Virtual Film Screening & Panel Discussion: “The Incorrigibles”

In recognition of Women’s History Month, the New York City Department of Records & Information Services and WomensActivism.NYC will be screening The Incorrigibles, a powerful short film featuring the unknown stories of girls who were incarcerated at the New York State Training School for Girls in Hudson, New York – an institution established in 1904 as the only re-educational facility in New York State that could provide training for “delinquent” girls between the ages of 12 and 18.

Following the screening, a panel of juvenile justice experts and historians will discuss this legacy and how the early 20th-century justice system played a role in declaring thousands of girls and young women “juvenile delinquents,” using morals ambiguities and legal loopholes to justify long-term incarceration, abusive medical treatments, and in most cases negligence by the institutions with the mission and legal obligation to protect them.

Moderator:

• Alison Cornyn is a multidisciplinary artist and educator whose work focuses on social justice issues and the criminal justice system. At the convergence of traditional media and technology, her long career is steeped in exhibitions, interactive and web design as well as in aggregating communities of shared interest and fostering civic dialogue.

Panelists:

• Gladys Carrión has been recognized as a national leader in efforts to reform Juvenile Justice in New York State, having served as commissioner of the New York City Administration for Children’s Services and the Office of Children and Family Services. Carrion currently serves as Adjunct Research Scholar at Columbia University’s School of Social Work.

• Shawnda Chapman is an experienced research and policy professional. Partially based on her own experiences, her work has focused on racial justice, gender justice, and understanding the ways girls of color get pushed into the criminal justice system. With a particular focus on marginalized and vulnerable populations, Shawnda has broad experience developing as well as implementing research, monitoring, and evaluation materials both domestically and internationally.

• Topeka K. Sam – Founder & Director of The Ladies of Hope Ministries, an organization whose mission is to help disenfranchised and marginalized women transition back into society through education, entrepreneurship, spiritual empowerment, and advocacy. Sam was inspired to establish the organization while in Federal Prison, where she witnessed firsthand the disparities in the incarceration of women, more specifically women of color.

• Lindsay Rosenthal – Project Director at Vera Institute. Her work focuses on preventing the incarceration of girls in America by reforming unnecessarily punitive law enforcement practices and creating pathways to long-term well-being, safety, and justice for girls in their communities. She also leads the Project for Gender Equity in Health and Justice.

• The event will include a special performance by singer/songwriter Ella Wylde of her song, Story of a Woman. This song is a poetic tribute to the legendary Ella Fitzgerald’s times, experiences, triumphs, and challenges.

An email with the Zoom link for the event will be sent on the morning of Thursday, March 25th to the email address you provide during check-out.