A fundraising campaign is underway to help raise money to purchase winter accessories for inmates within the city's jail system.

Witness to Mass Incarceration is responsible for an initiative that raises money to provide hats and gloves to inmates at Rikers and other city jails. The organization's goal is to raise $45,000 for the more than 5,000 men and women in the system.

Ceyenne Doroshow is a trans woman who is a former inmate at Rikers Island. Doroshow says her time at Rikers opened her eyes to the basic needs of those who are incarcerated.

"You are waking up in the cold, you are sleeping in the cold, for Christ sake your toilet is cold!" says Doroshow.

Doroshow says summer months can feel just as cold as the winter months.

"No one should have to be cold," says Doroshow. "If that is a form of punishment, we are cruel people."

Doroshow says that is why she is in support of Witness to Mass Incarceration's initiative.

"When I tell people they don't provide hats and gloves, people don't realize this," says Doroshow. "They don't give you warm clothing."

Evie Litwok, the founder of Witness to Mass Incareration, says warmth is a basic human right.

"It occurred to me that I could create a campaign to provide hats and gloves," says Litwok. "I had to get permission from the Department of Corrections, and I started funding for it."

The organization has already raised $31,000.