Empowering Women And Children Impacted By The Criminal Justice System
Greetings!

Several months ago, the NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision announced a stunningly cruel change to policy: Incarcerated individuals in state prison would no longer be allowed to receive care food packages from families directly. All food must now be purchased from expensive, poorly stocked third party vendors.

These vendors charge intentionally inflated rates. They lack variety in offered options, and cannot cater to dietary restrictions. In addition, fresh food often arrives rotting or spoiled.

This change will not make anything safer. Despite claiming this move is to reduce contraband, this will not make our prisons any safer. This ban is dangerous to the health of incarcerated individuals. With 40% of diseases tied to a lack of healthy food, the health of those in prison is at risk.


We will not back down until DOCCS reverses this cruel and inhumane policy. The ban was reversed in 2018 due to outcry from families and we hope to reverse this once again.
The work that we do here is crucially important. I am grateful to all the organizations who work with us to support those impacted by incarceration.

To that end, I'm grateful to receive the Leyton Award given by Houses On The Moon happening next Monday, October 3rd. Here's more info about the Houses on the Moon's Amplify gala, I hope to see you there.

Also, save the date to join us on November 4th, as Sepa Mujer honors New Hour as their 2022 Organization Of The Year. We are so grateful to be acknowledged for our work to minimize the impact of trauma created by the inextricable link between incarceration and domestic violence for women. You can learn more about Sepa Mujer's event here.
Thank you for standing in solidarity with us as work to address the impact of incarceration on families throughout New York State.

In community,

Serena & The New Hour Team