As Quanta enters the room, a staff member exclaims, “We got a winner!” It would be difficult for anyone who works at CASES’ Central Harlem office to disagree. Though Quanta has completed her newSTART mandate, she continues to work with CASES staff in her journey to recovery and self-discovery. Initiated in October 2017, CASES’ newSTART is […]
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.