Advocating for the closure of Rikers Island and criminal justice reform

The news was huge for Jonathan Monsalve, president and CEO of Osborne Association, a nonprofit advocating for the closing of Rikers Island, decriminalization and decarceration. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Monday that $108 million would be allocated to transform the former Bayview Correctional Facility along Manhattan’s west side near Chelsea into 124 affordable housing units and a community hub. The project, entitled “Liberty Landing,” partners Osborne with Camber Property Group to house formerly incarcerated individuals.

Monsalve, whose leadership role was made official in February, said the move would ensure Osborne can help successfully reintegrate people back into their communities. Osborne does criminal justice reform advocacy and policy work, and also provides services, such as alternatives to incarceration and housing support, for incarcerated populations and their loved ones. 

Before coming to Osborne, Monsalve was executive director of the Immigrant Defense Project and prior to that director of Brooklyn Justice Initiatives at Center for Court Innovation. New York Nonprofit Media Spoke to Monsalve about Osborne Association, the future of Rikers Island and his long-term vision for the organization.  

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What motivated you personally to work in the challenging field of criminal justice reform work in the first place? 

A lot of the work that Osborne does is something that I've been familiar with for most of my life. I've been one of the kids or young adults who has taken the bus upstate, with his grandma or family to visit an incarcerated loved one and really had a sense at an early age of some of the indignities that exist for folks who are incarcerated. In many ways, I grew up in a household that was supporting a loved one who was incarcerated but also got a front row seat to what the reentry process looks like. Growing up, we didn't have a name or a word for it, it was something that we understood our family was doing to support our uncles, and at the end of the day, what we realized, what I realized as I became an older adult, was that things didn't need to be this way, that they could look different. We can do more as a community to support our community members who are coming home. In many ways, it was an easy choice, but not one that I fully came to understand until I got to college and realized that there's an opportunity to do more through nonprofit work through policy and advocacy work, and to continue to serve and support communities as well.

Tell me about the work Osborne Association is doing. What makes Osborne unique?

The best way to think about Osborne is that we work to support incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals, and their families through direct service and advocacy. The goal for us is to address the inequities that exist within the system and to try and foster positive outcomes. We serve more than 10,000 people annually. We've got sites in New York City, in Buffalo and Newburgh. We support New York's effort to reduce reliance on incarceration to improve community safety by demonstrating that there are more effective, less punitive solutions to address crime, and the harm that it causes, and certainly that we can do that in a more humane way. And so we worked with the legal system and directly impacted people to develop these alternatives. The idea for us is to pilot and evaluate programs and create the resources necessary to replicate them in different jurisdictions. We’ve been doing this for over 90 years.

Osborne is known for its expertise in serving children and families experiencing the incarceration of a loved one. How do you help families navigate those challenges? 

One of the things to remember about incarceration is that we could be punishing and incarcerating one person, but in reality that is felt by that person's family, extended family and community. We know that most of our prisons exist upstate, and if you live here in New York City, it can be difficult to get to those facilities to visit your loved one. We also know that keeping families connected during incarceration is huge. The idea for us is to make sure that we're keeping the family unit as connected as we can be, as they can be. And so we do that through things like video visiting, where we provide families the opportunity to see their loved ones over video if they're unable to travel. And we also know that connection is something that can help the individual as they're incarcerated, but also keep a strong family tie. We know that these individuals are coming home and that there will be a different version of that relationship. For us, it's important to make sure that we're keeping that connection there so that when folks do come home, they can continue to be in their communities and support one another, but more importantly, have a relationship with their loved ones.

This work is challenging, what helps you get through the day when you hear something especially disgruntling?

Change is hard. We didn't get here overnight. The other thing to remember is that success is not linear. For us, we've been doing this for a long time, staying at it, understanding that change is hard and incremental, that we're not going to see leaps and bounds of it, but rather a kind of nuanced approach to solving issues on the ground that contribute to a bigger picture that we're all hoping for, whether that's the closure of Rikers Island, or the reintegration of someone back into a community or with their family. At the end of the day, it's understanding that there are going to be bumps in the road, there are going to be challenges, but that means that we're moving in the right direction. 

Osborne Association has a growing housing portfolio. Why is housing front and center right now? 

For many decades, Osborne has been providing programs inside of New York prisons and jails. We know that that's been a lifeline to incarcerated individuals and their loved ones. As a provider, we're uniquely embedded in these spaces. We've got these relationships to support people on the inside, but also when they come home. The current housing crisis has impacted many New Yorkers and that includes individuals who are coming home. We know that when folks are coming home there's just a strong headwind at the end of the day to restart their lives, and rampant discrimination around housing and employment. I've done the work on the ground, and what I can tell you is folks have many needs when they're coming home. But what we do know is, if you don't have a safe place to put your head at night and rest where you feel comfortable, it can be very difficult and challenging to succeed when you come home. At the end of the day, we're really excited about the housing piece, because it allows us to meet one of those critical needs that we know will help successfully reintegrate someone back into their community.

What do you think the future of Rikers Island looks like?

Rikers Island needs to close. At the end of the day, we've seen the long history and legacy of that place and we know that it needs to close. Right now, as a service provider, we think about it in two ways: How can we meet the needs of individuals who are currently on the island and need help and support to stay connected with their families? But also, how can we drive down the jail population to make that a reality? I know that there's a lot going on around Rikers Island, but at the end of the day, we need to get to a place where this place closes, and we move forward. It’s meeting the needs of the folks that are there, while at the same time, making sure that we can support people who are leaving Rikers Island to come back to their communities and drive down that jail population to get to that reality of closing it.

What are some lessons you’ve learned throughout the years as a leader in this work?

Folks who have experienced incarceration or the immigration system in a previous role needs to be part of the solution and be part of the conversation on how we move forward. One of the things that I've also learned is that it's important work. It's important work because it's impacting children, it's impacting families. And we've got to make sure that they also have voices and that they have seats at the table as we try to figure out together how we dig out of this issue and this problem at the end of the day. Our folks in prison are going to come home, we know that they're going to come home back to their communities, and we want to be able to support them. And they should be a part of the conversation on what we can be doing better and what we can be doing differently. So I think that that's one of the biggest things. And the other one is just the power of our people and the power of the community. We've got folks who come from the communities that we serve, and we love the fact that they are engaged, that we can be in community with them to help solve problems and help welcome folks back home. And so those are the two biggest lessons for me.

What’s your long-term vision for Osborne Association and the communities it serves?

To continue to provide services inside of different prison facilities. We know that folks can benefit from workforce development support, job training, and job placement services. We know that they can benefit from family supportive services as well. Our housing work is certainly something that I'm thinking about a lot as well as we think about the future. So I think just leaning into some of the housing work, the reentry work that we've been doing, and continue to provide support to those who are incarcerated.