders at a time.

 These inmates are required to finish their high school education, be counseled intensively for their problems, learn to take social and personal responsibility, get a job and keep it. Only one of the more than 100 graduates of the Abraham House Residents Program has returned to prison for a second offense.

Abraham House subsequently expanded its goal: to break the cycle of crime in families, from grandparent to parent to child.
 

Center For Community Alternatives

The Center for Community Alternatives' accomplishments include many "firsts": the first sentencing advocacy program in New York State, the first gender specific alternative to incarceration drug treatment program in New York, and New York's only program designed specifically for youth under 16 who are charged as adults.

 Court Services programs are the core work of the Center for Community Alternatives .

 Since 1981, services have expanded from sentencing mitigation work to include a women's day treatment center, the development of a drug court, youth advocacy services and more.