DECEMBER 2010

Happy Holidays To You and Your Loved Ones!


Dear Reader,

December is a month when almost everyone is celebrating something. There is Hanukkah from Dec 1-9; the Winter Solstice, full moon, and total lunar eclipse on Dec 21, Christmas on Dec 25, and New Year's Eve on Dec 31. And of course we have just had Thanksgiving. So you probably have, or will have, celebrated something before we meet again. I wish you moments of grace and peace during those celebrations and I wish we could celebrate together. Because you may not know this, but I consider you my large extended family. I was at a gathering recently where a woman introduced herself as the wife of one of our members and I squealed in delight, "Oh I know him, he's a member of Prison Action Network! Please tell him I send my best regards." Now I don't know her husband well, but I see his name on an envelope every month, and I believe he may have written us a letter or two in the many years he's been a member. My heart sang when I heard his name. I consider him family. That makes you my family, and his, as well. And isn't that the truth that we so often forget? The truth that all of us are related through our human natures. Each of us benefits when any one of us benefits. Therefore let us go forward into 2011 struggling to be the best person we each can be, so that all peoples everywhere may become more just, compassionate, and humble. So be it!

Please be well, keep the faith, share the news, and get involved!


IN MEMORY

Jules Plevy, 57, died on 6/18/10, approximately 1 month before his 5th parole board hearing. He was from NYC. He had been in prison since 1977.

Placido S. Rosa, age 62, from the Bronx, died on 10/23/10, 3 years before his first parole appearance. Mr. Rosa had been in prison since 1989.

We are sorry to lose these members of our PAN family.


Index of Articles:

1. Activism: actions, meetings and events
2. Buffalo’s Jerry Balone inspires students
3. Introducing the In Your Face Movement
4. The New Jim Crow, Chapter 2 quotes
5. Lifers and Longtermers Clearinghouse by Larry Luqman White
6. NYS Parole Reform Campaign - time to take 2 steps forward!
7. Parole news, including Graziano update

[For copies of any document, article or legislation referred to, or excerpted from, in this issue, please contact PAN with a request clearly stating name of the document and the date of the Building Bridges in which it was seen -Ed.]


1. ACTIVISM: ACTIONS, MEETINGS AND EVENTS HAPPENING AROUND THE STATE THIS MONTH:

ACTIONS
MAKING THE ACQUAINTANCE OF THE STATE LEGISLATORS WHO REPRESENT YOU.

The NYS legislature has two "houses": the Senate and the Assembly.  We all have one of each, a Senator and an Assembly person, representing us.  Let's make sure they do.

You can find out who they are by visiting http://nymap.elections.state.ny.us/nysboe/. Below the map is a place to write your address. Use standard abbreviations, as in: 54 W 152 St, New York 10021. Don’t click on “find” yet. Instead go down to where State Assembly is checked off. Leave that checked, and also check off State Senate. Then go back up to the address line and click on “find”. Give it a minute. The information in the right hand column will change.

Below 'US Congressional District demographics' your State Senator will be listed, with links to their contact info; then you will have to scroll down past your 'State Senate District demographics' to get to your State Assembly person.  You are looking for your State Senator, not our US Senators, Schumer and Gillibrand.  Don’t let that confuse you.

Please keep the information in a place you won't forget. You'll need to use it frequently if we are to win this or any other criminal justice struggle.
 
This is the first step the NYS Parole Reform Campaign is asking you to take. [see article 6 for the next step]


EVENTS:
MANHATTAN:
COALITION FOR WOMEN PRISONERS’ CWP HOLIDAY RADIO SPEAK-OUT AND FUNDRAISER
Saturday, December 18, 11 am - 4 pm

Do you have an incarcerated loved one? Do you care about reforming the criminal justice system?
Call and speak out for justice! You will be able to send a shout out to someone you know on the inside and hear how the Coalition for Women Prisoners’ committees are working on issues that impact our lives and communities.
You can also engage in some holiday networking, make connections, share ideas and be festive.

For more info call Stacey Thompson
212 252 5700 x333 or send an email.


SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 6:30 - 9:30 PM IN YOUR FACE MOVEMENT PRESENTS....
THE NYC AWARENESS RALLY PART III - PAROLE BOARD HEARINGS
(Identifying the Problem and Devising the Solution)
 
Many could care less regarding the ills of the Prison Industry, let alone the injustice taking place at the Parole Board Hearings.  This is mainly in part because many are uneducated in this arena and the other sad truth is that many just do not care.
 
The In Your Face Movement has put together a series of Awareness Rallies regarding this sick system to expose and shed light on how families - human beings, are being devastated by this plague.  Injustice at Parole Board hearings is taking place at a record level - this needs to be exposed and the troops need to be rallied as we press forward to create change. And create change we will.
 
Our Rally on January 15th will focus around this specific epidemic regarding Parole Board hearings.  We will hear from individuals who were and some who STILL ARE incarcerated, who have been affected by continuous Parole Board Denials based on the nature of the crime. We will also hear stories from the family members who are having their lives rerouted by such injustice when their loved ones are 'resentenced' at these hearings.
 
The IYF movement is blessed to have guest speaker Judith Brink from PAN as she shares her passion and plan to right the injustices that, with the efforts of her and her team, will set so many free.

If you have a story you would like to share, email us at informreform@aol.com. Please come, and encourage your families to join us for our In Your Face Awareness Rally Part III. FREE Admission.

Location: Pearl Studios 500 Eighth Avenue (rm 1204) (btw 35th & 36th St) NYC 10018


MEETINGS:
ALBANY:
EVERY MONDAY 7-8:30 PM PRISON FAMILIES OF NY SUPPORT GROUP MEETINGS
We Help Each Other! Location: 373 Central Avenue Albany
For information contact Alison 518-453-6659

EVERY TUESDAY AT 6PM P-MOTIONS (PROGRESSIVE MEN OPERATING TOWARDS INITIATING OPPORTUNITIES NOW)
A men's support group which meets weekly at the SEFCU building, 388 Clinton Ave (look for the bright red roof). Facilitation shared by Sam Wiggins, Monroe Parrott and Malik Rivera.  For information call Malik at 518 445-5487.


BROOKLYN:
EVERY WEDNESDAY AT 5:30PM VOCAL PAROLEES ORGANIZING PROJECT
Visit www.VotingRightsForNewYork.org and join us to build power among people who are formerly incarcerated to reduce mass incarceration and fight discrimination against people with criminal records. For more info call 917 676-8041, or write. www.nycahn.org. Location: 80A 4th Ave. in Brooklyn


BUFFALO:
EVERY WEDNESDAY FROM 5-6 PM ERIE COUNTY PRISONERS RIGHTS COALITION DEMONSTRATION
in front of the Erie County Holding Center, corner of Delaware and Church, in Buffalo.
Stand for ending abuse.

PRISONERS ARE PEOPLE TOO
Meets the last Monday of every month, but PRP2 has never met in the month of December, and this year will be no different.
This is a very busy time but also a time for reaffirmation and rededication.
When we meet again on Monday, January 31, 2011, my hope is that we will return with renewed vigor and commitment to positive change.

Peace...Love...Strength! Happy New Year!
Karima Amin and George BaBa Eng
Buffalo, NY

"God has not called us to see through each other, but to see each other through." (Anonymous)


LONG ISLAND:
TUESDAY DECEMBER 28 AND JANUARY 11, AT 7:30PM PRISON FAMILIES ANONYMOUS (PFA) SUPPORT GROUP

The PFA Support Group provides a safe, nonjudgmental place where those in similar situations can connect with each another. It provides compassion, support and information to family members during their very difficult times. For more information, please contact: Barbara: 631- 943-0441 or Sue; 631-806-3903

Location: Community Presbyterian Church
1843 Deer Park Ave., Deer Park, NY


MANHATTAN:
COALITION FOR WOMEN PRISONERS’ JANUARY MEETING SCHEDULE

Weds, January 12, 5-7pm Coalition Meeting - New Members at 4:30pm
[Please join us in giving Serena Alfieri a special farewell, as she continues her social justice work at her former organization, the Long Island Progressive Coalition].

Friday January 28, 4:30-6pm Conditions and Reentry Committee (and every 4th Friday of the month)

Thursday January 6, 10:30-12noon Incarcerated Mothers Committee

Thursday January 13, 5:30-7 Violence Against Women Committee

Stacey Thompson, Women in Prison Project Coalition Associate. 212 254 5700 x 333. or sthompson@correctionalassociation.org

All meetings are held at the CA of NY
2090 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd, 124-125, Suite 200
2/3/A/C/B/D to 125th st.


EVERY FRIDAY 6-9PM - RIVERSIDE CHURCH BOOK STUDY GROUP - THE NEW JIM CROW, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Washington (see article #4)
For information on the study group contact Rev. Alison Alpert (abalpert@gmail.com); Jazz Hayden (jhayden512@aol.com), 917-753-3771; Larry White (lw77a3272@yahoo.com), 646-796-4203.

Location: Riverside Church, 91 Claremont Ave, (north of 120th St , one blk west of Bdwy.)
Ask at the front desk for directions to Room 10T in the MLK Building


NIAGARA FALLS:
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 6-7:30PM NIAGARA PRISON FAMILY SUPPORT GROUP
For further information and to leave a confidential message: Claudia 236-0257 or
e-mail niagarafamilies@aol.com
Location: Niagara Falls Public Library 1425 Main St. 2nd fl.



2. BUFFALO'S JERRY BALONE INSPIRES STUDENTS. FROM A PRISON CELL TO A PODIUM, FORMER CONVICT SHARES THE REALITY OF A LIFE SPENT BEHIND BARS

Excerpts from an article in Buffalo Law Journal & Buffalo Business First.
Mon, Nov 22nd by Matt Chandler [mchandler@bizjournals.com]:

Jerry Balone stands off to the side, largely unnoticed by the more than 80 high school freshmen filing into the Niagara Falls High School amphitheater. The group is chatty - some are laughing and sharing stories while others are busy texting. It takes just two sentences from Balone to get their attention and hold them in rapt silence for the next hour.

"On Aug. 17, 2007, I was released from prison after serving 37 and a half years in 17 prisons across New York state," he says. "I served 37 and a half years because I killed three people during a robbery." Balone delivers the words with the practiced measure of a man who has told his story many times. But on this day, with the students hearing it for the first time from the man with the dark, probing eyes and an imposing physique that belies his age, a stunned silence falls over the room. Their faces show shock, disbelief and what someone later described as morbid curiosity.

Balone says he isn't worried about how students react to his story, as long as he gets their attention. He wants to reach them with his message of making good personal choices - better than the ones he made that led to his first arrest at age 8. Balone had already served 3 1/2 years in prison when he murdered three people during a home invasion on April 24, 1973. He was originally sentenced to a term of 50 years to life in prison with a recommendation he never be released. "When I speak to a group, I know they aren't all going to embrace what I'm saying and love me," the 59-year-old Balone says after the presentation. "Some of them may advocate for my death; others may think I should still be in prison. But I want all of them to hear what I have to say."

So what does he have to say? That the lifestyle he led prior to his imprisonment was about gangs, drugs, crime sprees and eventually murder - and that it can happen to anyone. He grew up on the rough streets of East Buffalo, abandoned at birth and raised in a series of orphanages, foster homes and, eventually, reform schools. And now, here he is addressing a group of suburban teens. He quickly clears up any notion that his experiences can't happen to them because of their ZIP code. "I tell them that every prison I was in, there were plenty of these little suburban kids coming in all the time," he said. "Most of them are there for drug offenses, and once you are inside, it don't matter where you are from."

"These kids have no idea what prison life is like," he says. "I try my best to show them that you don't want to be the person I was, and prison isn't a place anyone wants to end up."

"People say to me all the time, ‘Well, if you reach just one person in the room, you've made a difference.' I don't do this to reach one student," he says. "I do it to reach every one of them."



3. IN YOUR FACE IS NEW TO PAN. WE WERE FORTUNATE TO BE INVITED TO SPEAK AT THEIR SECOND RALLY AND PLEASED THAT THE PARTICIPANTS THEY ATTRACTED WERE VERY RECEPTIVE TO OUR PRESENTATION ON EVALUATION NOT PUNISHMENT, THE PROPOSAL TO REFORM PAROLE (Art. 6). WE ENCOURAGE OUR READERS AND THEIR FAMILIES TO ATTEND THE FEB 15 IN YOUR FACE RALLY III, DESCRIBED IN ARTICLE 1, UNDER EVENTS.

In Your Face has lived in the heart of Sheneese Starr for over 4 years now, however the movement didn't begin to move until she was directly affected by this sick system; specifically the Division of Parole.  When her loved one was 'hit' at the board, it didn't take long for her to decide to do something and play a part in not only his release, yet moreso to spread the awareness of this epidemic that plagues so many families. 
 
The In Your Face Movement was birthed out of injustice yet it lives to create justice for so many.  The purpose and mission of IYF is to bring about the Awareness of this Prison Industry, this Prison BUSINESS on ALL levels.  We believe that until awareness and consciousness take place, no true change will take place. IYF has been charged to open the eyes and minds of the many whom this plague infects.  When it is time to activate and implement change, supporters must be in place in large numbers; it is our duty to make sure our force is as great as the one we are revealing. 
 
There are many organizations engaged in this struggle and each one is needed collectively for the greater good.  In Your Face is a MOVEMENT; the foundation for all change is AWARENESS. This is what we feel called to do; inspire true awareness for people to in turn evaluate and then change their own way of thinking regarding this epidemic.  People must first be made aware of the fact that there IS a problem; why it's a problem, how the problem affects them/us and what they/we can do as a body of people - a collective unified force who refuse to be silenced.  Until this is done, no true support nor change will take place.
 
IYF is indeed taking strides toward being the New Civil Rights Movement.  In Your Face is only the beginning in rehabilitating a hurt nation and the sleeping, seemingly careless minds within it!  If one can not FEEL the pain, very few will be moved to remove the pain.

Peace, Unity & Progress



4. THE NEW JIM CROW. MICHELLE WASHINGTON’S BOOK, THE NEW JIM CROW, INCARCERATION IN THE AGE OF COLORBLINDNESS, QUOTATIONS FROM CHAPTER 2, THE LOCKDOWN.

"Rules of law and procedure, such as "guilt beyond a reasonable doubt' or 'probable cause' or 'reasonable suspicion,' can easily be found in court cases and law-schools textbooks but are much harder to find in real life." p. 59

"Once arrested, one's chances of ever being truly free of the system of control are slim, often to the vanishing point. Defendants are typically denied meaningful legal representation, pressured by the threat of a lengthy sentence into a plea bargain, and then placed under formal control - in prison or jail, on probation or parole. Most Americans probably have no idea how common it is for people to be convicted without ever having the benefit of legal representation, or how many people plead guilty to crimes they did not commit because of fear of mandatory sentences." p 83.

"Even Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has condemned the harsh mandatory minimum sentences imposed on drug offenders. ...'Our [prison] resources are misspent, our punishments too severe, our sentences too loaded.'...' I can accept neither the necessity nor the wisdom of federal mandatory minimum sentences.'" p.91



5. LIFERS AND LONGTERMERS CLEARINGHOUSE: LARRY WHITE AND THE HOPE LIVES FOR LIFERS GROUP HAVE DEVELOPED A REINTEGRATION PROGRAM CONCEPT CONSISTING OF A SERIES OF STUDY GROUP/WORKSHOPS THAT ADDRESS PARTICULAR REINTEGRATION NEEDS OF INCARCERATED INDIVIDUALS PREPARING FOR RELEASE.  THE PROGRAM HOPES TO OPERATE THE FOLLOWING STUDY GROUP/WORKSHOPS:
 
Exodus New Life Agenda Study Group (operational)
Planning for the Future workshop (in development)
Community Reconciliation Workshop (in development)
Personal Development Workshop (in development)
Undoing Racism Workshop (in development)
 
'Reentry' is not a qualitative term, but simply refers to the process of leaving prison and returning to society.  While every person released from custody undergoes reentry, not all are successfully 'reintegrated'.
 
'Reintegration' is a term we use to describe a process resulting in outcomes that include increased participation in social institutions such as the labor force, families, communities, schools, and religious institutions. Unfortunately, many men and women who reenter society do so with unresolved substance abuse problems, a substandard education, and a general lack of resources - or a genuine lack of will - to truly reintegrate.
 
The social value of reintegration is measured by a formerly incarcerated person's ability to contribute to the support of their family, provide a healthy environment for their children and enhance the positive human resources in the community.  To accomplish these ends, the community must examine and implement effective interventions that could help them on the path to productive citizenship.
 
The Hope Lives for Lifers Reintegration Program is designed to address the need for community-based services and support for incarcerated individuals who require assistance with post-prison adjustment to the free-world community.  The stigma of incarceration and the psychological residue of institutionalization require active and programmed community intervention both at the pre-release and post-release stages of imprisonment. 
 
The Primary objectives of the Hope Lives for Lifers Reintegration Program are:
 To improve the life options of incarcerated individuals,
 To address problems of post-prison adjustment to free-world communities,
 To develop a strong and abiding sense of community. 
 
The Hope Lives Reintegration Program utilizes the Empowerment Approach, Re-socialization and the Community Integration Process to achieve its program objectives.  
 
by Larry Luqman White, director of Hope Lives for Lifers



6. NYS PAROLE REFORM CAMPAIGN - PEOPLE, IT'S TIME TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE! FIRST: LEARN WHO YOUR LEGISLATORS ARE, SECOND: CONTACT THEM; ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS, WE'RE ASKING YOUR PUBLIC SUPPORT OF EVALUATION NOT PUNISHMENT, THE LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL TO REFORM THE PAROLE PROCESS SO THAT PAROLE APPLICANTS ARE FAIRLY EVALUATED INSTEAD OF BEING PUNISHED WITH REPEATED AND UNJUSTIFIABLE PAROLE DENIALS. AS OF PUBLICATION, 28 ORGANIZATIONS HAVE STATED THEIR SUPPORT. LET US KNOW IF YOU WILL JOIN THEM.

Step one was finding out who your legislators are.
Step Two is talking to them.

You pay their salaries; they work for you. It's time they got to meet you! Start where it's easiest; with a letter or an email, perhaps. Then graduate to a phone call. Eventually you will need to visit them, and they have an office in your neighborhood just for that purpose. You need to become very familiar to your legislators or their Criminal Justice aide. Aides often have a lot of influence on the legislator and are not to be thought of as second best.

So what will you talk about?  I suggest asking them to help get your loved one out of prison.  It never gets us anywhere to tell them what to do.  That only creates an argument about how impossible our request is.  But if you tell them about the hardships of having a loved one in prison, and the heartbreak of having your loved one denied parole every two years for the nature of their crime when you are convinced they are ready to come home and contribute to your household and the community, how can they argue with that?  Share the details.  Bring pictures.  If they say they can't help you, talk to your family and friends and think of another approach and go back again, maybe with your family and ask the question again:  "how can you help get our loved one home?"   You want them to recognize your name and your issue, and to realize there are human beings behind the labels 'prisoner' and 'criminal', and 'prison family'.  Just like we need to show DOCS our loved ones have people on the outside who are watching out for them, you need to let your legislator know that you are watching what they do, and your vote will depend on how well they represent your interests.

Who are your legislators? You can find out who they are by visiting http://nymap.elections.state.ny.us/nysboe/. Below the map is a place to write your address. Use standard abbreviations, as in: 54 W 152 St, New York 10021. Don’t click on “find” yet. Instead go down to where State Assembly is checked off. Leave that checked, and also check off State Senate. Then go back up to the address line and click on “find”. Give it a minute. The information in the right hand column will change.

Below 'US Congressional District demographics' your State Senator will be listed, then you will have to scroll down past your 'State Senate District demographics' to get to Assembly person. You are looking for your State Senator, not your US Senators, Schumer and Gillibrand. Don’t let that confuse you.

Why are you talking to them?  Because in order to get a Senator and an Assembly person to sponsor the bill, which is required before it can be voted on, there needs to be enough support amongst the rest of the legislators to get it passed.   Senators and Assembly members don't like to sponsor bills that don't get passed.  There's no glory in that.  And they are busy working on many issues besides our own, so they don't always make the effort to get the support.  They expect us to do that.  And that's what you're doing when you talk to your representatives.  You're softening their hearts, and showing them they have constituents who care about such things, so that they will see it's in their best interest to support our bill.  Eventually you will want to get their signature saying they'll support it.  With those signatures in our hands, we'll have a much easier time finding a sponsor. If they ask a question you don't know how to answer, tell them you'll get back to them. Then be sure to do so. The Campaign will supply you with documents you can use to answer any of their questions.


LETTER OF SUPPORT FROM ORGANIZATIONS:
Evaluation Not Punishment, a proposal to reform parole

At the core of this reform is the need to redefine the role of the Parole Board as an evaluative one. We are committed to reforms that require that parole applicants who have served their minimum sentences be evaluated on their readiness for reentry.

Changing the parole board’s responsibility from deciding the length of sentence to evaluating an individual’s readiness to remain at liberty without breaking the law will bring the parole statute into alignment with Penal Law §1.05, which was amended in 2006 to add a fifth sentencing goal to these existing four: 1. Punishment (retribution), 2. Deterrence, 3. Incapacitation, 4. Rehabilitation. The fifth goal is this: Promotion of Successful and Productive Reentry and Reintegration into Society.

Under New York State's sentencing scheme, the Judiciary, the Department of Corrections, and the Division of Parole play different and distinct roles to achieve the five sentencing goals outlined in Penal Law §1.05—by either imposing or carrying out the penal sentence.

The Judiciary, when imposing sentences, is responsible for considering all of the sentencing goals contained in Penal Law §1.05, including the seriousness of the crime and criminal history.

The Department of Correctional Services (DOCS), along with the Parole Board, is responsible for carrying out the judicial sentence, post-conviction. It implements the penal sentence. In doing so, incapacitation, rehabilitation, reentry and reintegration fall within its purview.

The Parole Board has the post-sentencing functions of determining rehabilitation and readiness for reentry and reintegration. It must evaluate the sentenced person's progress while incarcerated and specify in detail what is expected of the parole applicant in the future.

Although the Parole Board's implementation of discretionary parole release is not without shortcomings, it is necessary and can be an effective complement to our new awareness of the importance of promoting successful reentry and reintegration into society. In order to modernize and revitalize the functioning of the Parole Board, reform of the procedures the board follows are in order. At the core of this reform is a need to redefine the role of the Parole Board as an evaluative one. The critical question is whether the parole applicant is ready for reintegration. The sentencing goals of punishment (retribution) and deterrence are the sole purview of the judiciary, as described in the current sentencing scheme.

In addition, focusing on the readiness for reentry instead of the nature of the crime and the punishment can lead to substantial cost savings for taxpayers. The nature of the crime is now the most commonly cited reason for denial of parole; 63,768 persons were denied parole between 2005 and 2009, at a cost of $80,000 for each additional two years of incarceration per person for each denial. Because of these and other reasons, releases based solely on readiness for reintegration make practical as well as moral sense.

SIGNATURES ON THE LETTER AS OF 12/15/10: Albany Political Prisoners Support Committee, All Things Harlem, The Bronx Defenders, Buffalo Local Action Committee (BLAC), Center for Community Alternatives, Center for Law and Justice, The Correctional Association of New York, The Drug Policy Alliance, Erie County Prisoners Rights Coalition, The Fortune Society, Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC), In Your Face Movement, Inside Out Art, Inc., Interfaith Coalition of Advocates for Reentry and Employment (ICARE), NYC Jericho Movement, Nassau Inmate Advocacy Group, The New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NYSACDL), Prison Policy Initiative, Prison Action Network, Prison Families Anonymous, Prisoners Are People Too!, RIFT SUCCESS, RIFT SUCCESS 2nd Chance Division, Riverside Church Prison Ministry, The Sentencing Project, Social Justice Center of Albany, Social Responsibility Council of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany, Western NY Peace Center

We invite more organizations to sign on in support, so if you are a member of, or receive services from, any not listed, please encourage them to represent your interests by publicly promoting changes which will bring you a brighter future. Organizations wishing to sign on may contact us by email or by calling 518 253 7533.

We have a petition for registered voters to sign which is also available by request.



7. PAROLE NEWS: PAROLE COMMISSIONER APPOINTMENTS RESULT IN NO NEW FACES; UPDATE ON GRAZIANO; EDITORIAL IN ALBANY TIMES UNION RECOMMENDS INCREASE IN PAROLE RELEASES; HEAD OF PAROLE GRANTS AWARDS TO FORTUNE SOCIETY AND LARRY WHITE

PAROLE COMMISSIONERS currently number thirteen, leaving six empty seats. Four appointments and one re-appointment were confirmed in June by the Senate’s Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committee. None of the new appointments were never finalized, and it looks like the process will start afresh when Andrew Cuomo takes office.

Last summer we were told the governor appointed 4 new candidates and reappointed one. Hearings were held by the Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committee of the Senate and all 5 were approved by the committee. Henry Lemons, the reappointee, remains listed as a member of the board. The four others never appeared at any parole board hearing nor were they listed on Parole's website.

Suddenly, this month when our legislators returned for a special session called by the governor to approve the budget, there was a hearing by the Senate in which they questioned only Seny Traveras, one of those previously approved. She was not approved at this second Senate hearing. Ms. Taveras’s refusal to answer a question before a Senate panel — prior to their vote - apparently shot down her chances of appointment. Michael Nozzolio, a GOP Senator from Seneca Falls asked her what she thought of violent crime. “She said it was an inappropriate question,” Nozzolio said, shortly after the meeting, expressing some degree of puzzlement about why a nominee wouldn’t answer questions from the very people that have to approve her nomination. The other three nominees are rumored to have been withdrawn. We'll keep you posted.



NOVEMBER PAROLE RELEASE STATISTICS WILL BE AVAILABLE IN THE JANUARY 15 ISSUE. WE ARE SORRY FOR THE DELAY, BUT THE RELEASES WERE NOT POSTED ON THE PAROLE WEBSITE IN TIME FOR US TO ANALYZE THEM FOR THIS ISSUE.
.
RELEASE REPORTS FROM MID-ORANGE
November - Ferguson, Ludlow, Ross
Appearances: 28 (3 were A1VO)
Releases: 6
Denied: 11
Postponed: 10
Deported: 1


GRAZIANO VS. PATAKI , UPDATE:
On Friday, Dec 10, Judge Seibel of the US District Court, Southern District of New York, dismissed the above-referenced case under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c).  The court declined to follow the law of the case decided by the late Judge Brieant, and despite not finding a change in the applicable law, decided to follow a non-binding, unpublished opinion by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.  In short, the judge stated that even if the NY Parole Board is violating state law by deciding that all those convicted of murder should be denied parole, it is a matter of concern for the state courts, not the federal constitution. Robert Isseks, Alex Smith and Peter Sell, the legal team representing Graziano, et. al. intend to appeal this ruling.
Additionally, in September Judge McDonough in Albany State Supreme Court dismissed their claim on state law grounds.  They plan to appeal to the Second Circuit. [Building Bridges can send you a copy of the latter decision by email if you request it.]

BOB GANGI'S EDITORIAL IN ALBANY TIMES UNION. IN IT HE RECOMMENDS INCREASE IN PAROLE RELEASES
Albany Times Union, Tuesday, December 7
Liberate N.Y. from its prisons, by Bob Gangi, Director, The Correctional Association of NY.

Despite a sharply declining prison population and the very real need to cut state agency budgets, New York has closed hardly any of its underutilized prisons. For example, the state budget approved earlier this year included eliminating funding for just 450 beds.

More ambitious plans to shut facilities have failed largely for political reasons. Concerned about the loss of jobs, the correction officers union and legislators from upstate areas where most of the prisons are located have successfully blocked most closure proposals made by the state's past three governors: George Pataki, Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson.

Now, however, trends that have been building for years in New York have reached a level of an almost perfect storm. The stage has been set for a major government initiative to close costly, empty prisons. Those trends include a continuing fiscal crisis with a projected $9 billion deficit for the next fiscal year alone, a prison population that has declined from more than 71,600 in 1999 to fewer than 57,000 today, a 28 percent drop in the crime rate in the last 10 years and a growing number of unused prison beds -- more than 8,000, by the state's own recent count.

Now Andrew Cuomo is coming into office with an unmistakable mandate to put state government in order. Cuomo stated during the campaign that he was prepared to stand up to the state's public service employee unions and to oversee substantial cuts in state agency budgets.

Given the convergence of these political and economic factors, given all those empty spaces and the dropping crime rate, why shouldn't the state's leaders move to close facilities?

Albany policymakers can enact additional population reduction measures that will make such a cost savings step easier to take:
Fully repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Even after last year's reforms, mandatory sentencing provisions remain on the books that will cause the imprisonment of thousands of minor drug offenders each year.

Restore work release. In 1994, more than 27,000 state inmates participated in work release, a proven, cost-beneficial program that aids in the safe transition back to the community. Now, about 2,500 are enrolled.

Expand graduated sanctions for technical parole violations. Last year, more than 8,000 people were returned to state prison for technical parole violations -- such as showing up late for an appointment or breaking curfew -- not for committing new crimes. Instead of returning people to prison, the state could enhance their level of supervision.

INCREASE PAROLE RELEASE AND EXPAND MERIT TIME ELIGIBILITY. THE STATE PAROLE BOARD OFTEN DENIES INDIVIDUALS RELEASE BECAUSE OF THE NATURE OF THEIR CRIME, DESPITE THEIR POSITIVE INSTITUTIONAL RECORDS.[emphasis added] Merit time, which allows inmates to earn time off their sentences, is not available to those convicted of violent offenses. Combined, these two policies delay the release of thousands of people every year.

When New York passed the Rockefeller Drug Laws in 1973, only about 12,500 people were confined in its prisons. About 300,000 people were locked up in the nation's prisons and jails. Those harsh laws effectively triggered a mandatory sentencing movement that swept the country. Today our nation's correctional facilities house nearly 2.4 million people, a growth of more than 600 percent.

This social experiment in "mass incarceration" has been a failure by any criteria. The evidence that it enhances public safety is, at best, mixed. Some consider it criminogenic. It has been enormously expensive, costing federal and local governments billions each year. And it has had a devastating impact on low-income communities of color where a starkly disproportionate number of the people who we imprison come from.

New York can perform a pivotal role in pointing criminal justice practice in a more productive direction by downsizing its prison system and re-investing some of the money saved in proven rehabilitation and community-based prevention programs.


PAROLE CHAIR AND THE GOVERNOR HONOR FORTUNE SOCIETY: RE-ENTRY ORGANIZATION RECEIVES LINDA MILLS AWARD, GOVERNOR PATERSON BESTOWS A CITATION

HARLEM – The Fortune Society – an organization with a strong, 40-year track record of developing model programs that help former prisoners successfully return to their communities and live productive, law-abiding lives – was recognized today for its work by state Parole Chairwoman Andrea W. Evans.

Ms. Evans presented Fortune Society President and CEO JoAnne Page with the Linda Mills Award for Community Service. Named for a former parole officer who died suddenly in 1991, the award is given to those who have performed an act or provided a service which has aided the operations of the Division of Parole or has contributed to the successful re-integration of parolees in the community.

“The Division of Parole and the Fortune Society share a common mission of ensuring successful re-entry, with the ultimate goal of maintaining, improving and guarding the public’s safety,” said Ms. Evans, who chairs the Board of Parole and also serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Division of Parole. “We have long partnered with The Fortune Society to provide housing, employment, education, substance abuse and other services, and I look forward to continuing this relationship.”

Ms. Page received the award on behalf of the non-profit organization at a ceremony celebrating at The Fortune Society’s newest venture, Castle Gardens, a recently opened 11-story facility in Harlem that provides affordable housing and support services for more than 100 men and women returning to the community after a period of incarceration. The Fortune Society created Castle Gardens with the goal of providing a living environment that promotes safe and sober socialization for clients who strive to successfully reintegrate into society, and for hard working families with limited incomes.

Ms. Evans also presented Ms. Page with a check for $1,440, which was donated by Parole employees. In return, The Fortune Society has donated a brick, inscribed with the words “unwavering dedication,” to commemorate the longstanding relationship between the two organizations. Twenty-six former offenders – the first residents of Castle Gardens – also received certificates of achievement from the Division of Parole.

Governor David A. Paterson also issued a citation recognizing The Fortune Society and acknowledging “the significant role that this organization has in assisting people who seek to rebuild their lives and become productive, contributing members of society.” Sean M. Byrne, acting commissioner of the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, presented the citation on behalf of the Governor.

“If there is one thing the Fortune Society stands for it is redemption – which is really faith in our fellow human beings – faith that even those who have transgressed against society can transform themselves and become productive assets to their community,” Acting Commissioner Byrne said. “It is truly inspiring to meet and hear the stories of former offenders who, with the guidance of the Division of Parole and the assistance of The Fortune Society, have earned their redemption.”

The Fortune Society offers a holistic and integrated “one-stop-shopping” model of service provision. Among the services offered are outpatient substance abuse treatment, alternatives to incarceration, HIV/AIDS services, career development and job retention, education, family services, drop in services and supportive housing as well as ongoing access to aftercare.

“I’d like to thank Chairwoman Evans, the Parole Board and the dedicated individual parole officers with whom Fortune has worked over the four decades of our existence,” said Ms. Page. “We have worked in partnership to ensure that our clients get the assistance and guidance they need to reenter their communities and lead positive, productive lives. For our clients at Castle Gardens, these awards validate their significant achievements in rebuilding their lives. Equally important, I believe that being acknowledged by Parole will encourage them to stay on the path and serve as role models for others who also face tough transitions.”

Also at the ceremony, the Division of Parole presented a certificate of achievement to Larry White, a 76-year-old former offender who established Hope Lives for Lifers, a group that brings psychiatrists, educators, clergy and others inside prison to address inmates’ concerns.  Mr. White is a former “lifer” himself and spent 32 years in prison.


HAPPY NEW YEAR! MAY WE EXPERIENCE JOY AS TOGETHER WE PRESS ON TOWARD JUSTICE.


Building Bridges is published by Prison Action Network
as our way of communicating with our members.

If you would like to join us, please send us note.

NOVEMBER 2010

Latebreaking news and announcements are posted here in the days between issues. To go immediately to the November issue, please scroll down.


POSTED DEC 1 BY KAREN WOLF, INNOCENCE PROJECT  

CRIMINAL JUSTICE MEET-UP
December 9, 6pm to 8pm
The first gathering of a new quarterly meet-up for professionals working on criminal justice and reform innovation!

Featuring a 30-minute presentation from Danielle Sered, the Director of Common Justice at the Vera Institute.
Common Justice offers an alternative to the traditional court process for youth charged with felonies such as assault, robbery, and burglary. Project staff bring together people immediately affected by a crime to acknowledge the harm done, address the needs of the harmed party, and agree on sanctions other than incarceration to hold the responsible party accountable. The project, which is based in Brooklyn, seeks to repair harm, break cycles of violence, and decrease the system's heavy reliance on incarceration.
 
Drinks and snacks will be provided. Space is limited -- RSVP is essential. (I registered tonight; there were 13 spaces left. Ed.) You may register for this event here:http://nycjustice.eventbrite.com

Sponsored by the ACLU, the Vera Institute of Justice, The Innocence Project, and John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The Vera Institute of Justice is pleased to host the first gathering. For more information, contact Alison Shames at
 ashames@vera.org

Location: Vera Institute of Justice 233 Broadway (Woolworth Building), 12th Floor

 

POSTED NOV 25 - BY THE PRISONER JUSTICE CLUB AT CITY COLLEGE
"Justice on Trial"
A Documentary on Mumia Abu-Jamal by Johanna Fernandez and Kouross Esmaeli.

Presented in affiliation with the Campaign to End the Death Penalty.

December 8th, 7PM
The City College of New York; NAC Building 1st floor; Hoffman Student Lounge
Special guest Speaker: Producer Johanna Fernandez

Tried and convicted of the murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner, Mumia Abu-Jamal is the most recognized death row inmate in the world today.

His case is one of the most contested cases in modern American history, and one of the most important civil rights cases of our time.

Judicial Bias. Prosecutorial misconduct. Racial discrimination in jury selection. Police corruption. Tampering with evidence to obtain a conviction.

These are characteristics that affect the ENTIRE criminal justice system. Learn how these flaws have affected Mumia FOR THREE DECADES. New evidence is revealed in the documentary that the courts refuse to review. Learn why this is one of the most important cases of our generation!!





Dear Reader,

NYS family members have been calling us at the request of their incarcerated loved ones to find out how they can get involved. We appreciate that our readers in prison are asking their families to become active. Please keep up the good work! That's the only way justice will be attained. Right now we are concentrating on connecting supporters with their legislative representatives and providing information sheets to use in educating them. We are gathering a data base of those who call, so when the time comes for a rally or a Family Empowerment Day event, we'll be sure they know about it. For family members reading this for the first time, please be sure to read # 10 and # 11, and also check the first article for a list of actions and meetings in your area. Thank you.

Please be well, keep the faith, and share the news!


Index of Articles:

1. Activism: actions, meetings and events
2. Criminal history records present problems in college admissions
3. CPR Prison leadership training program
4. CA reports on abuses in juvenile system
5. FRPs and Free Bus application process
6. ICARE reports on expansion of program and invites input
7. Indigent Legal Services Board national search for director
8. Michigan increases parole releases to save money and reduce recidivism
9. The New Jim Crow, quotes from chapter 1
10. NYS Parole Reform Campaign solicits readers' responses
11. Parole News
12. VOCAL-NY announcement
13. Voting Rights granted to Gt. Britain’s prisoners

[For copies of any document, article or legislation referred to, or excerpted from, in this issue, please email PAN with a request clearly stating name of the document and the date of the Building Bridges in which it was seen. -Ed.]


1. ACTIVISM: ACTIONS, MEETINGS AND EVENTS HAPPENING AROUND THE STATE THIS MONTH:

ACTIONS

THROUGHOUT NEW YORK STATE:
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 11AM-3PM DROP THE ROCK EMPOWERMENT DAY
Invest in communities, not prisons! Join in the movement to reduce incarceration in New York!
Teams of community members, young people, formerly incarcerated people, and families will come together in neighborhoods across the city and state that are heavily impacted by incarceration to educate the public about Drop the Rock’s campaign to downsize New York’s prison system and reinvest in communities.

1. Petition for prison closures, criminal justice reform and community reinvestment.
2. Register New Yorkers to vote.
3. Educate New Yorkers on the prison industrial complex.

Volunteers will petition on street corners, public housing lobbies and supermarkets across the state.

Register now to spread the word and tell New York to invest in communities, not prisons.  Contact Drop the Rock at 212-254-5700 x 330 or dthomas@correctionalassociation.org


NATIONWIDE
TODAY! CALL-IN: TO SUPPORT THE NATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMISSION ACT.

BACKGROUND INFO:

In 2009, Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) and 15 bipartisan cosponsors introduced the National Criminal Justice Commission Act, legislation that would create a bipartisan Commission to review and identify effective criminal justice policies and make recommendations for reform. We hope and believe the Commission will recommend that certain barriers that prevent individuals from obtaining employment, housing, education, and public benefits because of arrests or convictions should be eliminated or reduced in scope and severity because they hinder successful reentry, contribute to instability in our communities, and reduce public safety.

The House of Representatives and Senate Judiciary Committee have reviewed and favorably passed the bill, which now has 39 Senate co-sponsors. Currently, the bill is awaiting final passage by the Senate during these last few weeks of the Congressional session. If the National Criminal Justice Commission Act does not pass this year, the legislation must be reintroduced and advance through both chambers of Congress again in 2011. Please help us urge the Senate to prioritize and pass this important legislation as soon as possible!

ACTION NEEDED:

Please call the following Senators today to ask them to prioritize and support Senate passage of the House-passed National Criminal Justice Commission Act, H.R. 5143/S. 714, as soon as possible during this session of Congress:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), 202-224-3542
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 202-224-3135

MESSAGE:

I am calling to ask the Senator to prioritize and support immediate Senate passage of the House-passed National Criminal Justice Commission Act, H.R. 5143/S. 714, because:
Having a transparent and bipartisan Commission review and identify effective criminal justice policies would increase public safety.
Public policies that create barriers that prevent people with arrest or conviction records from participating fully in society are counterproductive, overly severe, and inconsistent with evidence about best practices to promote public safety, and these policies warrant examination and reconsideration.
The increase in incarceration over the past twenty years has stretched the system beyond its limits. These high costs to taxpayers are unsustainable, especially during these tough economic times.
The proposed commission would conduct a comprehensive national review – not audits of individual state systems – and would issue recommendations – not mandates – for consideration.

If you have any questions, please contact Mark O’Brien,
mobrien@lac.org, at (202) 544-5478.



EVENTS:
MANHATTAN:
SATURDAY DECEMBER 11, 2-6 PM THE IN YOUR FACE MOVEMENT PRESENTS THE NYC AWARENESS RALLY PART 2!

THE 1ST ONE WAS UNDERESTIMATED. THE 2ND ONE IS SURE TO BE UNFORGETTABLE!

Register Here!

The Division of Parole whose mission statement is “To Promote Public Safety by preparing inmates for release and supervising parolees to successful completion of their sentence.”  Take notice of the key words prepare and release. Where does it say ‘retry’?  We have here a huge problem dealing with role confusion and role reversal!  If after 10, 15, 20, 25 years a person has yet to be rehabilitated, then do we not have a broken system??!! Hence what is the purpose of the system?!! A parole board who seemingly spends more time hindering one's freedom vs. assisting one in regaining access to their freedom! So the question is: What then is the purpose of the parole board?

Location: 500 Eighth Avenue betw 35 - 36 St.
Manhattan 10018


MEETINGS:
ALBANY:
EVERY MONDAY 7-8:30 PM PRISON FAMILIES OF NY SUPPORT GROUP MEETINGS
We Help Each Other! Location: 373 Central Avenue Albany
For information contact Alison 518-453-6659

EVERY TUESDAY AT 6PM P-MOTIONS (PROGRESSIVE MEN OPERATING TOWARDS INITIATING OPPORTUNITIES NOW)
A men's support group which meets weekly at the SEFCU building, 388 Clinton Ave (look for the bright red roof). Facilitation shared by Sam Wiggins, Monroe Parrott and Malik Rivera.  For information call Malik at 518 445-5487.


BROOKLYN:
EVERY WEDNESDAY AT 5:30PM VOCAL PAROLEES ORGANIZING PROJECT

Join us to build power among people who are formerly incarcerated to reduce mass incarceration and fight discrimination against people with criminal records. For more info call 917 676-8041, or write jeremy@nycahn.org
Location: 80A 4th Ave. in Brooklyn

BUFFALO:
EVERY WEDNESDAY FROM 5-6 PM ERIE COUNTY PRISONERS RIGHTS COALITION
Demonstration in front of the Erie County Holding Center, corner of Delaware and Church, in Buffalo.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 6:30-8:30PM PRISONERS ARE PEOPLE TOO! MONTHLY MEETING
This month's meeting will afford us an opportunity to assess what has developed since the NYS Prisoner Justice Conference, which took place on March 29, 2010 in Albany. A small contingent of Western New Yorkers traveled to this conference, which delivered well on its promise “…to bring together, under one roof, a wide range of New York State organizations, working on a diversity of prisoner justice issues, to share ideas, information, energy, strategies, hope, and inspiration.” PRP2’s November meeting will provide an update on all that has developed since this highly successful event.

The following activists, representing a variety of organizations that are members of the New York State Prisoner Justice Network, will be on hand to provide information about new developments and gather information about prisoner justice issues that concern Western New Yorkers: Naomi Jaffe, Judith Brink, Shoshana Brown, Taina Asili, Victor Reyes and Laura Travison.

The documentary film being screened is “Life Sentence” by Lisa Gray, which details the inside and outside experiences of six formerly incarcerated men and women.

PRP2 programs are sponsored by The Circle of Supporters for Reformed Offenders and Friends of BaBa Eng. For further information, contact Karima Amin: 716-834-8438; karima@prisonersarepeopletoo.org.

Location: Pratt-Willert Community Center, 422 Pratt Street, Buffalo


LONG ISLAND:
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 23, AT 7:30PM PRISON FAMILIES ANONYMOUS (PFA) SUPPORT GROUP
(AND ON THE 2ND AND 4TH TUESDAY EVENINGS OF EVERY MONTH)

Life becomes more difficult and stressful for family and friends when a loved one becomes incarcerated. Relationships and responsibilities can become strained, and the dynamics within the family often change dramatically.

The PFA Support Group provides a safe, nonjudgmental place where those in similar situations can connect with each another. It provides compassion, support and information to family members during their very difficult times. For more information, please contact: Barbara: 631- 943-0441 or Sue; 631-806-3903

Location: Community Presbyterian Church
1843 Deer Park Ave., Deer Park, NY


MANHATTAN:
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 17, 1:00PM-3:00PM PRESENTED BY COMMUNITY SERVICE SOCIETY (CSS)
George T. McDonald, Founder and President of The Doe Fund will present the evolution of The Doe Fund's Ready, Willing, and Able program into an evidence-based, working model for prisoner reentry. Lunch will be provided. Please RSVP to Gabriel Torres-Rivera at grivera@cssny.org or call 212.614.5306

Location: Community Service Society - Conference Room 4A,
105 East 22nd Street, #6 or W/R train to 23rd St.


THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, RECEPTION BEGINS AT 6:00 PM THE BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE AT NYU SCHOOL OF LAW AND THE ALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE
A reception and discussion celebrating publication of Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion moderated by Jeffrey Toobin, Senior Legal Analyst for CNN Worldwide and legal affairs writer at The New Yorker. "Scrupulously honest and consistently fair-minded, Justice Brennan is a supremely impressive work that will long be prized as perhaps the best judicial biography ever written." -- The Washington Post

Featuring:
Seth Stern and Stephen Wermiel, Co-authors of Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion
Burt Neuborne, Professor of Civil Liberties at NYU School of Law and Founding Legal Director, Brennan Center for Justice,
Lawrence Pedowitz, Partner at Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and Clerk to Justice Brennan (1973-74)

RSVP to Deborah Francois (Deborah.Francois@nyu.edu or 646-292-8371).

Location: Kimmel Center @ New York University
60 Washington Square South, 10th Floor


THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 5PM-7PM (NEW MEMBERS' ORIENTATION AT 4PM) COALITION FOR WOMEN PRISONERS GENERAL MEETING
A special presentation from the Incarcerated Mothers Committee on “Mothers, Families and Implementation of the New ASFA Expanded Discretion Law” that was passed this year. If you know of families impacted by these issues, please extend to them the invitation to come to listen and perhaps speak out.
•    In honor of Thanksgiving, we would like to have a pot luck meeting. Please all those that can, bring a dish!
•    We are coming up to the end of the year so heads up for a survey to get feedback for the upcoming year.

Contact: Stacey Thompson, Coalition Associate, Women in Prison Project, 212-254-5700 ext. 333, www.correctionalassociation.org 

Location: 2090 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd., Suite 200 (betw 124th and 125th Sts)


EVERY FRIDAY 6-9PM - RIVERSIDE CHURCH BOOK STUDY GROUP - THE NEW JIM CROW, MASS INCARCERATION IN THE AGE OF COLORBLINDNESS, BY MICHELLE WASHINGTON (SEE ARTICLE #9)

For information on the study group contact Rev.Alison Alpert (abalpert@gmail.com); Jazz Hayden (jhayden512@aol.com), 917-753-3771; Larry White (lw77a3272@yahoo.com), 646-796-4203.

Location: Riverside Church, 91 Claremont Ave
(north of 120th St , one blk west of Bdwy.)
Ask at the front desk for directions to Room 10T in the MLK Building


NIAGARA FALLS:
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 6-7:30PM NIAGARA PRISON FAMILY SUPPORT GROUP
Guest Speaker: – Karima Amin, Executive Director, Prisoners Are People Too

For further information and to leave a confidential message: Claudia 236-0257 or
e-mail niagarafamilies@aol.com

Location: Niagara Falls Public Library 1425 Main St. 2nd fl.



2. A STUDY BY THE CENTER FOR COMMUNITY ALTERNATIVES SHOWS HIGHER EDUCATION ADMISSION POLICIES CONTAIN HURDLES FOR PEOPLE WITH CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS.

CCA announces their new publication, “The Use of Criminal History Records in College Admissions Reconsidered” that shows that a majority of colleges and universities now collect criminal history information as part of the college admissions procedures. The survey was done in collaboration with the American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers.   The survey found that a broad array of convictions, including convictions for relatively minor offenses, are viewed as negative factors in the context of admissions decision-making.

Among the study’s key findings are:
• 66% of the responding colleges collect criminal justice information, although not all of them consider it in their admissions process.
• A sizable minority (38%) of the responding schools does not collect or use criminal justice information and those schools do not report that their campuses are less safe as a result.
• Most schools that collect and use criminal justice information require additional information and procedures before admitting an applicant with a past criminal record including consultation with academic deans and campus security personnel. 
• Less than half of the schools that collect and use criminal justice information have written policies in place, and only 40 percent train staff on how to interpret such information.
The use of criminal history records in admissions decision making is problematic for a number of reasons: there is no empirical evidence that shows a link between having a criminal record and posing a risk to campus safety; criminal record information is often inaccurate or misleading; and racial disparities in the criminal justice system means that young people of color are more likely to be affected by admissions practices that screen for criminal records.
In light of the findings, CCA offers a series of recommendations designed to make admissions processes fairer and more evidence-based.  A college education is one of society’s most potent and effective crime prevention tools.  It opens doors of opportunity, enhances critical thinking, and leads to better and more stable employment.  If past criminal convictions are preventing qualified young people from going to college, society as a whole is the loser.    

[A full copy of the report is available here].



3. COALITION FOR PAROLE RESTORATION (CPR) IS CONDUCTING A PRISON LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM FOR MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE PAROLE ELIGIBLE FAMILY MEMBERS OR OTHER LOVED ONES IN PRISON. CPR IS ALSO SEEKING A FUNDRAISER/DEVELOPER.

This Coalition for Parole Restoration program will provide participants with an opportunity to gain leadership and problem-solving skills that will enable them to work in leadership positions in CPR and their communities. The family member of each individual that participates in the program will be assisted with their parole preparation and will be considered for our internship program when they are released. Pursuant to our affirmative action policy, CPR members will be give preference for the program but CPR membership is not a criterion for eligibility.

Guidelines:
Individuals must have a family member or other loved one currently incarcerated within the New York State Prison system
The person in prison must have at been denied two or more times and be scheduled for the next parole hearing no sooner than September 2011.
Individuals must complete an application process and be screened for selection.
Applicants must live in New York City or the surrounding suburbs and be available to attend meetings in New York City.

Anyone who is interested in the program should request an application from CPR by mail at PO Box 1379, New York, NY 10013-0877, email at parolecpr@yahoo.com, or telephone at 718-786-4174. You can also visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Coalition-for-Parole-Restoration-CPR..

Deadline for submission of applications is December 31, 2010

JOB OPPORTUNITY: CPR IS SEEKING A FUNDRAISER/DEVELOPER ON A PART TIME BASIS. If you know of anyone who has experience in this area, please ask them to contact James Rivers at 718-786-4174 or email us: parolecpr@yahoo.com


4. CORRECTIONAL ASSOCIATION SPEAKS OUT AGAINST ABUSES IN THE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM.

Some very troubling news has come to our attention. A young man, Alexis Cirino-Rodriguez, recently died at the William George Agency after a "physical incident" involving "intervention” by staff.  The William George Agency contracts with New York State's Office of Children and Family Services—the state agency that operates juvenile prisons. Daily News journalist Errol Lewis recently wrote a powerful column that focused on this tragic incident and proposed reforms to the juvenile justice system.

We cannot—and will not—be silent in the face of Alexis's death. We will keep you informed about our investigation and subsequent advocacy efforts related to this incident. Your dedication and interest enable us to speak out against these instances of grave injustice and brutality and to be ongoing, vocal advocates for constructive change in the criminal justice system. We greatly appreciate that support.

Contact: gprisco@correctionalassociation.org, 2090 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd., Suite 200, New York, NY 10027 | ph: (212) 254-5700



5. FAMILY REUNIFICATION VISITS AND FREE BUS TICKETS - THE (NEW) PROCESS FOR APPLYING

Free bus tickets - limited to one trip every 3 months
(NYC buses were suspended during contract negotiations; they are expected to be back at end of November.)

1. Person in prison applies to his or her counselor or chaplain for a free bus ticket.
2. Counselor or chaplain sends application to DOCS Dept of Ministerial and Family Services.
3. Ministerial Services sends the ticket to the person in prison, who then sends it to the person who will be visiting.
4. Person who will be visiting calls the official named on the ticket to make a reservation.

Family Reunification Progam (FRPs) - frequency depends on facility
(Note: Home visits by a DOCs staff member prior to approval will no longer be part of the process.)

1. Person in prison applies to his or her counselor or chaplain for participation in the FRP.
2. The application goes through the facility’s process, then is sent to Central Office to approve or not.
4. Application is sent back to the facility.
5. If it was approved, the facility contacts the family members to arrange the date.



6. ICARE’S INITIATIVE IN MULTIFAITH EDUCATION AND PRISON JUSTICE INVITES YOUR REFLECTIONS ON SOME QUESTIONS THEY ARE EXPLORING.

by Rima Vesely-Flad
This fall, as the founder of ICARE, I am working intensively with five women of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian faiths. (As a practitioner of Buddhist teachings in the Vipassana tradition, I also add my voice). The group, which is based at Stony Point Conference Center in Rockland County, meets weekly to visit people in prison and to discuss the nexus between faith and activism, specifically the divide between ministers who pray with incarcerated people and activists who reject spiritual practice as a means of transformation.

The “prison practicum” has started with the premise that faith has always been a central component to systemic change. Faith is, after all, a way of taking ownership of one’s self and one’s life. In the practice of reflection and cultivating wisdom, a person is able to step out of institutional discourse, and realize that he or she is not defined by systemic oppression. Furthermore, spiritual practices allow a person or group the inner ability to reflect on the process of change while actually engaging in it. Thus faith enhances or grounds the ability to sustain energy and vision in the midst of difficult, slow, discouraging work.

The group is asking questions such as:
How does one’s faith shape one’s relationship to community-based work for systemic change of the penal system?
As a person committed to family and community, why is faith important?
How does the multifaith nature of prison community shape one’s spiritual experiences, the way faith communities are created, and the way community work is done?
How are one’s spiritual needs met during incarceration?
How does spiritual practice engage larger questions of the penal system?
How do the resources that have been available during incarceration foster faith and working for empowerment or change?

We are interested in reflections from people who are incarcerated or who have been released. If you are interested in sending a reflection on one or more of the aforementioned questions, please mail your submission of up to 500 words by January 1, 2011, to Rima Vesely-Flad, Stony Point Center, 17 Cricketown Road, Stony Point 10980



7. AN INDIGENT LEGAL SERVICES BOARD WAS CREATED BY STATUTE EARLIER THIS YEAR AND FINALLY ALL POSITIONS ON THE BOARD HAVE BEEN FILLED. IT IS NOW EMBARKING ON A NATIONAL SEARCH TO FILL THE POSITION OF DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF INDIGENT LEGAL SERVICES.

While this Board is not the Independent Public Defense Commission we still believe New York State needs, its creation holds great promise for improving public defense services.
 
The members of the Board are: ·    Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman ·    Michael G. Breslin (Albany County Executive) ·    Judge Sheila DiTullio (Erie County Court Judge) ·    John R. Dunne (former member of the Kaye Commission) ·    Gail Gray (NYC criminal defense attorney) ·    Susan V. John (currently, Assemblywoman from Rochester) ·   Joseph C. Mareane (Tompkins County Administrator) ·    Leonard Noisette (former director of the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem) ·   Susan Sovie (Watertown Family Court attorney)
 
The New York State Defenders Justice Fund will keep you abreast of developments relevant to this first step in much-needed reform in how New York State addresses its public defense responsibility. Our efforts to see widespread meaningful change in the form of an Independent Public Defense Commission will continue.

Jonathan E. Gradess, Campaign Manager jgradess@newyorkjusticefund.org (518) 465-0519 New York State Defenders Justice Fund, 194 Washington Ave., Suite 500, Albany, NY 12210



8. “HOW MICHIGAN MANAGED TO EMPTY ITS PENITENTIARIES WHILE LOWERING ITS CRIME RATE", BY LUKE MOGELSON. ONE OF THE WAYS WAS TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF PAROLE RELEASES. WORTH READING IN ITS ENTIRETY FOR ALL OUR READERS
[Available Here]

Highlights from Washington Monthly, November/December 2010:

In 2003, [Michigan] launched the Michigan Prisoner Reentry Initiative (MPRI), which amounts to the most comprehensive program in the country for helping parolees transition from prison back into society. The premise of the MPRI is familiar: that it’s both cheaper and safer to invest in preventing ex-cons from reoffending than it is to repeatedly incarcerate them. The methods, however, are new.

A few months ago, I sat in on an MPRI employment readiness seminar at the Oakland County parole office in Pontiac, the former hub of Automation Alley, where over half of the workforce is still employed by General Motors.

After the class, a reentry coordinator named Sherry Carter pulled a man with a goatee and shaved head into her office. He was hoping to get a job at the Silverdome, but he knew his prison tattoos would disqualify him. “SCORPIO” was inked on one side of his neck, “BETTY” on the other, and “D-A-R-K-N-E-S-S” across his knuckles. The Pontiac parole office has an agreement with American Pride, a local parlor that performs laser removals. In David’s case, the procedure would likely take two sessions, each costing $100, but the Michigan Department of Corrections, with MPRI funds, was willing to pay for it. Later, David told me that when he was released from prison the MPRI set him up with an apartment, provided him with bus passes, gave him vouchers for clothes, and helped him create a resume and apply for jobs. MPRI officials also got him enrolled in Oakland Community College, where he will be pursuing a degree in automotive technology. [Without their help], David told me, he probably wouldn’t have made it. “A guy like me, I did ten years in the joint. You get out and you got nothing. I had one outfit when I got out. That’s the only thing I had in my entire possession. If it wasn’t for the MPRI program, I’d be on the street right now.”

With the state hitting hard times (Michigan’s recession predates the economic downturn by a decade), Gov. Granholm and other officials were finally ready, if warily so, to listen to new ideas. What they heard from prison reformers was that Michigan’s sentencing policies, along with the rest of the country’s, were based on two flawed assumptions: one, that heavier sentences meaningfully deter crime; and two, that fewer grants of parole decrease recidivism. In fact, reformers had long argued, research shows that factors such as police per capita correlate far more closely with crime rates than do prison sentences, and longer lengths of stay do nothing to increase the likelihood of success on parole. [emphasis added]

[Dennis Schrantz is Gov. Granholm’s newly appointed deputy director for corrections.] Schrantz’s strategy for persuading the board to release more inmates from prison on parole was so straightforward it seems incredible that it hadn’t been tried before. “I asked them, ‘What do you need? Under what conditions would you consider paroling these individuals?’” Schrantz recounts. Members of the board say they were thrilled to be asked this simple question. They first brought up the problem of the mentally ill, who make up roughly a sixth of Michigan’s total prison population (7,100 out of 44,500).... Today, when mentally ill prisoners appear before the board, they bring packets detailing individually tailored, long-term master care plans. Parole approvals have spiked, and now only 28 percent of mentally ill parolees return to prison, compared with 50 percent prior to the initiative.

Schrantz also introduced into the decision making processes new academic research to which board members and corrections officials had never been exposed. “It was a whole new language,” says Patricia Caruso, Michigan’s director of corrections and a former prison warden. Often, the research had produced remarkably counterintuitive findings, calling into question long-held assumptions. Caruso recalls one especially memorable example of this. “Very early on [Schrantz] said to me that there is not a correlation between misconduct in prison and success on parole,” she says. “When Dennis first said this to me, I was absolutely aghast.” But Caruso says she eventually accepted the logic when Schrantz explained how, for women, unruliness in prison can actually be tied to success on parole. “So many women come to prison because they don’t have a voice. They’re often victims of men abusively guiding their actions,” says Caruso. “So getting a voice, and being able to tell the correction officer to go F himself, may not be the preferred way of conducting yourself in prison. But it does mean that when you get out you’re going to stand on your own two feet … Those types of things—within the first year, I really got it. I really embraced it.”

Meanwhile, Granholm and Caruso gradually replaced every member of the Engler parole board save one. In 2007, after winning reelection and implementing the MPRI statewide, Granholm appointed a former corrections officer named Barbara Sampson as chair of the parole board. “When Barb took over, everything changed,” Schrantz says. Sampson, who previously worked at a nonprofit for battered women, believed strongly in the MPRI and welcomed the new criminal justice research that Schrantz was recommending.

While the spike in paroled sex offenders has been a particularly hard sell, even with the governor (“She’s no big fan of releasing sex offenders,” Schrantz says. “She had her way, we’d castrate them”), the approach has so far been allowed to continue, without any obviously adverse effects to public safety. Since 2005, reported rapes in Michigan are down 13 percent.

Despite the success of the MPRI, there are, unsurprisingly, many opponents of Michigan’s new parole practices. In January, the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan held a series of coordinated press conferences across the state, enlisting victims and their families to warn against the danger of paroling violent offenders. One attorney likened the spike in paroles to “a fire sale.”

The press has reinforced such sentiments. “They’re scaring the hell out of everybody,” Payne said of the local news station. People in Bay City “were totally under the impression that we were putting pedophiles on the bus stop to snatch their kids.”

Such stories of parolees who return to crime—and there will always be a proportion of parolees (as well as ordinary ex-prisoners) who return to crime—pose an immense challenge to the MPRI. “When you see someone you paroled go out and kill innocent people, you question every decision you make.” For a while, the board cut down dramatically on parole approvals, and Michigan’s prison population subsequently increased by more than 2,000.

By the end of 2007, however, the parole board had resumed its earlier pace of approvals. “You had Dennis [Schrantz] and you had the director and everybody doing all of this evidence-based, data-driven work,” Sampson remembers. “And steadily dangling that work, saying, ‘Board, take a look at this information. This is a study that came out of Kansas. Look at the Pew report.’”

Ultimately, aside from concerns over reoffending parolees, a different problem may pose the greatest threat to the MPRI: Michigan’s severe recession. ...what most [parolees] had in common was employment. Michigan’s unemployment rate has reached almost 13 percent, 3 points above the national average. Ironically, the same dire economic straits that spurred Michigan to reduce its prison population in the first place might also endanger the MPRI’s long-term success.

In Kalamazoo, Michael Brown, a Korean War veteran with a graying flattop, grayer mustache, and several missing teeth, told me he had been in and out of prison six times. Five of those times it was the same parole agent who sent him back on technical violations. This December, he was released through the MPRI. Now Brown has a new parole agent who couldn’t be more different, and Brown has changed, too. “Anything I do, if I’m the slightest bit worried about getting in trouble, I talk to him first,” Brown told me. “In the past, you didn’t have that. They were there to monitor you and they didn’t really care about you. They didn’t care if you had problems. They didn’t care if you wanted to reconcile with your family. The best you could get out of a parole officer was, ‘See you next month.’” I asked what things might have been like if he’d had the MPRI during any of his previous paroles. Brown shook his head. “I probably would’ve never come back. I think things would’ve been a lot different. I’d probably still be married to the same woman and been able to raise my kids instead of not being there for her or them. It’s a world of difference.”

Luke Mogelson is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn.



9. THE NEW JIM CROW. MICHELLE WASHINGTON’S BOOK, THE NEW JIM CROW, INCARCERATION IN THE AGE OF COLORBLINDNESS, IS A MUST-READ FOR ANYONE INVOLVED IN SOCIAL JUSTICE. WE HOPE TO ENCOURAGE YOU TO READ IT BY PRINTING QUOTATIONS FROM EACH OF THE SIX CHAPTERS IN THIS AND FUTURE EDITIONS.

Chapter 1: The Rebirth of Caste
[After Jim Crow died, and they were] barred by law from invoking race explicitly.... proponents of racial hierarchy found they could install a new racial caste system without violating the law or the new limits of acceptable political discourse, by demanding “law and order” rather than “segregation forever.” P.40
[Millions of people were] behind bars .....[or labeled felons and] relegated to the margins of mainstream society, banished to a political and social space not unlike Jim Crow, where discrimination in employment, housing, and access to education was perfectly legal, and where they could be denied the right to vote.... Ninety percent of those admitted to prison for drug offenses in many states were black or Latino, yet the mass incarceration of communities of color was explained in race-neutral terms, an adaptation to the needs and demands of the current political clime. The New Jim Crow was born. P 56-57 [Next month: The Lockdown]



10. NYS PAROLE REFORM CAMPAIGN - STRATEGY AND REQUEST FOR INPUT

The Campaign's strategy team meets every two weeks. We are in the process of composing a sign-on support letter for organizations who support our proposal for reforming parole board policies. As soon as it is complete we will use it to show other organizations and legislators the extent of support for these changes. At the same time we are gathering names and addresses of our members across the state (so we can identify their state legislators).

It was noted that prison is an agency, and like any agency needs to have the trust of its clients, the people incarcerated in its facilities, who must believe that the agency has their interests at heart in order to invest fully in the process of rehabilitation. We ask incarcerated readers to send us their responses to the following questions: Do you trust that DOCS and Parole have your interests at heart? If so, what is that trust based on? If not, why not?



11. PAROLE NEWS: RELEASES IN OCTOBER

OCTOBER 2010 PAROLE BOARD RELEASES - A1 VIOLENT FELONS – DIN #s through 1999
unofficial research from parole database

TOTAL INTERVIEWS...# RELEASED......# DENIED...RATE OF RELEASE
23 initials............................6.....................17.............26%
76 reappearances..............14.....................62.............18%
99 Total.............................20....................79..............20%

INITIAL RELEASES
FACILITY........... SENTENCE......... OFFENSE
Fishkill........... 15-Life............ Murder 2
Fishkill........... 25-Life............ Murder 2
Fishkill........... 25 ?-Life.......... Att M 1
Gt Meadow..... 20-Life............ Murder 2
Hudson........... 25-Life............ Murder 2
Otisville.......... 15-Life............ Murder 2

REAPPEARANCES
FACILITY........... SENTENCE.........OFFENSE..........# OF BOARD
Arthurkill....... 25-Life............Murder 2........ 4th
Arthurkill....... 20-Life............Murder 2........ 5th
Bare Hill......... 15-Life............Att M1............ 10th
Coxsackie........ 20-Life............Murder 2........ 2nd
Fishkill........... 20-Life............Murder 2........ 5th
Fishkill........... 25-Life............M pre74.......... 7th
Fishkill........... 15-Life............Murder 2........ 9th
Fishkill........... 25-Life............Murder 2........ 5th *for deportation only
Greene........... 15-Life............Murder 2........ 4th
Greenhaven.... 15-Life............Murder 2........ 2nd
Hudson........... 15-Life............Murder 2........ 8th
Mid Orange.... 15-Life............M pre74.......... 11th
Otisville.......... 20-Life............Murder 2........ 7th
Wende............ 20-Life............Murder 2......... 4th



12. VOCAL NEW YORK -  THE NYC AIDS HOUSING NETWORK (NYCAHN) WILL NOW BE KNOWN AS VOCAL NEW YORK (VOICES OF COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS & LEADERS) TO REFLECT THEIR NEW FOCUS ON STATEWIDE GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING TO BUILD POWER AMONG LOW-INCOME PEOPLE WHILE CONTINUING THEIR MISSION TO EXPAND HOUSING ASSISTANCE FOR PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS. [Find out more on our new website www.VOCAL-NY.org.]

VOCAL New York will be the umbrella organization for all of our community organizing, leadership development, civic engagement, strategic advocacy and direct services programs. The idea for VOCAL New York originated during a leadership retreat with our low-income members about two years ago in an effort to create a better organizational identity that encompassed all of our work. Our new identity was also driven by significant growth.  

Our program areas will remain the same:
• Community Organizing & Base Building, New York AIDS Housing Network, Civic Engagement, Training and Leadership Development, Direct Services  Everyone who accesses services is encouraged to become involved in our community organizing.

Highlights of recent victories include:
• Expanded Syringe Access To Prevent HIV and Hepatitis C: We passed a state law that strengthened legal protections for syringe exchange participants by reconciling the Penal Code with the Public Health Law nearly 20 years after syringe exchange first became legal.
• Affordable Housing & Homelessness Prevention: After a four year legislative campaign, we passed a major state bill that set a 30% rent cap affordable housing protection. Although Governor Paterson vetoed it, we're working to enact it before he leaves office and at the same time educating Governor-Elect Cuomo’s staff about it. 
Incarceration - Ending 'Prison-Based Gerrymandering:'  This will restore voting power to poor communities most impacted by incarceration, HIV/AIDS and the drug war.
• Protecting access to HIV/AIDS services and preserving supportive housing.  

PLEASE SAVE THE DATE for our first membership assembly as VOCAL New York -- Friday, December 10th (time and location in NYC TBA). For more info call 917 676-8041, or write jeremy@nycahn.org or alfredo@nycahn.org



13. VOTING RIGHTS - IN GREAT BRITAIN. IN A NOV 3, 2010 LEADING ARTICLE, THE INDEPENDENT REPORTS THAT THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT MAY BE ON THE VERGE OF ALLOWING INCARCERATED PEOPLE TO VOTE.

The case for democracy behind bars
Wednesday, 3 November 2010, The Independent

The 140-year blanket disenfranchisement of British prisoners is about to expire. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2004 that Britain's exclusion of prison inmates from the democratic process was unlawful. And the Coalition is understood to be on the verge of acquiescing in that ruling.

A backlash from the populist press, the perennial cheerleader for Britain's punitive culture, is inevitable. Right wing Conservative backbenchers are also likely to create a fuss. And the verbal attacks on the Strasbourg-based ECHR have already begun. But lifting the ban is the right decision. And the previous Labour government should have enacted the reform when the ECHR delivered its original verdict six years ago rather than looking for a way around it.

There are three primary objectives for incarceration in a democracy: to safeguard the public, to rehabilitate the offender and to punish the criminal. The question is whether stripping a convict of their right to vote is a legitimate aspect of the punishment function. The answer is that it is not.

The right to vote is one of the pillars on which the superstructure of our democracy rests. All citizens should enjoy it. It is a strange sort of democracy in which civic rights are contingent on good behaviour. A supplementary, but also compelling, argument for reform outlined by the Howard League for Penal Reform is that barring prisoners from voting conflicts with the goal of rehabilitating them. One of the objectives of prison should be to re-socialise inmates. This is made more difficult while they lose the right to one of the fundamental aspects of civic participation upon passing through the prison gates.

It has been suggested that the Government might try to maintain the ban for those guilty of particularly notorious crimes, such as serial killers and child murderers. But if the principle that prisoners should be able to vote is right, it makes no sense to create special arrangements for public hate figures.

The Government appears to be moving in the right direction on prison voting. It would be unfortunate if it tarnished its record of good behaviour so close to the day of release.




Building Bridges is published by Prison Action Network as a way of communicating with our members.

To join, please send an email to prisonactionnetwork@gmail.com,
or call 518 253 7533.

October 2010

Throughout the month we post late breaking news and announcements. Scroll down to go directly to the October 15 newsletter. Thank you.


POSTED 11/11 NATIONAL CALL-IN DAY TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16th
 
TO SUPPORT SENATE PASSAGE OF THE
NATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMISSION ACT!
 
BACKGROUND INFO:
 
In 2009, Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) and 15 bipartisan cosponsors introduced the National Criminal Justice Commission Act, legislation that would create a bipartisan Commission to review and identify effective criminal justice policies and make recommendations for reform.  Both the House of Representatives and Senate Judiciary Committee have reviewed and favorably passed the bill, and now the bill awaits passage by the United States Senate. 
 
ACTION NEEDED: NEW YORKERS WILL BE PLEASED TO KNOW THAT THEIR SENATORS, SCHUMER AND GILLIBRAND, ARE CO-SPONSORS, SO THERE IS NO NEED TO CALL THEM.




POSTED 11/11 TONIGHT! NOVEMBER 11, 7pm -10pm
NYCAHN/VOCAL 10th Anniversary Gala!

We are exciting to be honoring these leaders for our community during our 10th Anniversary Gala:

Congressman Jerrold Nadler
Senator Thomas K. Duane
Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries
Wanda Hernandez

Tickets start at $35. For more information contact Charles Long: charles@nycahn.org or 347-200-7248.

Location: 1199 Penthouse, 330 W. 42nd St. 33rd Floor



POSTED 11/10 - Four events that are likely to be of interest to our readers are coming up in the next 3 days: Thursday, Friday and Saturday. See details below:

Thursday, November 11, 7:00pm–8:30pm Panel on“Experiments in Social Isolation Communications Managements Units and the Expansion of Unconstitutional Detention Policies in the post-9/11 Federal Prison System”

Panel members: Jenny Synan and Noor Elashi, family members of a CMU prisoner; CCR Staff Attorneys Alexis Agathocleous and Rachel Meeropol; CCR Education and Outreach Associate Nahal Zamani

The Bureau of Prisons claims that CMUs are designed to hold dangerous terrorists and other high-risk inmates, requiring heightened monitoring of their external and internal communications. Many prisoners, however, are sent to these isolation units for their constitutionally protected religious beliefs, unpopular political views, or in retaliation for challenging poor treatment or other rights violations in the federal prison system. Unlike other prisoners in the federal system, CMU prisoners are categorically denied any physical contact with family members and are forbidden from hugging, touching or embracing their children, spouses or loved ones during visits. The CMUs are an experiment in social isolation.

Sponsored by: South Asian Americans Leading Together; The Arab American Association of New York; Support Daniel McGowan; and CUNY Law School National Lawyers Guild Chapter. For more information, click on the Center for Constitutional Rights website  here.

Location: The Unitarian Community Church of New York City
40 East 35th Street (6-train to 33rd Street, BDFMNQR-trains to 34th Street)



Friday, November 12 National Reentry Resource Center Will Broadcast the Prisoner Reentry Institute’s Occasional Series on Reentry Research

The National Reentry Resource Center will carry a live broadcast on the center’s website of The Occasional Series on Reentry Research, hosted by the Prisoner Reentry Institute at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The event will begin at 9:00 a.m. ET, Friday, November 12, 2010. This installment of the series is titled: “Parole Release Decisions: Impact of Victim and Nonvictim Input on Parole-Eligible Inmates” and will feature Joel M. Caplan, assistant professor, School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University; Commissioner Christina Hernandez, New York State Board of Parole; and Yael Shy, director of development and Education, New York University’s Center on Violence and Recovery.

According to the Prisoner Reentry Institute:
“This study analyzed administrative data from the New Jersey State Parole Board to determine the extent to which victim and nonvictim input impacted parole release decisions. Positive and negative input, in both verbal and written forms, was studied for a representative sample of 820 parole-eligible adults. Results suggest it can no longer be assumed that victim rights laws and public participation at parole hearings guarantee victim-desired outcomes. Policy and practice implications will be discussed.”

To watch the live broadcast, please visit www.nationalreentryresourcecenter.org on Friday morning and click on the link in the “What’s New” section, or click here(this link will not be active until Friday morning). Event materials, including Power Point presentations, panelist biographies, and a list of relevant resources, will be available on the Prisoner Reentry Institute’s website: www.jjay.cuny.edu/centers/prisoner_reentry_institute/2704.htm.

For more information about the Prisoner Reentry Institute or the Occasional Series on Reentry Research, contact Anna Crayton.



Please join us to honor and remember Marilyn Buck

Saturday, November 13, 4:30 pm to 7 pm - celebration of the life of Marilyn Buck
followed by....
7 pm to 11 pm - Second Annual Freedom Dance, honoring Marilyn and the six New York State political prisoners: Herman Bell, David Gilbert, Robert Seth Hayes, Abdul Majid, Jalil Muntaqim and Sekou Odinga.

The Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Center, 3940 Broadway (at 165th Street), Manhattan

For complete information: 917 648 7768 or click here

MARILYN PRESENTE!




Dear Reader,

We are moving full steam ahead with the campaign to end parole denials based on the nature of the crime. We insist the job of the parole board is to evaluate the person not inflict the punishment!

Over 5 years ago Prison Action Network, at the suggestion of the Otisville Lifers Group, became involved in educating and mobilizing the families and friends of people who keep getting denied parole release because of the nature of the crime for which they have completed the minimum sentence. At that time many families thought their incarcerated loved ones had done something wrong to deserve the denial. 

Family Empowerment Day 1 in 2005 opened their eyes to the truth.  And by Family Empowerment Day 4, in 2008, over 400 family members, friends and advocates came together to hear the head of Parole tell us that if we wanted to end the practice of parole denials based on the crime, we had to change the law.

And that's exactly what we are ready to do!  We have spent over a year working to change the parole statute, Executive Law 259-i, so that the parole board will not be able to resentence people, but will have to base their decision on the parole applicant's record while incarcerated. We say, "Evaluation not Punishment!" In order for our suggestions to become law, we need the support of other advocacy organizations, and a majority of the voters in NYS rising up and demanding this change.  

That's where you come in. If you support parole reform and you vote, we need to provide political cover for our friends in the legislature, to give them the courage to support changes they know will put NYS on the map for having the most progressive parole board policy in the US.  If enough voters demand that their representatives support legislation that will take the nature of the crime out of the list of reasons the parole board can deny parole, those legislators will not be able to say, "this bill does not have enough support to pass". We all must convince our representatives in the legislature to support these changes. We're going to have to work hard to counteract the opposition, but we're no strangers to hard work, are we?

If you represent an advocacy organization, we need you to publicly state your support. If you have questions about the proposal, or about how you can sign on, we're available to meet with you to discuss them.   Please invite us by contacting Judith Brink at prisonactionnetwork@gmail.com or at 518-253-7533.  We love to share the good news! People have the power!

[For more details on the campaign's progress please see article #2. You may also write us for our one-page description to send to your legislators and anyone else you want to convince to support our cause.]

Please be well, keep the faith, and share the news!


ARTICLE INDEX

1. Activism: actions, meetings and events
2. Campaign for Parole Reform
3. Erie County Prisoners Rights Coalition
4. Mental Health Guide
5. Parole News
6. Sen. Schneiderman and Rev. Sharpton
7. Voting Rights Rally
8. Women's special needs
9. Work Release letter sent to governor

[For copies of any document, article or legislation referred to, or excerpted from, in this issue, please write Building Bridges with a request clearly stating name of the document and the date of the Building Bridges in which it was used -Ed.]


1. ACTIVISM: ACTIONS, MEETINGS AND EVENTS HAPPENING AROUND THE STATE THIS MONTH;

ACTIONS

A1. WORK RELEASE; SOMETHING YOU CAN DO TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE:

Julia Long, Prison Action Network member and public servant, sent a proposal to Governor Paterson outlining many reasons why it would make good sense for him to repeal "Executive Order #5: Repealing Work Release for Violent Felony Offenders". If you support her call for repeal of the executive order that eliminated work release for violent felony offenders, please call or write the governor: Gov. David A. Paterson, State Capitol, Albany NY 12224, 518-474-8390; email the governor
 
You could say something as simple as this: I am aware that there is a proposal on Gov Paterson's desk, sent to him by Ms. Julia Long, to repeal Executive Order #5 which denies Work Release for Violent Felony Offenders. I agree with all the reasons she gives for returning eligibility for work release to persons convicted of violent crimes. Please do this one last "smart on crime" act before you leave office. Thank you.


A2. NATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMISSION ACT, H.R. 5143 / S.714 [COMMONLY KNOWN AS JIM WEBB'S BILL]

There is still time to call your U.S. Senators to ask them to prioritize and support Senate passage of the House-passed National Criminal Justice Commission Act, as soon as possible!

BACKGROUND INFO:
In 2009, Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) and 15 bipartisan cosponsors introduced the National Criminal Justice Commission Act, legislation that would create a bipartisan Commission to review and identify effective criminal justice policies and make recommendations for reform.  The House of Representatives and Senate Judiciary Committee have reviewed and favorably passed the bill, and it is now awaiting passage by the United States Senate.  The results of this Commission would likely strengthen our arguments for the changes we here in NYS are seeking in our criminal justice system.

MESSAGE: I am calling to ask the Senator to prioritize and support immediate Senate passage of the House-passed National Criminal Justice Commission Act, H.R. 5143/S. 714, because:
•  Having a transparent and bipartisan Commission review and identify effective criminal justice policies would increase public safety.
• The increase in incarceration over the past twenty years has stretched the system beyond its limits.  These high costs to taxpayers are unsustainable, especially during these tough economic times.
• The proposed commission would conduct a comprehensive national review – not audits of individual state systems – and would issue recommendations – not mandates – for consideration. 

If you live in NYS, the senators to call are: Kirsten E.Gillibrand - (D - NY) - (202) 224-4451, and Charles E. Schumer, - (D - NY) (202) 224-6542


A3. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20TH, 4:45PM VOICES OF COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS & LEADERS (VOCAL) TOWN HALL ON PAROLEE RIGHTS

Where: 113 E. 13th St. (betw 3rd and 4th Ave., in Manhattan)

TALK TO city and state agencies that have a significant impact on the lives of people who are currently and formerly incarcerated about housing, voting rights, parole eligibility and re-entry services.
INVITED SPEAKERS: •New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) •New York State Department of Corrections (DOC) •New York State Division of Parole (DOP)

Transportation assistance and food available Info at (347) 849-2486 or alfredo@nycahn.org


A4. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2:30 PM IN YOUR FACE RALLY - FREE!!!-
THE RALLY OF THE CENTURY!!! UNFORGETTABLE TESTIMONIES!!! UNBELIEVABLE FACTS!!! Slavery was never abolished, it was merely adjusted - WE’LL TELL YOU, WE’LL UNVEIL THE TRUTH – WE’LL PUT THINGS – IN YOUR FACE!!
Location: Union Temple of Brooklyn, 17 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238

How can one be charged for a crime, serve the minimum time to which they were sentenced and do so with substantial progress, yet be denied continuously THEIR freedom due to the crime for which they were incarcerated for in the first place? If after 10, 15, 20, 25 years a person has yet to be rehabilitated, then do we not have a broken system!! Hence what is the purpose of the system!! A parole board who seemingly spends more time hindering ones freedom vs. assisting one in regaining access to their freedom! So the question is: What then is the purpose of the parole board?
Well we say NO MORE! What’s worse than a sick twisted system, is the people who KNOW the ills of this system and who sit back, idling, doing nothing to speak up for those who are falling victim to the system every single day! What we do not uncover, expose and start to correct in our lifetime, we leave for our children to live through in the next…In some way, we ALL are affected by this sick prison/parole board system …..



MEETINGS:
ALBANY:

EVERY TUESDAY AT 6PM P-MOTIONS (PROGRESSIVE MEN OPERATING TOWARDS INITIATING OPPORTUNITIES NOW) A men's support group which meets weekly at the SEFCU building, 388 Clinton Ave (look for the bright red roof).  Facilitation shared by Sam Wiggins, Monroe Parrott and Malik Rivera.  For information call Malik at 518 445-5487.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 7:00 PM THE NEW YORK STATE PRISONER JUSTICE NETWORK MEETING
Agenda: Outreach/planning for regional meetings: NYC, Buffalo (possibly including Rochester), Central New York. Discuss lobby day proposal as part of agenda for regional meetings. Goals for regional meetings. Reports: communications committee, prison voices committee. Work party: mail directories to participating organizations and to people in prison.

Problem or question? Want a copy of the minutes of the last meeting? Call the Social Justice Center 518-434-4037.
Location: The Social Justice Center, 33 Central Avenue, Albany.
Call-ins welcome 712-432-0111 access 106007#

MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 7:00–8:30PM PRISON FAMILIES OF NEW YORK SPEAKER SERIES
All Welcome – Free and Confidential. An evening of Q&A with Ed Fraley and Joe Ingemie from  NYS Div of Parole
Call 518-453-6659 for more information
Location: The Women’s Building, 373 Central Ave, Albany


BROOKLYN:

EVERY WEDNESDAY AT 5:30PM VOCAL PAROLEES ORGANIZING PROJECT [See article 8 for more on VOCAL]

Visit www.VotingRightsForNewYork.org and join us to build power among people who are formerly incarcerated to reduce mass incarceration and fight discrimination against people with criminal records. For more info call 917 676-8041, write jeremy@nycahn.org

Location: 80A 4th Ave. in Brooklyn


BUFFALO:

EVERY WEDNESDAY FROM 5-6 PM ERIE COUNTY PRISONERS RIGHTS COALITION DEMONSTRATION in front of the Erie County Holding Center, corner of Delaware and Church, in Buffalo. [See article 3 for more on ECPRC]

MONDAY, OCTOBER 25, 6:30-8:30PM PRISONERS ARE PEOPLE TOO! MEETING

FAMILY COURT CRISIS -- PART 2: We will re-visit last month’s topic which was “Family Court Crisis.” Last month, we heard the child custody story of Ms. Jacqueline Bontzolakes who explained how her Family Court experiences landed her behind the walls of the Erie County Holding Center. She is one of many parents who attest to the fact that Family Court did not work for their family and that it didn’t do what it might have done to keep the family intact. Our second speaker was Ms. Eula Nailor, a longtime community activist who works with families negatively impacted by Family Court and the Foster Care system. An audience of nearly 40 attendees made it abundantly clear that there is great interest in some critical issues surrounding Family Court procedure.

As a result, this month’s guest speaker will be the Honorable Debra Givens, who comes to us with a wealth of experience, having been a judge in various courts for 11 years, with a strong background as a Matrimonial and Family Law Attorney. She has served as a Law Guardian to more than 100 children for 8 years; a Family Court Support Magistrate for 4 years; a Buffalo City Court Judge, presiding over the Domestic Violence Court for 2 years; and currently serving as an Acting Family Court Judge. The Judge will talk about Family Court procedure and her role as a judge in several capacities as indicated above. Honoring judicial ethics, she will not talk about the facts of any pending or impending cases.

The film being screened is “Family Court Crisis: Our Children at Risk,” produced by the Center for Judicial Excellence. (Last month we screened the film's trailer.)

PRP2 programs are sponsored by The Circle of Supporters for Reformed Offenders and Friends of BaBa Eng. For further information, contact Karima Amin: 716-834-8438; karima@prisonersarepeopletoo.org.

Location: Pratt-Willert Community Center, 422 Pratt Street, Buffalo


MANHATTAN:

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1:00-3:00PM NY REENTRY ROUNDTABLE
Education Inside, Out: Increasing Access to Higher Education for People in and after Prison.
Guest Speakers:
Vivian Nixon, Policy Association, College and Community Fellowship
Glenn Martin, Dir. of David Rothenberg Ctr for Public Policy, V-P of Fortune Society
Leslie Campbell, Recruitment, Intake, Retention Coordinator at College and Community Fellowship.

Please RSVP to Gabriel Torres-Rivera (grivera@cssny) or 212 614 5306
Location: CSS, 105 E 22 St. corner Park Ave So., Conf Rm 4A, #6 or W/R train, 23rd St stop


WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 20 6:30PM RECEPTION, 7PM PANEL DISCUSSION
hosted by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, Common Cause and American Constitution Society for Law and Policy

Obstruction in the Modern Senate: Is Reform Possible?

Panel Moderated by Stephen Younger, Pres. NYS Bar Association: Emmet Bondurant, Common Cause; Olatunde (Olati) Johnson, Ass. Prof of Law, Columbia Law School; Mimi Marziani, katz Fellow, Brennan Ctr for Justice; David Walman, contrib. Editor, Daily Kos and Congress Matters

Location: NYU School of Law
RSVP, or call 646 292 8371 for Room Name.


FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 10AM-NOON THE COALITION FOR WOMEN PRISONERS
All interested persons are invited to attend this meeting about domestic violence survivors in the criminal justice system.
Location: 2090 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd., Suite 200


EVERY FRIDAY 6-9PM - RIVERSIDE CHURCH BOOK STUDY GROUP- SEE ARTICLE # 8 ON THE NEW JIM CROW


NIAGARA FALLS:

TUESDAY OCTOBER 19, 6:00–7:30PM NIAGARA PRISON FAMILY SUPPORT GROUP
For families and friends of prisoners, formerly incarcerated people and their families, and interested community members. Free and Confidential
Guest Speaker: Eric Boerdner
Re-entry Coordinator, Niagara County Re-entry Task Force Community Missions, Inc.

Upcoming Speaker: November 16th – Karima Amin, Executive Director, Prisoners Are People Too

For further information and to leave a confidential message: Claudia 236-0257 or e-mail
Location: Niagara Falls Public Library 1425 Main St. 2nd fl.



2. CAMPAIGN FOR PAROLE REFORM IS ON THE MOVE

The Campaign Strategy Team has met twice, on Sept 30 and Oct 5. Eight representatives of activist organizations have joined with the Coalition for Fair Criminal Justice Policies to plan our strategy for passing legislation that would end the practice of basing parole decisions on the nature of the crime.

Is your organization committed to this campaign? Let us know. If not, we are available to meet with you to discuss our proposal for amending Exec.Law 259-i.. Email Prison Action Network to schedule a meeting at a location of your choosing. A phone conference is also possible. Two groups have already invited us.

We are putting together a list of radio, video, print and TV reporters for our media campaign. Please help us by sending the names of any sympathetic columnists or reporters with whom you have developed a relationship.

We'll keep you informed through this monthly column. Send a request for the bill and a one-page description, and use them to get others to support our proposal.



3. ERIE COUNTY PRISONERS RIGHTS COALITION: STILL STANDING - NO MATTER THE NUMBERS, WE HAVE STOOD STEADFAST, DETERMINED TO KEEP ISSUES OF ALLEGED JAILHOUSE ABUSE ON THE FRONT BURNER.

by Karima Amin
On Wednesday, August 5, 2009, we stood on the corner of Delaware Avenue and Church Street, in front of the Erie County Holding Center, in protest for the first time. Calling ourselves the “Buffalo Prison Abuse Project,” about a dozen of us carried signs, protesting Erie County Jail Management’s desire to keep Department of Justice investigators out of the Erie County Holding Center. We stood on that corner, determined to be “a voice for the voiceless,” chanting: “Prisoners are people too; it could be me or you!” and “No excuse for prisoner abuse!” Men’s voices from inside thanked us and chanted with us. A brief meeting followed that first standout and we agreed to do it again…and again…and again, every Wednesday thereafter, between 5:00 and 6:00pm. In January of this year, we changed our name to better reflect our mission: Erie County Prisoners Rights Coalition.

Through sun, wind, rain and snow and too many suicides, our core group of about 10 people, ballooned to a high of 20 and dwindled to a low of 2. No matter the numbers, we have stood steadfast, determined to keep issues of alleged jailhouse abuse on the front burner. These ugly allegations of abuse are not new. They have been a fact of life for decades. Current and former detainees say, “I would tell what I know but who would believe me?” Current and former staff say, “I would tell what I know but I might lose my job.” Former and current deputies say, “I would tell what I know but there’s a thin, blue line that I had better not cross.” Fear is a horrifying, and crippling thing that has an unquestionable stranglehold on all of them.

Everyday I wonder if there will ever be a huge public outcry about the people whose lives have been lost or damaged in our downtown county jail. I wonder too if there will ever be a public outcry about taxpayer dollars being spent on lawsuits that could have been avoided if humane and professional service had been rendered. I have been told that my wondering is naïve and pointless. There are people who actually benefit from the ugliness on the inside so the status quo must be maintained. Everyday I wonder if someone will confirm or refute my belief that every suicide was not, in fact, a suicide. Everyday I wonder, in my naïveté, when someone in power will come forward and say, “Power be damned; I will tell the truth.”

For more than a year, I have been waiting for our ranks on that corner to grow. We stand there every week, believing that we are no different from the detainees on the inside. We understand that any one of us could be on the outside today and confined inside the Erie County Holding Center tomorrow. This happens more than we want to believe but it’s a reality that we cannot deny. We cannot separate ourselves from our sisters and brothers on the inside whom some view as criminals and nothing more. It’s scary for them to think that we are more alike than we are different.

Here we are, thirteen months later, still standing and believing that there is some good in everyone and together we can change things for the better if we would simply acknowledge that everyone is not blessed with privilege and opportunity. There really is no liberty and justice for all. The status quo is working for some but the end result is too many haves and way too many have-nots.

So here I am…here we are…still standing.



4. WHEN A PERSON WITH MENTAL ILLNESS GOES TO PRISON: HOW TO HELP, A GUIDE FOR FAMILY MEMBERS AND FRIENDS. [See last paragraph for ways to get your own copy]

The Urban Justice Center’s Mental Health Project (MHP) and the National Alliance on Mental Illness – New York State (NAMI-NYS) are pleased to announce the publication of this guide which provides comprehensive information about the New York State prison mental health system and contains suggestions for supporting people with psychiatric disabilities in prison.  We hope it will serve as a valuable resource for family members struggling to protect their loved ones.

The guide was written by Alexandra H. Smith, Soros Justice Fellow with MHP from 2008 through 2010, and Jennifer J. Parish, MHP’s Director of Criminal Justice Advocacy.  Funding for the project was provided by the Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation, the Open Society Institute, and NAMI-NYS. 

You can download the publication at www.urbanjustice.org/pdf/publications or order a copy by contacting Jennifer Parish at the Urban Justice Center, 123 William Street, 16th floor, New York, NY 10038 or email jparish@urbanjustice.org.



5. "THE NEW JIM CROW, MASS INCARCERATION IN THE AGE OF COLORBLINDNESS", WRITTEN BY MICHELLE ALEXANDER, ARGUES THAT "MASS INCARCERATION IS, METAPHORICALLY, THE NEW JIM CROW AND THAT ALL THOSE WHO CARE ABOUT SOCIAL JUSTICE SHOULD FULLY COMMIT THEMSELVES TO DISMANTLING THIS NEW RACIAL CASTE SYSTEM [p.11].

Riverside Church in NYC has taken this call very seriously. Starting last Friday (Oct. 8) a study/workshop group is studying and discussing the book chapter by chapter and then working to develop a collective action the group can undertake. This approach is developing across the country in order to start a movement.

The book study group meets every other Friday and a Prison and Parole group meets on the following Fridays.  Jazz Hayden and Alison Alpert head the book study group and Larry White heads the Parole and Prison group.  IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO JOIN. The next book study group meeting is Fri Oct 22, 6-9pm. We hope you'll buy or borrow the book, read the first chapter, and show up for the next meeting. An interview with the author is available at YouTube.com.

For more information contact Rev.Alison Alpert (abalpert@gmail.com); Jazz Hayden (jhayden512@aol.com), 917-753-3771; Larry White (lw77a3272@yahoo.com), 646-796-4203.

Location: Riverside Church, 91 Claremont Ave, (north of 120th St , one blk west of Bdwy.)
Ask at the front desk for directions to Room 10T in the MLK Building



6. PAROLE NEWS: SEPTEMBER 2010 PAROLE BOARD RELEASES OF A1 VIOLENT FELONS –
DIN #s through 1999, unofficial research from parole database

Total Interviews......... # Released...... # Denied........ Rate of Release
25 initials............................2....................... 23....................... 8%
79 reappearances............. 10....................... 69....................... 13%
104 Total.......................... 12....................... 92....................... 12%

Initial Releases
Facility....................... Sentence......... Offense
Clinton....................... 25-Life............ Murder 2
Coxsackie.................. 25-Life............ Murder 2

Reappearances
Facility....................... Sentence......... Offense.......... # of Board
Clinton....................... 25-Life............ Murder 2........ 2nd
Fishkill....................... 15-Life............ Murder 2........ 7th *Special Consideration/De Novo hearing
Great Meadow............ 15-Life............ Murder 2........ 4th
Mid Orange................ 20-Life............ Murder 2........ 6th
Mid Orang.................. 15-Life............ Murder 2........ 2nd
Midstate......................15-Life............ Murder 2........ 10th
Mt McGregor.............. 18-Life............ Murder 2........ 3rd
Otisville.......................25-Life............ Kidnap 1......... 3rd
Otisville.......................25-Life............ Murder 2........ 4th
Southport....................15-Life............ Murder 2........ 4th

If your loved one has a parole hearing, please send the name of the facility, the date of the hearing and the names of the commissioners. Prison Action Network needs that information for research purposes. Thank you.



7. SEN. ERIC SCHNEIDERMAN AND REV.AL SHARPTON: SCHNEIDERMAN SAYS THAT HE WOULD FOLLOW IN SHARPTON’S FOOTSTEPS IN PURSUING JUSTICE FOR NEW YORKERS.

In an OpEd entitled “The Rev. Al Sharpton, Our Next Attorney General?”, which ran in a local publication in Alfonse D’Amato’s home base of Long Island on Sunday, 10 Oct 2010, the senator-turned-lobbyist wrote a harsh opinion of Senator Schneiderman's public vow that if he is elected attorney general of NYS, Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and the House of Justice, its Harlem headquarters, “will have an annex in Albany for the first time in state history.”

Schneiderman’s remarks were made prior to the Democratic primary, after Sharpton had endorsed him over his Democratic opponents. Schneiderman won the nomination. Some say this connection with Rev. Sharpton has hurt Eric Schneiderman's chances, but we'll let the voters decide that, won't we?!

Schneiderman called Sharpton’s endorsement the “Good Housekeeping seal of approval from the man from the House of Justice.”



8. VOTING RIGHTS - ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESS FOR VOTING RIGHTS ON DAY BEFORE REGISTRATION DEADLINE. SENATORS HASSELL-THOMPSON & PERKINS, AMS O’DONNELL, JEFFRIES & WRIGHT, AND COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON, PAROLEE HECTOR MARTINEZ, FORMER PAROLEES LARRY WHITE AND JOSEPH “JAZZ” HAYDEN, AND LEGAL ADVOCATES ERIKA WOOD & TRACIE GARDNER FROM LEGAL ACTION CTR ALL SPOKE. [Click here to View on youtube, , thanks to Jazz Hayden.]

Advocates Urge Gubernatorial Candidates To Clarify Stance on Restoring Voting Rights For 41,000 New Yorkers On Parole
 
New York, NY, Oct.7 – Elected officials joined members of VOCAL New York outside the Board of Elections in Manhattan today to call for restoring voting rights to 41,000 New Yorkers on parole. When factoring in those who are incarcerated, more than 108,000 New Yorkers are currently disenfranchised due to a conviction in their past. The rally was timed the day before the voter registration deadline for the upcoming election on November 2nd.

“I'm 51 years old and this November will be the first time in my life I get to vote because I've either been behind bars or on parole until being discharged last month,” said Ramon Velasquez, a VOCAL New York member. “I'm trying to give back to my community – I volunteer at a homeless program, run recovery support groups, and support my family. But I was denied the right to vote until recently just because I was on parole.”

Advocates also urged gubernatorial candidates Andrew Cuomo and Carl Paladino to clarify whether they support restoring voting rights for people on parole. “We need a Governor who stands up for civil rights and commits to end a law that seems designed to prevent large numbers of African Americans and Latinos from exercising their right to vote,” said Maria Diaz, a VOCAL member from Westchester.

Assembly Member Daniel O'Donnell and Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson have introduced legislation (A2445/S4643) that would automatically restore voting rights for people who have completed their prison sentence.

Elected officials who spoke during the press conference provided the following statements expressing concern about felony disenfranchisement:

“The exclusion of parolees from our state's voter rolls must end. These individuals have served their prison time and should be encouraged to reintegrate and invest in their communities, not remain disenfranchised on the fringes of society. With democratic participation already at low levels, enfranchisement of marginalized groups supports both good democracy and a stronger society,” said Assembly Member Daniel O'Donnell.
 
"In a Nation and State so proud of our 'freedom', its downright shameful that laws still exist to purposefully disenfranchise our citizenry. Our State needs to lead the way and not only allow those on parole to vote but also inform the currently and formerly incarcerated of their exact voting rights. As a former Chair of the State Assembly Committee on Election Law, I made it a priority to end these discriminatory practices and introduced legislation to empower our communities by giving all parolees the right to vote. It is time that we get back to 'one person, one vote' and away from 'one felon, no vote'," said a representative from Assembly Member Keith Wright's Harlem office.

“One of the most important civil right issues facing us today is the rights and dignity of the incarcerated and newly paroled who disproportionately represent the Black and Latino populations. It is more than a little ironic, and tragically so, that New York is more than willing to count inmates for the purpose of drawing congressional district lines, but then not allow them a vote upon their release. This is a critically important civil rights issue that must be carefully considered by both city and state governments,” said Assembly Member Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn, a sponsor of the new law ending prison-based gerrymandering.

“America long ago expanded the concept of imprisonment to emphasize rehabilitation. It's time to fully recognize that by restoring the right to vote to those people the courts have deemed to have paid their debt to society and it's time for this restriction to be recognized as the civil rights issue it really is,” said Council Member Robert Jackson of Harlem.
 
Voices Of Community Activists & Leaders (VOCAL) and the NYC AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN) is a grassroots membership organization led by people who are living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, drug use and mass incarceration.



9. WOMEN'S SPECIAL NEEDS: ON SEPTEMBER 15TH, HIRE HELD ITS 5TH ANNUAL NYS REENTRY POLICY CONFERENCE ENTITLED, "ELEVATING WOMEN: STRENGTHENING POLICIES & PRACTICES TO SUPPORT THE NEEDS OF JUSTICE-INVOLVED WOMEN."

The Conference was co-hosted by HIRE, Brandon House Inc., and the Women In Prison Project and made possible by the generous support of the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services and the Langeloth Foundation

“Elevating Women” was marked by both policy discussions and poignant stories. It highlighted a key problem in the criminal justice system: Though women have a different set of needs and experiences during and after incarceration, most discharge and reentry planning focuses on men.

In the face of this bias, women face not only practical difficulties, but also a higher level of stigma. Kathy Boudin, director of the Criminal Justice Initiative at Columbia University: “On the one hand, you can be invisible for a while and on the other hand, if you’re going to deal with the stigma, at some point you have to come to terms with it, so you can use yourself as an example.


10. WORK RELEASE: JULIA LONG SENT A CITIZEN'S LETTER TO GOV. PATERSON ASKING THAT HE REPEAL EXECUTIVE ORDER #5. PRIOR TO 1995, VIOLENT FELONY OFFENDERS WERE ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE WORK RELEASE PROGRAM. UNDER EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 5 SIGNED BY FORMER GOVERNOR GEORGE PATAKI, THIS PRACTICE ENDED. HER ARGUMENTS FOLLOW.

1. The Work Release Program costs $7,500 per prisoner to operate, compared to $32,000 for a general population prisoner (not including medical, mental health services and capital costs, which can be as much as $50,000 per year per prisoner). According to the NYS Department of Correctional Services 2009 annual statistical report, there were 35,411 violent offenders, and 4,740 coercive offenders [considered violent offenders] incarcerated in the NYS Department of Corrections in 2009. They total 40,151 individuals and cost the state $1,284,832,000 to house them in general population correctional facilities. Nearly two-thirds (64%) or 25,760 of them have less than two years to their earliest release date. The state pays $824,320,000 to house them in general population correctional facilities as opposed to $193,200,000 by allowing them to participate in the work release program – a savings of $631,120,000 per year. This cost savings would be immediate.

2. NYS DOCS 2006 annual report states that just 2,207 work release inmates earned $4,279,388.80.
a. they paid $1,275,755.75 in federal, state and local taxes
b. they sent home $243,369.55 in support of their families, reducing public support

3 A-1 Violent Felony Offenders have the absolute lowest rate of recidivism according to the National Institute of Corrections absent SHOCK incarceration participants (partly due to their lengthy prison stay -they are older as they become work release eligible- [2 years before initial parole board appearance]) & because crimes involving violence are not typically correlated to income producing – robbery being the exception- as opposed to drug sellers who earn their income through illegal activity. Violent acts are for the most part a one-time occurrence.

4. 98.7% of all violent offenders are eligible to be released from prison to return to their communities. For those whom have been removed for lengthy periods of time, work release offers a positive transition back into the communities from which they came thereby promoting public safety.

5. The work release program which included violent felony offenders was highly successful from its inception in 1970 up until former Gov. Pataki’s 1995 Executive Order to eliminate violent offenders from the program. In 1994, NY officials estimated that the program would save the state $96 million each year in operational costs-in 2010, 16 years later, due to cost of living increases, the savings can be doubled. It was eliminated based on a “get tough on crime” initiative, not because the program was failing.

6. The total point system required to enter the work release program is 32 points-1 point earned for every 6 months of positive program participation and good behavior. By maintaining the point system as a prerequisite to participation in the work release program, positive behavior is fostered within the prison system including participation in education and vocational training.

7. Behavior that allows for prisons to be safe is a learned behavior, once learned it is applicable to one’s personal life and then to the community from whence the offender came.

For the above listed reasons, the undersigned respectfully requests Executive Order No. 5 be repealed or to be modified so that A-1 violent felony offenders (who have served the longest period of incarceration of all violent felony offenders and would be most likely to succeed in the temporary release program – work release are able to participate in the program).

A month later she followed up with these requests: I also ask that you repeal Executive Order number 9, a subsequent order continuing the original order penned by Governor Pataki

Let A-1 violent felony offenders be considered the top priority as statistics prove that they are the least likely to recidivate. They have served longer sentences, are more mature and realize the ramifications of violating this opportunity, should you allow these Executive Orders to be repealed.

All other category of violent offender has already received a determinate sentence effective 1998 and are therefore eligible for conditional release with intense post release supervision.

The New York State Department of Correctional Services has recently upgraded its report on the statistical analysis of the inmate population to include those under custody of the department as of January 1, 2010. According to the DOCS report, A-1 VFO’s total 11,237. It costs $359,584,000 to house them in a general population cell as opposed to $84,277,500 to allow them to participate in work release, a cost savings of nearly $300 million.