When experiencing homelessness or navigating reentry to the community after prison, something as simple as having government-issued identification can ensure access to employment and/or financial assistance along with services critical to making independent living in the community possible. Yet, without a viable address or documents such as a birth certificate, obtaining an ID can be […]
New York City’s Rikers Island correctional facility currently houses more than 9,000 people every day, including young people age 16-17 tried as adults and thousands of men and women with mental illness.
Many of these people have become involved in the criminal justice system as the result of factors including poverty, low education levels, lack of employment opportunities, homelessness, untreated mental illness, and addiction. Once involved in the criminal justice system these individuals face significant challenges if they are to overcome the experience of incarceration, the consequences of a criminal record, and the disruption of community networks and—for young people—of the traditional course of youth development.