A place to live

Fighting the good fight

[Reprinted from Issues & Views October 21, 2002]

Earlier this year, the Fortune Society, based in New York City, opened the Fortune Academy, a new housing facility for former prison inmates. A five-story renovated building, once known as "The Castle" on Manhattan's Riverside Drive, the goal of its founders is to provide emergency as well as long-term housing. The Academy's stated purpose: "The project is specifically designed to house ex-prisoners who would otherwise have difficulty securing housing and provides the support services needed to transition from prison to community and live a healthy, crime-free life."

The Fortune Society has been a mainstay in the city since its founding in 1967. It was launched initially to offer former prison inmates counseling, basic adult literacy classes, referrals to vocational training, job placement, tutoring for high school equivalency diplomas, and treatment for substance abuse. It is staffed by former prisoners, as well as professionals in various fields.

Over the years it became clear that much of the Society's help needed to be buttressed with residences, since, after years behind bars, many ex-convicts no longer have family attachments in the outside world. Released prisoners tell of being dropped on the street after incarceration, with no money and no place to go.

After years of preparation, this year the Society officially opened the refurbished upper Manhattan building. There is also an adjoining lot, and in the next phase of development of the property, administrators plan expansion to a full-service, campus-style facility, where many more than the current 59 residents can be accommodated. They are hopeful of maintaining a safe, comfortable environment where former prisoners can begin the difficult tasks of finding employment and adjusting to life outside jail. They believe that a facility like the Academy is a good start in cutting down on high recidivist rates.

JoAnne Page, the Fortune Society's executive director, tells of the great need for housing:

Since we have opened our housing program at the Fortune Academy, I have come face-to-face with a staggering consequence of our so-called war on drugs: the creation of what I call “drug law orphans.” Right now, use of drugs by a family member living in public housing can be used as a basis for the eviction of the entire family. The same holds true if a family member has been convicted of a drug-related crime.

When a teenager or young adult is convicted of a drug crime and lives in public housing, he or she not only bears the stigma of the conviction and the damage of any period of incarceration, but after that damage is done, that child has no home to return to. Young people who are already vulnerable, already in trouble and already gravely at risk have that risk increased exponentially as they are released into the streets, homeless.

For more information, visit the website of The Fortune Society.

See also on the I&V site:

Mandatory Minimum Sentences

The drug war's ongoing nightmare

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