A Powerful Look Inside… The Osborne Association in New York City

Exclusive Interview by Karen Beishuizen
Photos courtesy of The Osborne Association

Osborne Association was created in 1933 through the merger of two prison reform organizations founded by Thomas Mott Osborne, a pioneering prison reformer and former mayor of Auburn, New York. Osborne Association serves individuals, families, and communities affected by the criminal legal system. Through their programs, they offer opportunities for people to heal from and repair harm, restore their lives, and thrive. They challenge systems rooted in racism and retribution and fight for policies and practices that promote true safety, justice, and liberation.

The Bronx Osborne Gun Accountability and Prevention (BOGAP) program is a yearlong alternative-to-incarceration program for young adults ages 16 to 30 charged with first-time gun possession. Launched in partnership with the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, BOGAP offers participants the opportunity to complete an intensive program in lieu of serving a prison sentence. The organization has long integrated public health into its justice work. During the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, they launched the nation’s first collect-call HIV/AIDS information hotline for people in prison. People can support The Osborne Association by making a financial contribution, volunteering, partnering as an employer, or advocating for policies that promote alternatives to incarceration, family stability and safe reentry.

KB: Describe to the RSR readers when and by who The Osborne Association was founded?

Osborne Association was created in 1933 through the merger of two prison reform organizations founded by Thomas Mott Osborne, a pioneering prison reformer and former mayor of Auburn, New York. After going undercover in Auburn Prison in 1913 to expose inhumane conditions, Osborne went on to serve as warden of Sing Sing, where he introduced groundbreaking reforms focused on dignity, accountability and rehabilitation.

KB: What is the organization’s mission and what does it do?

Osborne Association serves individuals, families, and communities affected by the criminal legal system. Through our programs, we offer opportunities for people to heal from and repair harm, restore their lives, and thrive. We challenge systems rooted in racism and retribution and fight for policies and practices that promote true safety, justice, and liberation.

Today, Osborne has nearly 300 employees and touches the lives of more than 18,000 people annually through advocacy activities and nearly 40 programs at community sites, in most New York State prisons and at jails on Rikers Island. We provide alternatives to incarceration, jail and prison-based programming, reentry services, supportive and transitional housing, workforce development, and policy advocacy. Our visitor hospitality centers at state prisons welcome more than 80,000 family members each year.

KB: How are families and individuals impacted by the criminal legal system? In what way?

Incarceration destabilizes families and communities. Children who experience the arrest or incarceration of a parent often face trauma, stigma, and financial hardship. Families must navigate complicated systems just to maintain contact with loved ones inside.

For individuals, incarceration can interrupt education, employment, and health care, and create long-term barriers to housing and work after release. Without support, these disruptions increase the risk of homelessness, unemployment, and reincarceration. Osborne’s programs work to reduce those harms, strengthen family connections, and promote long-term stability and safety.

KB: What is the Bronx ASSIST program and what does it do?

Bronx Assist is a pilot program offering pre-arraignment diversion for individuals arrested on certain non-violent, non-victim misdemeanor charges, such as trespassing or making graffiti. Instead of going to arraignment, eligible individuals are offered immediate services by a trained peer navigator.

This program helps reduce court backlogs while addressing root causes of low-level offenses, and provides an immediate, low-touch, needs-based intervention.

KB: What is BOGAP and what does it do?

The Bronx Osborne Gun Accountability and Prevention (BOGAP) program is a yearlong alternative-to-incarceration program for young adults ages 16 to 30 charged with first-time gun possession. Launched in partnership with the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, BOGAP offers participants the opportunity to complete an intensive program in lieu of serving a prison sentence.
Participants engage in structured programming approximately 20 hours per week. The curriculum includes cognitive behavioral therapy, mentorship by credible messengers, job readiness and career training, and violence intervention workshops. Those who successfully complete the program have their felony gun charge reduced to a misdemeanor.

BOGAP has demonstrated strong early outcomes. In its first year, the program achieved an 80% completion rate, and its first nine graduates avoided recidivism and had their charges cleared.

KB: How do you help people when they leave jail?

Osborne begins reentry planning before release through prison-based services that include discharge planning, life-skills workshops, and direct connections to housing, treatment and employment services.

In the community, we provide transitional housing at the Fulton Community Reentry Center in the Bronx, a 140-bed residence for older men returning from prison, and permanent supportive housing at Marcus Garvey Apartments and The Rise in Brooklyn, which offer 150 affordable apartments with on-site services.

We also operate Kinship Reentry, a pilot program that provides financial assistance and coaching to families welcoming a loved one home. More than 200 families have completed the pilot with overwhelmingly positive feedback and a 1% recidivism rate.

Across programs, we offer case management, workforce training, health care connections and peer mentoring to help people secure permanent housing and avoid reincarceration.

KB: How do you prevent HIV and Hepatitis-C (HCV) transmission and help people living with HIV/Aids?

Osborne has long integrated public health into its justice work. During the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, we launched the nation’s first collect-call HIV/AIDS information hotline for people in prison.

Today, we provide HIV and HCV testing referrals, prevention education and connections to medical care. We support incarcerated people living with HIV/AIDS through case management, treatment adherence support, and coordination with community health care providers.

Our LGBTQIA+ Case Management Program provides culturally responsive, affirming services for New Yorkers impacted by incarceration who identify as part of these communities. The program offers individualized case management, housing and health care navigation, mental health referrals and support addressing discrimination and stigma — all critical to reducing health disparities, improving treatment access, and preventing STI transmission.

KB: In what way can people help your organization?

People can support Osborne by making a financial contribution, volunteering, partnering as an employer, or advocating for policies that promote alternatives to incarceration, family stability and safe reentry.

We also encourage community members to learn about the realities facing families impacted by incarceration and to elevate the voices of those directly affected. Transforming the criminal legal system requires sustained public engagement and collective action.

Find out more ways to get involved on our website: HERE

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