Welcome to Building Bridges
the newsletter of Prison Action Network
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POSTS: Scroll down to immediately read Building Bridges June 2019
Posted June 23
Posted June 16:
Recent press coverage of the hunger strike to pass Halt, the Solitary Confinement Bill :
Posted June 23
Prisoners Are People Too! Celebrates 14 Years of Service,
by Karima Amin
At the next monthly meeting of PRISONERS ARE PEOPLE TOO, the organization will celebrate 14years of education and advocacy. When the organization was just an idea…and then a program…before it was an organization, I believed that my family and community would help me to establish something that would help the incarcerated, returning citizens, and their families to improve their lives. Initially, in 2005, I hoped that I could help my community to see and to learn what I was beginning to understand about a criminal injustice system and a prison system that failed to recognize the humanity in every person. As a career teacher, I hoped to share everything that I learned. Despite frustrations, challenges and disappointments, we have experienced a phenomenal 14 years of service.
Meeting BaBa Eng in 2002 was a godsend. After 36 years in prison, he was able to connect me with individuals and organizations that had been prisoner justice advocates for many years. BaBa is now the the Program Director for PRISONERS ARE PEOPLE TOO. Recently, we hosted a Regional Conference (May 3-4), that attracted local attendees and others from across the State. A review of the conference evaluation form, evidenced the need for such a conference as well as the success of our conference which highlighted “Changing Criminal Injustice” and “The Impact of Mass Incarceration on Families and Communities.”
At the next monthly meeting of PRISONERS ARE PEOPLE TOO tomorrow on Monday, June 24, from 7:00 -9:00 at the Rafi Greene Center, 1423 Fillmore Avenue@ Glenwood, we will celebrate our success. There will be more pictures and a video from our Regional Conference and we will host three formerly incarcerated men who are now published authors.
Karima, karimatells@yahoo.com; BaBa, g.babaeng@yahoo.com
Recent press coverage of the hunger strike to pass Halt, the Solitary Confinement Bill :
- https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/448519-new-york-activists-go-on-hunger-strike-advocating-to-end-solitary
- https://gothamist.com/2019/06/13/hunger_strike_solitary_reform.php
- https://solitarywatch.org/2019/06/14/new-york-activists-on-hunger-strike-for-passage-of-solitary-confinement-bill/
- https://www.univision.com/temas/huelgas-de-hambre
Survivors of solitary and their allies began a hunger strike on June 13 through the end of the state legislative session (June 19) in order to bring attention to the urgent need to eliminate the torture of solitary confinement in New York.
The #HALTsolitary Campaign has been pushing the #HALTsolitary bill to end solitary confinement in New York State prisons and jails for many years.
Read about the strike here.