Urban Justice Center

For any prisoner, a stay in solitary confinement—which entails being locked in a single cell for 23 hours a day without stimulation or social contact—can be frightening. For those with psychiatric disabilities, the isolation and idleness can have even more profound negative effects. New York State holds prisoners in solitary confinement at a rate nearly four times the national average, and a quarter of those subjected to this treatment have some form of mental illness. Although New York recently passed legislation aimed at diverting people with psychiatric disabilities from solitary confinement, the law’s successful implementation will depend in large part on sustained community involvement. Alexandra Smith will serve as an outside monitor of the law’s implementation, provide community outreach, and build on the pre-existing movement of community members and mental health advocates committed to ensuring proper treatment of people with psychiatric disabilities.

Smith is the coordinator of Mental Health Alternatives to Solitary Confinement and supports the work of the Urban Justice Center to ensure that people receiving mental health treatment in New York jails and prisons are provided with appropriate discharge planning services before being released from custody. She also works with the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services and helped to organize its annual Legislative Day. Recently, Smith worked with the Center for Constitutional Rights and Safe Streets in New Orleans to organize a hearing on the role of policing in the reconstruction of New Orleans. She contributed to a report with Break the Chains about the disproportionate number of young people of color being targeted for marijuana arrests. She has facilitated social justice workshops and organized with parents around social justice issues. Smith is completing her master's in Social Work at Hunter College. She completed her undergraduate studies at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

New York, NY  |