‘Not the life they chose’

Police address increasing numbers of sex workers

NEW HAVEN — The sex workers on Ferry Street said they just want to survive.

They said they need support, not to be arrested.

Beatrice Codianni, executive director of the Sex Workers and Allies Network, spoke of the issues facing sex workers as the Police Department is seeking ways to address the increase in such workers authorities are seeing in the Fair Haven neighborhood.

The issue, police said, is one of quality of life for local residents who do not want the criminal activity in the neighborhood, while the city also seeks ways to connect the workers to services. There have been no prostitution arrests to date this year in the city; there had been two such arrests at this point in 2019, records show.

But Codianni said that, from SWAN’s perspective, sex work is a social issue, not ultimately a police issue. It’s not a career choice; it’s an attempt to survive, and the problems have grown during the ongoing pandemic, Codianni said.

Further, sex workers say they face danger on the street. Many are battling poverty, substance abuse, the lasting effects of trauma and/or housing insecurity.

“It’s housing first, then we can work on the other issues,” said Codianni. “This is not the life they chose; it’s the life they have now.”

Tough life

One of the sex workers on Ferry Street, Christine, who asked that her last name not be used, said she grew up in Newtown as part of a “great family.” She began to use drugs at 17, got clean for years after having a child, then relapsed. She became “the black sheep of the family.” She first found sex work in Danbury, then came to New Haven approximately five years ago.

She said she believes every woman engaged in sex work in New Haven was battling some sort of mental illness or substance abuse. She said she understood why people would object to the practice and consider it an issue in their neighborhood.

While sex workers are just one crime concern in Fair Haven — they’re not breaking into cars or robbing people, she noted — it’s trying to live in the community and be subject to crime and the ramifications of drug use; it’s a “horrible thing” when trying to raise children.

Sex work is a way to earn money, to find a place to stay for the night, to eat, when you lack other options, she said.

“Being on the streets, it eats you alive,” said Christine. “It’s a means to an end.”

There is danger inherent in the profession and the life, she noted.

Although she recently got an apartment, Christine said she regularly slept on a fire escape at night when she was homeless, because the shaking of the steps could alert her if she was about to be attacked or robbed, as has happened to others.

A significant percentage of clients are dangerous, Christine said. She said she’s jumped out of moving vehicles to escape clients multiple times. .

“There are people out there who are very sick, and we’re just (treated as) the lowest of the low,” said Christine.

There is an inappropriate stigma attached to substance abuse and mental illness, she said. Christine noted that she, like the other women out on the street, is a human being, dealing with her own particular demons.

“My name is Christine. I could be your daughter; I could be your mother; I could be your sister,” she said. “You always want to treat people the way you want to be treated.”

Jen, who also asked that her last name not be used, works with SWAN; previously, she was a sex worker for a period of her life and served time in prison.

She echoed the need for more resources for those involved in the work, particularly housing and job training, and noted the impact that finding a job had on her life.

“I feel like a whole new woman,” she said. “New Haven has the space (to offer and allow more) . ... We can do this.”

Call for services

With the Police Department looking at the increase in sex workers on the streets, Codianni said she and some of the workers met with New Haven police Sgt. Michael Fumiatti this week.

Fumiatti, district manager for Fair Haven, said there recently had been an increase in the number of sex workers observed on Ferry Street. During a recent meeting of the department’s Compstat intelligence gathering group, he noted he would meet with SWAN to seek ideas on what to do to stem the increase.

The presence of sex workers in the city previously has been a feature of life in New Haven; in 2016, the department made a series of arrests, prompting protests and the formation of SWAN. The organization now engages in a series of efforts designed to support and help sex workers, Codianni said, from trauma support groups to yoga.