Jackie Gosdigian, Senior Supervising Policy Counsel at Brooklyn Defender Services, testified before the New York City Council Committee on Children and Youth at an oversight hearing on secure detention conditions and youth incarceration policies in New York City. Gosdigian described overcrowded facilities where young people report sleeping in classrooms and hallways and going days without showers. She also noted that students in detention have missed hundreds of days of school each month because ACS failed to bring them to the classroom. Gosdigian urged the Council to expand community-based alternatives to detention and supported Res. 274-2026, which calls for New York City to be included in state Raise the Age program funding. “In order to decrease the population of incarcerated youth and break the cycle of re-arrest it is imperative that we focus on alternatives to detention and keep our young people in the community with their families, while providing them with the supportive services they need,” Gosdigian said.

Read the full testimony here.