PAYING FOR THEIR TIME

The Center for Urban Science + Progress (CUSP) at NYU Tandon welcomes you to attend a seminar by CUSP Adjunct Faculty member Debanjan Roychoudhury titled "PAYING FOR THEIR TIME: Mapping the Financial Costs of Incarceration in New York State for Family and Loved Ones." Participants will use ArcGIS StoryMaps to visualize data representing the financial burden of supporting loved ones incarcerated in New York State prisons.

This link will be held both in-person at the NYU Makerspace Foyer (6 MetroTech Center, Brooklyn, NY 11201) and virtually on Zoom. A Zoom link will be sent to all registered participants prior to the event.

This seminar presentation titled "PAYING FOR THEIR TIME: Mapping the Financial Costs of Incarceration in New York State for Family and Loved Ones" builds on research from the New York University Pr*son Education Program Research Lab and discusses the use of ArcGIS StoryMaps to visualize and represent survey data from hundreds of families living in New York City and the unequally distributed financial burden, by neighborhood, of supporting loved ones incarcerated in New York State prisons. Currently, just under 2 million people are incarcerated in United States jails and prisons at any given time, the largest Pr*son population of any nation on earth. Understanding the relationship between the individual fiscal toll of time spent in Pr*son on families and neighborhoods, organized by zip code, contributes to collective knowledge on the true macroeconomic impacts of mass incarceration in the United States. ocusing on individual data points representing households and zip codes in New York, this novel dataset allows for various analyses of time spent traveling, miles traveled, and dollars spent to visit and support the ongoing trials of those confined and detained for the duration of their sentence. Further, stories represented visually by location encompasses the human as well as the social and financial costs of mass incarceration. Organizing costs by space and using cutting-edge modeling and mapping techniques allows for visually compelling communication of this systemic, ongoing, and often intergenerational issue for researchers, community members, policymakers, activists, and organizers alike to engage. We look forward to you joining this ongoing conversation.

Attendees will learn about the financial toll of incarceration for families and loved ones, especially as it relates to spatial inequality in New York City. Contextualizing the state of mass incarceration in the United States and focusing on data organized by zip code generates knowledge of the money that flows out of NYC neighborhoods and into New York State prisons. ArcGIS StoryMaps and spatial analysis techniques will be discussed in tandem with critical approaches to data visualization, mixed methods research, and community-focused project designs to approach complex public policy and economic questions surrounding the true toll of hyperincarceration, where particular communities are targeted and overrepresented in the Pr*son system, and contribute to alternative solutions for the future.

Debanjan Roychoudhury, Ph.D. is adjunct faculty in the Center for Urban Science + Progress at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering. Dr. Roychoudhury recently completed a 2-year Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Pr*son Education Program of the College of Arts and Science at NYU. He received his Ph. D. in sociology from University of California, Los Angeles in 2022 and is a proud Leadership Alliance alumnus, Posse Foundation Scholar, and Queens, New York native.

The Center for Urban Science + Progress (CUSP) at NYU Tandon is an interdisciplinary center dedicated to applying science, technology, engineering, math, and social sciences to serve urban communities worldwide.

Founded as a partnership between NYU and the City of New York, CUSP leads research, educational, and entrepreneurial initiatives that advance the science of cities. By applying novel insights to urban issues, we develop data- and technology-driven approaches that drive positive impact. With an additional focus on training future leaders, CUSP offers interdisciplinary academic programs in applied urban science and informatics for graduate students and professionals.

CUSP also engages with stakeholders across city agencies, start-ups, industry players, community-based organizations, and nonprofits to address urgent socioeconomic, environmental, and infrastructural challenges. The center’s ultimate objective is to improve urban quality of life by using data to innovate and refine inclusive, equitable, and sustainable practices for cities everywhere.

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