CBH Talk: When Public Libraries Serve Incarcerated Communities
Please Note: This program's location has been changed. It will take place in the Information Commons Lab, located on the first floor of Central Library at 10 Grand Army Plaza. You may access the Information Commons Lab by entering through the Library’s main entrance. Once you enter the Grand Lobby, you will find the Information Commons Lab towards the back of the lobby on the left-hand side.
Since 2014 Brooklyn Public Library has partnered with the NYC Department of Corrections on a program that allows families to visit their incarcerated loved ones via free video calls from the safe, welcoming environment of branch libraries. This innovative program, the first in the nation, is the subject of the short film Video Visit and the topic of an in-depth study conducted by the Vera Institute of Justice.
Video visits are just one of many services offered by BPL that support incarcerated and formerly incarcerated patrons and their families. The Justice Initiatives team at BPL provides many services that address isolation and community, re-entry, and more. Most library users are surprised to discover that libraries provide programs of these kinds. Join us as we explore the ways that BPL and other libraries help to intervene in the broken carceral system with a panel that includes BPL’s Justice Initiatives Coordinator Michael Carey; Andre Ward, the Associate Vice President of The Fortune Society’s David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy; and Dr. Ryan Shanahan, the founder and director of Restoring Promise, a joint initiative led by the MILPA Collective and the Vera Institute of Justice. The Intercept’s Akela Lacy moderates the conversation. A screening of Video Visit, presented by Field of Vision and introduced by its director Malika Zouhali-Worrall, provides a springboard for the discussion. (Both Field of Vision and The Intercept are housed at First Look Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.)
This event is partially supported by the Sills Family Foundation.
Participants
Michael Carey is Coordinator of Justice Initiatives at Brooklyn Public Library. From 2009-2015, Michael was Executive Director of College Initiative, a community-based organization committed to creating and sustaining pathways to and through postsecondary education for formerly incarcerated and court-involved New Yorkers. He was involved in the program from its founding in 2002 and has extensive experience in the design and implementation of reentry education programming, including a nationally recognized peer mentoring program. He co-founded the New York Reentry Education Network and the Interdependence Prison Project and is currently a Studio Associate with the Studio at The Edge of the World, an Australian-based design think-tank, and a Subject Matter Expert for the Department of Education’s national Improving Reentry Education project.
Andre Ward is the Associate Vice President of the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy, where he oversees The Fortune Society’s advocacy efforts to reduce reliance on incarceration, promote model programing for incarcerated people, change laws and policies that create barriers for successful reintegration, and foster a just and equitable criminal justice system. (The Center is named in honor of Fortune’s founder, David Rothenberg.) As a member of Fortune’s Executive team, Mr. Ward also helps steer overall agency operation.
Mr. Ward previously served as Director of Programs at Common Justice, an organization that develops and advances transformative solutions to violence and fosters racial equity without relying on incarceration. At Common Justice, he built community partnerships to support employment, internship, housing, education, vocational training, mental health and substance use needs. At the Osborne Association, a policy advocacy and direct-service organization dedicated to transforming the criminal justice system, Mr. Ward held numerous positions over the course of six years, including Director of Workforce Development at the Osborne Association.
He is a social worker and longtime advocate and activist for at-risk and vulnerable populations who face barriers to employment and have criminal justice, chemical dependency and/or mental health issues. Additionally, he is a former adjunct lecturer at Medgar Evers College, author of the book A Guide to Right Thinking for Reentry, a comprehensive study book for the presently and formerly incarcerated, and certified as an anger management specialist and mental health first aid instructor. Mr. Ward is also the Executive Producer and Co-Host for On the Count: The Criminal and Prison Justice Report that airs on 99.5FM WBAI radio New York City, and is currently a student in a Doctorate of Social Work program, scheduled to graduate in 2024.
Akela Lacy is a Politics Reporter at The Intercept where she covers national politics and criminal justice. She has also worked at Politico and the Pulitzer Center. She is based in Brooklyn, New York and is originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Ryan Shanahan (she/they) is the founder and director of Restoring Promise, a joint initiative led by the MILPA Collective and the Vera Institute of Justice. Ryan’s work pushes the United States criminal legal system to replace the current predominant ethos of retribution, deprivation, and punishment for one of healing and accountability. They envision a world in which, if people are to be confined, they are treated with dignity and supported. At Vera, Ryan leads a team of ambitious advocates, formerly incarcerated leaders, and researchers fighting for dignity, racial equity, and respect for incarcerated people.
Ryan has twenty years working on technical assistance and research in prisons, with a focus on strengthening bonds between young adults and their families. They were a pioneer for applied collaborative approaches that partners with incarcerated people and corrections officers to improve the living and working conditions in prisons. They hold a Ph.D. in Women’s Studies from the University of Maryland and a BA in Intersectionality Studies from the University of Connecticut.
Malika Zouhali-Worrall is an Afro-Arab/British filmmaker based in New York. An Emmy Award-winning director, her directing credits include the feature-length documentaries, CALL ME KUCHU (2012, Netflix, BBC World) and THANK YOU FOR PLAYING (2015, POV/PBS), both of which were theatrically released to critical acclaim in the U.S.
Malika is also an editor, and most recently edited THROUGH THE NIGHT (2020, POV/PBS), a film by Loira Limbal that was a Critic's Pick in both The New York Times and The Hollywood Reporter, and recently named as one of The Guardian’s Best Documentaries of 2020.
Malika’s short form directing credits include VIDEO VISIT (2022), which has screened at SXSW, AFI Fest, BAM Cinemafest, and Blackstar Film Festival, and received Aspen Film ShortFest’s Jury Award for Best Documentary. VIDEO VISIT will be released in mid-2022 by Field of Vision. Malika also directed the short film STRANGE GRACE: THE ART OF AMYRA LEÓN (2020) for PBS American Masters, and on the series EARN A LIVING for French broadcaster ARTE (IDFA, 2018). Malika is a 2020 Sundance Momentum Fellow, a 2020 Firelight Media William Greaves Award recipient, and a 2021 Adobe Women at Sundance fellow.
Please Note:
For all indoor Center for Brooklyn History and BPL Presents programs, guests must provide proof of vaccination and wear masks while onsite at all times. In-person capacity is limited and will be conducted on a first-come, first-served basis.
We are not able to accept negative Covid test results (PCR or rapid antigen tests). In addition, we ask that you conduct a self-assessment before arriving and again onsite to ensure that you are not feeling unwell and have not experienced any symptoms attributable to COVID-19, nor had contact with a person suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19 within the last 10 days. Please also keep a physical distance of six feet from those who are not within your own household whenever possible and remember to wash your hands/use hand sanitizer frequently.
