Below the following late-breaking announcement you will find the November issue of Building Bridges.
POSTED NOV.6 -
NEW YORK FUNDING ACTION ALERT
It is very important that you contact the governor and your state senators (email PAN if you need help finding out who they are and how to reach them) to urge them to protect and maintain funding for the programs that are so necessary to those of us who are directly impacted by the newly implemented Rockefeller drug law reforms. These reforms provide for alternatives to incarceration (ATI) and for a reentry system that supports reintegration into our communities.
Message to Legislators:
Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) and reentry programs play an essential role in the successful implementation of the Rockefeller drug law reform and are a key element of public safety that makes New York one of the safest states in the country. These programs are the foundation upon which the state has made its wise investment of federal funds. Please stand fast on your critical and longstanding support for community-based ATIs and reentry programs so that New York can further reduce crime, save lives and money, and strengthen families and communities.
Background:
Governor Paterson has called the Legislature back to Albany for a special session next week to reduce state spending. We recognize the need to do more with less, but that should not mean devastating budget cuts to vital ATI and reentry programs that are poised to serve the people and communities who will be impacted by the newly implemented Rockefeller drug law reforms. The Governor and the Senate must be urged to remember that federal funds are not enough to meaningfully implement Rockefeller. The State’s commitment to the ATI and reentry infrastructure must be protected.
Action:
Today please call Governor David Patterson at 518-474-8390; Senator John Sampson AND your own State Senator (Senate at 518-455-2800) and ask them to protect ATI, reentry and related programs that are the backbone of Rockefeller Reform.
Dear Reader,
I read a lot of prison related material, and some of makes it into these pages. But September's issue of Prison Legal News, Vol. 20 NO. 9 won’t fit, and I can’t condense it! I had hoped that it was available at every NYS prison library, but was told by the publisher that they didn't think any NYS prison library subscribes to it. How can that be? Surely it's a legal reference that should be available in any law library, in prison or out. So let me tell you a little about it, and maybe you’ll be able to subscribe.
The cover article is 13 pages long, including extensive footnotes. It's called "Anatomy of the Modern Prisoners' Rights Suit: A Practitioner's Guide to Successful Jury Trials on Behalf of Prisoner-Plaintiffs", written by Alphonse A. Gerhardstein.
The article not only is a guide for lawyers, but also for "prisoner-plaintiffs" who might be doing their own legal work. And it helps lay people understand what can be expected from a good lawyer. Attorney Gerhardstein spells out in detail what preliminary work is necessary to win a case. It's a lot of work! So for those who might be encountering the law for the first time, this article can also serve as a guide for questions you might want to ask when you seek legal help.
Here are some section titles to give you an idea of what you would learn by reading it: Trying Prisoner Cases to Win, A) Client Selection, Case Selection and Discovery, B) The Final Pretrial Conference, C) The Verdict Form, D) Jury Instructions, E) Jury Selection, G) (there was no F.)Trial Presentation: Tell an Honest Tale, H) Witness Order, Topics, I) Admissibility of a Prisoner's Criminal Record and Other Bad Acts, J) Admitting a Prison's Internal Investigation into Evidence, K) Damages,
L) Attorney Fees.
Other articles I enjoyed in the Sept issue were 'NY's Correction Law 24 Held Unconstitutional by US Supreme Court' and ‘Federal 3-Judge Panel Orders Calif. to reduce Prison Pop by 44,000 within 2 yrs.’ There were more of course.
Building Bridges will not be able to send you copies of the article. But you can subscribe online for $30. a year, Professionals: $80 for a year.
Be well, have hope, and please, share your copy of Building Bridges.
In this Issue
1. Activities around NYS
2. CFFCJP reports
3. Gardening at prison
4. ICARE column
5. Job opportunities
6. Lady Penumbra and Ty Conscious
7. Legislation
8. Lifers and longtermers clearinghouse
9. Obituary
10. Parole news
11. Post-conviction sealing hotline seeks input
12. Prison media
13. Prisoners of the census
14. Telephone rates lowered
15. Transportation to prisons
1. WHAT CAN YOU DO? HERE’S A LIST OF ACTIVITIES IN BKLYN, BFLO, THE CAP. DIST., AND MANH:
BROOKLYN:
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 18 - FRIDAY NOVEMBER 20 9:00-5:00 PM MEDGAR EVERS COLLEGE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYMPOSIUM
•
A series of specially designed seminars to help professionals in various disciplines work more effectively with formerly incarcerated people and their families. Seminars will be taught by Dr. Divine Pryor and Mr. Eddie Ellis, M.P.S., nationally and internationally recognized experts in the field of criminal justice reform. Both have served on the National Re-entry Policy Council for the Council of State Governors and numerous other national criminal justice boards.
Mr. Ellis and Dr. Pryor serve as Executive and Deputy Executive Director, respectively, of the Center for Nu Leadership on Urban Solutions at Medgar Evers College, CUNY.
Seminars are open to community or faith-based service providers, law enforcement officers, social service workers, educators, government agency personnel, attorneys, students and community residents. Coffee and light morning refreshments served.
Contact: Medgar Evers College, 718-804-8850 ace.info@mec.cuny.edu, www.mec.cuny.edu.
Location: School of Professional and Community Development, 1534 Bedford Avenue, 2nd flr, Brooklyn,
BUFFALO:
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 6:30-8:30PM PRISONERS ARE PEOPLE TOO will revisit a topic that was featured in May of this year: mentoring children of incarcerated parents. (Film: tba.)
There will be several guest speakers. Melissa Mowrey is Director of Client Services at “Big Brothers Big Sisters of Erie County.” Her many responsibilities include matching carefully screened adult mentors with children who have incarcerated parents in a federal, state or local prison. Karen Bartkowiak from “Compeer of Greater Buffalo,” who spoke to attendees in May, will return to provide a brief update of their program, a national initiative called “Mentoring Children of Prisoners: Caregiver’s Choice.” Bro. Charles Burgin of “Brotherman’s Progress” will be on hand to share what he has learned from volunteering his services as a mentor at a local charter school.
Location: Pratt-Willert Community Center, 422 Pratt Street, Buffalo, NY
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.
MANHATTAN
MONDAY NOVEMBER 9, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM NEW YORK CITY BAR ASSOCIATION PRO BONO CLE, MAKING THE RIGHT HIRE: EMPLOYER RESPONSIBILITIES AND BEST PRACTICES WHEN HIRING PEOPLE WITH CRIMINAL CONVICTION HISTORIES
The program will address employers' state and federal law obligations - and best practices - when hiring people with criminal conviction histories. It will also include discussion of resources such as tax credits, bonding, and workforce development programs.
Moderator: Lou Miceli Executive Director, Workforce Professionals Training Institute
Speakers:
Alphonso David, Civil Rights Bureau Chief, NYS Office of the Attorney General
Tani Mills, Chief Program Officer, Center for Employment Opportunities
Keisha Ann Gray, Senior Counsel, Proskauer Rose LLP
Elaine Kost, Workforce Programs & Federal Bond Coordinator, NYS Department of Labor
Carl Hum, President & CEO, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce
The program is open to attorneys and to others interested in these issues. CLE credit is available to attorneys who register by the deadline below.
This program is free of charge, but registration is required. To register, please send an e-mail by November 2, 2009, and indicate if you wish to receive CLE credits
Location: House of the Association, 42 West 44th Street, New York, NY
CAPITAL DISTRICT:
EVERY THURSDAY, 5:30 PM CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE, INC.
Re-entry meetings for those on parole or otherwise interested in discussing the barriers to successful reentry in our area. Location: Albany Public Library, 161 Washington Ave. Albany NY| 518.427.4300.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 8, 11:30-12:30, FIRST UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY OF ALBANY FORUM: DAVID SOARES, ALBANY COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY WILL BE SPEAKING ON RACIAL PROFILING IN ALBANY:
Is it an issue? D.A. Soares will address this question in light of the publicity surrounding the arrest of Professor Gates of Harvard, at his home, a few months ago. What kind of incidents are happening in Albany? What guidelines do the police have in stopping people, and do they follow them?
Free and open to the public. If child care is wanted, please call the church office at 463-7135 by noon Friday before the Forum.
Location: 405 Washington Avenue (nr Robin) in Emerson Hall.
MONDAY NOVEMBER 9, 7:00-8:30 PM PRISON FAMILIES OF NY-SPEAKER SERIES
The speakers at the second of this ongoing series taking place the 2nd Monday of every month, will be the Re-Entry Services Coordinator of Region 4, NYS Division of Parole and a NYS Parole Officer. Q&A will follow.
Call Alison Coleman (518) 453-6659 for details. The location: Women's Building, 373 Central Avenue, Albany, NY
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 22, 11:30-12:30, FIRST UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY OF ALBANY FORUM: PATTI JO NEWELL, ACTING CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, NYS COALITION AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
What would it really take to prevent domestic violence? Surprisingly, not as much attention has been given to this question as one might think. Intervention demands so many resources, prevention has typically been relegated to the back burner, or even thought of as a luxury. But, finally, prevention has garnered the attention it deserves as communities begin to wrestle with this profound question in light of a pervasive and persistent problem.
Free and open to the public. If child care is wanted, please call the church office at 463-7135 by noon Friday before the Forum.
Location: 405 Washington Avenue (nr Robin) in Emerson Hall.
ROOTS "RE-ENTRY RESOURCES ORIENTATIONS" FOR MEN AND WOMEN
SECOND AND LAST THURSDAYS FROM 6-8 AT
Christ United Methodist, 35 State Street, at 4th Avenue, Troy, NY 12180.
3RD THURSDAYS FROM 6-8 AT
Trinity Institution, 15 Trinity Place, Albany NY 12202
Call ROOTS at 518 434 1026 for more details.
2. COALITION FOR FAIR CRIMINAL JUSTICE POLICIES REPORTS ON GENERAL MEETING AND POLICY COMMITTEE PROGRESS
The GENERAL MEETING has suspended meetings for the time being. We will reconvene when the Policy Committee is ready to present the first draft of the revised 259-i for a public opinion session.
The POLICY COMMITTEE appreciates all the feedback we’ve received. We are trying our best to write a proposal that will bring about the reforms you are asking for. Although the process is taking longer than we anticipated, we feel it’s worthwhile to spend time on deliberations which will result in a stronger proposal. We still plan to have a final draft ready by January 1.
RESEARCH in support of our efforts is being provided by the Fordham Law School Prisoners' Rights Advocates, a group of motivated law students who have volunteered their support.
3. GARDENING IS A SOURCE NOT ONLY OF NUTRITION BUT OF IDENTITY. THE QUALITY OF YOUR PRODUCE ALSO DEFINES YOU. ONE SEGMENT OF SOCIETY ESPECIALLY IN NEED OF BOTH NUTRITION AND IDENTITY ARE THE INCARCERATED.
SPREADING OUR GARDENS, SPREADING OUR HOPE. BY EDGAR NKOSI WHITE
If ever there was a time for gardens that time is now. In this time of global meltdown and anxiety there can be no finer remedy than that of returning to the earth. Gardening provides a hands-on therapy because it is one of the few remaining outlets for those of us who feel increasingly powerless in the face of corporate forces which threaten to overwhelm us daily by trying to convince us that we do not exist.
A garden is a source not only of nutrition but of identity. The quality of your produce also defines you.
One segment of society especially in need of both nutrition and identity are the incarcerated. Prisoners are woefully neglected when it comes to diet. Prisons are a haven for junk food and of course the junk food industry. The prison diet at best is massive carbohydrates augmented with sweets and powdered substitutes. The most difficult thing for those incarcerated is to obtain any fresh vegetables. These cannot be gotten from the canteen at any price. A family member may send a candy bar in a package but not an onion or a carrot. I find it interesting that they may send the latest sneakers but absolutely nothing of any nutritional value to an inmate.
Why don't the powers that be allow gardens? A garden in any prison facility allows much needed healthy and rewarding exercise as well as a remedy for the malnutrition which results so often in dental agony. (This is usually the first visible sign of incarceration). A green garden would supply a much needed sense of responsibility as well. Many prisoners take up food collections (that is to say that they contribute to food pantries by way of churches). I have seen this at Sing-Sing Prison as well as Green Haven in Connecticut at the time of the Hurricane Katrina outreach.
To enter prison is to lose even the right to your name. It is for this reason that a number is assigned and the individual is made to relinquish all rights to identity and become, in effect, "a package." A package may be shifted about at will. Moved arbitrarily from facility to facility without any advance warning. How therefore can a package transcend itself and become human? I think the answer may be found in the garden.
What can give a person a greater sense of worth than to know that they are actually still able to contribute something to society despite being incarcerated? Learning to tend a garden provides not only a form of release but an inspiration and a useable skill as well for the future. Indeed, to tend a garden is to know that there is still such a thing as a future.
To paraphrase Voltaire the French philosopher and satirist, all we can do in the end is tend our garden, for even a slave while he tends his garden is not a slave but a gardener. Every garden is therefore a victory.
[This is a condensed version of the original article. You can find the original
here]
4. ICARE COMMUNITY EDUCATOR WRITES ABOUT RECLAIMING AND REBUILDING HIS LIFE:
Events happen in our lives as children and they live packed neatly away in our hearts and minds throughout our adult years, never being brought up or out again. The pain, anger, love, frustration, and disappointment are turned into weights that we carry through our adult lives. For me these weights had become so heavy over the years that they slowed the upward movement of my journey to freedom. The power in this poem helped me to unpack those boxes and simply let go. I pray (if needed) it will do the same for you. Even though I have been home for close to two years my reclaiming, rebuilding and upward journey to freedom and a better life continues.
-- Jafar Abbas
I AIN'T BLAMING YOU
Oh! I’m sorry
I hope I wasn’t
Writing too
Loud.
I had
Absolutely
No idea that a pen
Could so easily break through
This forced internal silence
And set free so many Externally loud Noises.
I was afraid to talk about it
Even to myself
I was afraid.
But I needed
To confront it right?
If I was ever
Going to move forward
With my life.
To deal with it
So I could deal
With myself.
I think I
Can tell you
About it now that
I had it locked up inside
Me for so long.
I was mad at you!
I bet you didn’t
Know that.
You know
We got the same blood?
Well really not the same
Half of mine’s belongs to Mommy
But you already knew that.
Did you know
Your half still fights
With Mommy’s half and
I’m still stuck in the middle
Siding with Mommy
Needing my father
Wanting my own blood.
Did you know
I didn’t always like this blood?
The way it ran through my veins screaming
”I should kill you!”
Did you know
I didn’t always like this blood?
This red stuff
That made the world
Look at me and see you
“He looks just like his father.”
I didn’t always like this blood
This blue stuff
This you
In me.
I thought
It would make us
A part of each other
How far a----------part
From each other
We have
Grown.
Maybe
That’s the part of you
That abandoned
Me?
Or
The part of me
That abandoned
You?
I
Never
Told you
That I was
Scared.
That I swore
“When I get big!”
“You wait, when I get big!”
I never told you
How I cried all by myself
That day you said
“Good-bye.”
That day
My small world
Broke into a million
Confusingly tiny
Pieces.
I should
Have told you
That I loved you
And things may
Have been
All right.
But
I ain’t blaming you
And it’s never
Too late.
I
Love you
Daddy.
Jafar Abbas
5. JOB ANNOUNCEMENT AND GREEN JOBS TRAINING PROGRAM
1) FACES NY, Inc., a nonprofit agency in Central Harlem, is seeking full-time staffing for an Office of Minority Health funded re-entry initiative titled HIRE NY (Health Improvement for Re-entering Ex-offenders).
Job Title: Project Coordinator Hours: 35 hrs/weekly Salary Range: $40,000 - $45,000/yr
Qualifications: MSW or its equivalent. It is preferred that the candidate be bilingual, Spanish-English speaking. FACES NY, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Job Title: Re-Entry Case Manager Hours: 35 hrs/weekly Salary Range: $30,000 - $35,000/yr
Qualifications: BA degree in Social Work
For details, contact: Antonio Rivera, Director of Education & Client Services Fax #: 212 864-1614 or via email.
2). Do you know of someone interested in participating in a Green jobs training program?
The Green Training focuses on:
· Green Construction
· Home Energy Audits
· Home Heating and Cooling
· Home Tightening and Ventilation
· Installing Insulation “Blown In”, Vapor Barriers and Drywall
· Caulking and Sealing
Contact Citizens Against Recidivism, Inc, ask for Mika’il DeVeaux at 212.252.2235
6. LADY PENUMBRA AND TY CONSCIOUS PERFORMED AT MID-ORANGE'S HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH CELEBRATION IN OCTOBER
Recently Mid-Orange Correctional Facility invited Lady Penumbra and Ty Conscious to participate in their Hispanic Heritage Month Closing Celebration, sponsored by the Chaplain's office. The over 100 men who participated loved not only the poetry, but the very fact that there are so many people out here who remember them and recognize their humanity / humanness. They send their greetings back out to you.
Seven of the incarcerated people have formed a salsa band, The Mulattos de Salsa,who besides performing their own program also provided backup music for the poetry reading. At the end of the afternoon, when the band played its best selections, Lady Penumbra was invited by Deacon Rosado to dance some salsa for the audience. The entire afternoon was quite a success!
You can reach Lady Penumbra and Ty Conscious at PO Box 1784 NY NY 10035
7. LEGISLATION: ACTUAL INNOCENCE ACT; A4809-A EQUIVALENT REHABILITATION PROGRAMS FOR WOMEN VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR
[Copies of all bills mentioned are available from PAN by sending an email with the number of the bill and the month in which we reported it.]
ACTUAL INNOCENCE ACT OF 2009
On October 21, 2009 Sen. Eric T. Schneiderman (D-Manhattan/Bronx) and Assm. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) unveiled legislation to help exonerate innocent people who are wrongfully convicted in cases that lack DNA evidence. The "Actual Innocence Act of 2009" establishes "actual innocence" as a lawful basis for vacating a prior conviction and removes certain roadblocks that can prevent the wrongfully convicted from presenting proof that conclusively establishes their innocence.
Said sponsor Sen. Eric T. Scheiderman, Chair of the Senate Codes Committee and member of Chief Justice Lippman's task force on wrongful convictions. "This 'actual innocence' legislation is about justice and fairness - it ensures that innocent people don't spend decades behind bars while the real criminals go free."
"Prolonged and unnecessary incarceration of the innocent is detrimental to all - the wrongfully incarcerated, society, the criminal justice system and the victim. I can only hope that the proposed legislation ensures the others wrongly incarcerated like me, never have to suffer like I did in securing their freedom through the criminal justice system," said Marty Tankleff, who was wrongfully convicted for the murder of his parents based on a false confession.
"New York State's criminal justice system, like many other states’, has too often stressed the 'criminal' more than the 'justice,' sometimes resulting in innocent people being convicted and incarcerated....." said Sen. Velmanette Montgomery (D-Manhattan). "If the bill provides for the exoneration of just one person it will be worth it."
see article here.
UPDATE
A4809-A - EQUIVALENT REHABILITATION PROGRAMS FOR WOMEN Weinstein (MS) Same as S 5993 HASSELL-THOMPSON
Passed both houses (the Assembly unanimously) and was sent to the Governor on Oct. 16, who subsequently vetoed it.
Requires that rehabilitation programs for female inmates in state correctional facilities be equivalent to those provided to male inmates of correctional facilities elsewhere in the state; provides that such rehabilitation programs shall include, but not be limited to, vocational, academic and industrial programs.
8. LIFERS AND LONGTERMERS CLEARINGHOUSE: LONG-TERMERS HAVE TO DEVELOP ADJUSTMENT AND COPING STRATEGIES DIFFERENT FROM THEIR SHORT-TERM COUNTERPARTS. DOCS POLICIES ALLOW INDIVIDUALS SERVING LIFE, LONG-TERM, AND LIFE-WITHOUT-PAROLE SENTENCES TO FORM LONG-TERMER ORGANIZATIONS AS A MEANS OF ADDRESSING ISSUES.
The New York State Department of Correctional Services does not provide special counseling or programming services specially designed to assist long-termers adjust or cope with long-term sentences.
A problem faced by all persons in prison is the development of a strategy for doing time. For persons serving short-term sentences, release from confinement is an attainable goal in the not-too-distant future. On the other hand, release from confinement for persons serving long-term sentences is not a realistic goal for some time. Therefore, long-termers have to develop adjustment and coping strategies different from their short-term counterparts.
It is the policy of the state Department of Corrections to allow individuals serving life, long-term, and life-without-parole sentences to form long-termer organizations as a means of addressing issues relevant to coping with long-term confinement. The policy and procedures for formulation of lifer and long-termer organizations is set forth in DOCS Directive 4760 Inmate Organizations.
An approved lifer and long-termer organization provides an avenue for the collective participation of long-termers in the development of programs and services that address their adjustment and coping needs.
Lifer and long-termer organizations play a crucial role in establishing internal order within a correctional facility. Lifer organizations become stakeholders in the orderly functioning of facility operations so as to assure the continuation of a climate in which the organization can further its beneficial initiatives.
When individuals serving long-term sentences (10 years or more) compose a significant percentage of the population of a correctional facility are not provided with specialized correctional programs and services to meet their adjustment and coping needs, a level of frustration and tension develops, and overtime constitutes a tinderbox of discontent.
This is specially true when long-termers are denied by the facility administration the opportunity to form a lifer-and long-termer organization. The level of frustration, tension, and discontent created then grows and festers, available for any otherwise provoked incident to ignite.
When long-termers at a facility where a significant percentage of the population are serving long-term sentences are denied the opportunity to form a lifer organization, they should each individually write the Commissioner and/or the Deputy Commissioner for Program Services. The more individual letters the better, stating such relevant information as the approximate number of long-termers in the population at that facility. And please familiarize yourself with Directive 4760 to be sure you are grounded in your complaint.
Larry Luqman White
9. OBITUARY:
We are sorry to report that Reverend Lonnie McLeod died on Oct 25 of a heart attack at the age of 61. His funeral took place on Saturday, October 31st at St. Marks United Methodist Church. He is greatly missed by many in the prisoners advocacy community.
10. PAROLE NEWS: PART 11 OF PAROLE HANDBOOK; PAROLE STATISTICS.
PAROLE HANDBOOK ON LETTERS OF SUPPORT, QUEENSBORO C.F.’s ROLE
[available online here ]
WHAT IF MY FAMILY, FRIENDS, EMPLOYERS OR OTHER INDIVIDUALS WISH TO SEND LETTERS IN SUPPORT OF MY RELEASE FOR REVIEW BY THE PAROLE BOARD?
All letters of support should be sent to the Parole office in the facility in which you are confined. Additionally, any written statement you wish to make on your behalf should be sent to the facility Parole office. All letters received will be placed in your file for review by the Parole Board at the time of your appearance.
Letters should not be sent directly to the Parole Board Offices as your file is maintained at the facility. Sending materials to the facility is the best way to ensure that all letters and statements will be included in your file before you appear.
WHAT HAPPENS AT QUEENSBORO CORRECTIONAL FACILITY?
If you are being released to an address in New York City, Westchester, Nassau or Suffolk county, you may be sent to Queensboro Correctional Facility to await your release date. While at Queensboro, you will have an opportunity to attend classes designed to help you think about what you will do after release to insure that you do not return to prison. In addition, you will receive a substance abuse assessment and referral to treatment if you require it; a chance to apply for Medicaid benefits if you need assistance to pay for treatment; a referral to a group designed to strengthen your relationships with your family; and assistance in finding somewhere to live.
SEPTEMBER 2009 PAROLE BOARD RELEASES – A1 VIOLENT FELONS – unofficial research from parole database
Total Interviews.............. # Released....... # Denied.....Rate of Release
25 initials.................................5..............................20.................20%
122 reappearances.................30..............................92..................25%
147 total ................................35..............................112 ...............24%
Initial Releases
Facility...................Sentence..........Offense
Livingston ..............25-Life ...........Murder 2
Livingston................15-Life ..........Murder 2
Mid Orange..............20-Life ..........Murder 2
Woodbourne............20-Life...........Murder 2
Otisville....................15-Life...........Kidnap 1
Sept. Reappearances
Facility .....................Sentence........Offense ...............# of Board
Arthurkill.................15-Life...........Murder 2...................6th
Arthurkill.................25-Life...........Murder 2...................4th
Bare Hill...................8-Life.............Murder 2...................6th spec consideration
Bayview....................25-Life...........Murder 2...................4th
Clinton.....................15-Life............Murder 2...................11th
Clinton.....................15-Life............Murder 2...................4th
Elmira.......................15-Life............Murder 2...................4th
Elmira.......................25-Life............Murder 2...................5th
Fishkill.....................20-Life............Murder 2...................3rd
Fishkill.....................25-Life............Murder 2...................4th
Franklin....................15-Life............Murder 2..................6th
Franklin....................15-Life............M2 2x.........................6th
Franklin....................15-Life............Murder 2...................9th
Franklin....................15-Life............Murder 2...................5th
Gowanda..................15-Life............Murder 2...................8th
Groveland................21-Life............Murder 2...................2nd
Marcy........................15-Life............Murder 2...................3rd
Mid Orange..............15-Life............Murder 2...................4th
Mid Orange..............20-Life............Murder 2...................6th
Mid Orange..............20-Life............Murder 2...................2nd
Mid Orange..............20-Life............Murder 2...................3rd For Deportation Only
Mid Orange..............15-Life............Kidnap 1...................2nd
Mid-Orange..............15-Life............Murder 2...................9th
Mohawk....................20-Life............Murder 2...................6th
Mt. McGregor...........25-Life............M2 2x.........................2nd
Orleans......................15-Life............Murder 2...................8th
Otisville....................20-Life............Murder 2...................5th
Otisville....................15-Life............Murder 2...................5th
Sing Sing...................25-Life............Murder 2...................4th
Wallkill.....................25-Life............Murder pre 74 .........11th
SEPTEMBER RELEASES FROM PRISON REPORTS. (Please note that the following statistics are not limited to people convicted of A1 Violent felonies - but all are people with indeterminate sentences)
MID-ORANGE
Sept - Ross, Grant, Greene
Appearances: ..........23............13 released (7 A1VO)
Initials:......................11..............3 indeterminates released ( (2 for deportation; 1A1VO)
Reappearances:........12..............8 indeterminates released (6 A1VO)
WOODBOURNE
Sept - Clark, Grant
13 appearances (7 A1VO)
1 release (A1VO)
9 denials (3 A1VO)
1 postponements (A1VO)
2 split decisions (A1VO)
11. POST CONVICTION SEALING HOTLINE SEEKS YOUR INPUT
The New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is collecting stories from people who have been adversely affected by an old conviction, in order to convince the government to allow people to apply for their records to be sealed after staying out of trouble for a period of time. Please call the hotline at 1-888-898-0700.
If you are uncomfortable using your real name, you may remain anonymous. The hotline will be staffed on Fridays, but you may leave a message at any time and someone will get back to you.
12. PRISON MEDIA: ALL THINGS HARLEM, FANCY BROCCOLI, ON THE COUNT, SOUL SPECTRUM WITH LIBERTY GREEN
ALL THINGS HARLEM - www.allthingsharlem.com Community based reporting at its best. New coverage is added regularly. See their TV program on MNN. If you know of events in the community that you think are worth covering please contact Joseph Hayden at info@allthingsharlem.com.
FANCY BROCCOLI RADIO SHOW, WVKR, 91.3 FM - Sundays - Jazz & Prison Talk, 3:00-6:00 pm
Box 726, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie NY 12604-0726
Fancy Broccoli streams online - go to www.WVKR.org and click on (or near) the word 'LISTEN'.
Visit archives to find lots of other good interviews.
ON THE COUNT, WBAI, 99.5FM. - Sundays 10:30am-noon. To listen live on your computer, visit www.wbai.org. To listen later, visit their archives.
SOUL SPECTRUM WITH LIBERTY GREEN, WJFF Radio Catskill 90.5FM - Thursday evenings from 10pm to 1:30am. PO Box 546, Jeffersonville, NY 12748 Voice Box Call-in Comment Line: 845 431 6500 To listen on your computer, live, click here: www.wjffradio.org. To send an email, click here: Email:libertygreen@citlink.net
13. PRISONERS OF THE CENSUS - ARGUMENTS FROM BOTH SIDES AGREE PRISONERS NEED TO BE COUNTED IN THE COMMUNITIES FROM WHICH THEY CAME; MAINE RESIDENTS TAKE UP PETITION AGAINST PRISON-BASED GERRYMANDERING IN SCHOOL DISTRICT
ON SATURDAY, THE WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES in upstate New York printed a letter from Daniel Jenkins calling for the upstate counties to continue to adjust the federal census to exclude prison populations. He called on the Bureau to separately report the prison count to facilitate this process:
[click here for article]
ELI LEHRER WRITES IN THE CONSERVATIVE NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE that the Census Bureau should change where it counts incarcerated people: "Prisoners aren't, in any real sense, residents of the places where they are incarcerated. Their victims and families very likely live in the places where they came from. In short, the costs that prisoners impose on society fall on the municipalities where they lived and will probably return after release."
[See: Eli Lehrer, How Should the Census Count Prisoners? National Review Online]
THE RESIDENTS OF MAINE'S REGIONAL SCHOOL UNIT 13 HAVE LAUNCHED A PETITION DRIVE to end prison-based gerrymandering in their school district. The school district's voting system is based on Census Bureau estimates for 2006 that credited the town of Thomaston with the population of the Maine State Prison that had closed 4 years prior. Not only does Maine state law say that a prison is not a residence, the prison counted in the Census did not even exist at the time of the count.
Unfortunately, the school board has refused to change the voting system, and to date the Commissioner of Education has ignored requests to intervene.
By Maine law, voters can use a petition to require the Commissioner to rule on whether a voting system violates the constitutional principles of One Person One Vote.
The Prison Policy Initiative depends on the support of the people who receive this newsletter. To help support our work with a tax-deductible contributions visit www.PrisonersoftheCensus.org or contact Peter Wagner.
14. TELEPHONE JUSTICE AT LAST! A NEW CONTRACT HAS BEEN SIGNED AND THE INSTALLATION WILL BEGIN. WHEN THE SWITCH IS COMPLETED, A 20 MINUTE CALL WILL BE LESS THAN $1.
Over the next few months a switch will be made from GTL to a new provider of telephone service to people in NYS prisons. The Unisys Corporation along with Value Added Communications, Inc. will be the new provider. The new rate will be less than a nickel a minute, and there will be no connect fees. The cost of a 20 minute call will be 96 cents.
After the switch has been completed, and you are receiving calls through Unisys, you will be able to obtain a refund of any remaining funds left in your GTL account by calling Global Tel Link at 1 866-230 7761.
The first time someone in prison makes a call on the new system, unless the called party's phone company has a billing arrangement with Unisys, Unisys will offer it as a free 60-second call followed by an automated process which will allow the called party to set up a pre-paid account so that future calls can go through.
There will be a number and a website where you can get answers to any questions after the new system goes into effect.
15. TRANSPORTATION TO PRISONS:
CAPITAL DISTRICT
NEST Prison Shuttle schedule: Mt McGregor, Washington, Grt Meadow CFs on Sat, Nov 7 ($35 adults, $25 children), Coxsackie, Greene, Hudson on BOTH Sat, Nov 14 & 21 ($20 adults, $15 children) leaving Oakwood Ave Presbyt. Church parking lot, Troy at 7 AM, then Albany Greyhound bus station at 7:15. Sullivan trip (Ulster, Eastern, Woodbourne, Sullivan) on Nov 28 leaving at 6:30 AM ($45 adults, $30 children). Reservations: Linda O'Malley 518- 273-5199.
Free door to door rides from the Capital District: The Justice Committee at the Unitarian Church has 3 volunteer drivers. If you have a loved one in prison and you have no other way of getting to see him or her, maybe we can help. Call us to find out: 518 253 7533
Building Bridges is the monthly newsletter of the Prison Action Network.
For information on joining, please call 518 253 7533, or email PAN.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
OCTOBER 2009
Periodically during the month we post items of interest which have been sent by our members. You are invited to check back regularly. Please scroll down to read our current issue of Building Bridges.
Posted October 30
GOVERNOR VETOES BILL A4809 TO GIVE WOMEN IN PRISON EQUAL REHABILITATION OPPORTUNITIES.
Bill A4809, same as S5993
Requires Equivalent Rehabilitation Programs for Males and Females in Prison [Details below]
This bill passed in both houses and was delivered to the Governor on Oct 16.
Bill A04809/S5993
Requires that rehabilitation programs for female inmates in state correctional facilities be equivalent to those provided to male inmates of correctional facilities elsewhere in the state; provides that such rehabilitation programs shall include, but not be limited to, vocational, academic and industrial programs.
SPONSORS: Weinstein (MS) Hassell-Thompson (SEN)
Posted October 21:
JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS
FACES NY
New York, NY
FACES NY, Inc. a nonprofit agency in Central Harlem is seeking three full-time staffing positions for an Office of Minority Health funded re-entry initiative titled HIRE NY (Health Improvement for Re-entering Ex-offenders). The HIRE NY Project will coordinate a system of care for individuals re-entering NYC from jails and prisons needing HIV/STI prevention education, HIV/AIDS treatment and care, substance use and mental health, and family reunification support.
Job Title: Project Coordinator
Reports To: Director of Education & Client Services
Hours: 35 hrs/weekly
Salary Range: $40,000 - $45,000/yr
Job Summary: Will have the responsibility of providing clinical supervision and administrative oversight to program staff, group intervention development and facilitation, program development, resource development, data collection and reporting and participation in project evaluation activities.
Qualifications: MSW or its equivalent in health or social service field, with 3 -5 years background /knowledge in substance abuse/mental health counseling, HIV/AIDS and co-occurring conditions and supervisory experience in individual, family and group counseling. It is preferred that the candidate be bilingual, Spanish-English speaking. FACES NY, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Job Title: Re-Entry Case Manager
Reports To: HIRE Project Coordinator
Hours: 35 hrs/weekly
Salary Range: $30,000 - $35,000/yr
Job Summary: Will be responsible for providing and/or facilitating access to comprehensive and integrated social services and treatment to offenders that include, but not limited to, case management, supportive substance abuse/mental health counseling, service coordination and referrals, service plan development and implementation and advocacy.
Qualifications: BA degree in Social Work and/or 5 years, minimum experience in substance abuse/mental health counseling or related field, strong knowledge of chemical dependency issues, familiarity with MICA, homelessness, entitlements, HIV/AIDS and co-occurring conditions and criminal justice system. Bilingual skills desirable. FACES NY, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
ALL POTENTIAL CANDIDATES MAY SUBMIT THEIR RESUMES WITH COVER LETTERS TO:
Antonio Rivera, Director of Education & Client Services
Fax #: 212 864-1614 or via email arivera@FACESNY.org
Posted October 20:
*NYSACDL's POST CONVICTION SEALING HOTLINE*
The New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is collecting stories from people who have been adversely affected by an old conviction in order to convince the government to allow people to apply for their records to be sealed after staying out of trouble for a period of time. Please call the hotline at 1-888-898-0700.
If you are uncomfortable using your real name, you may remain anonymous. The hotline will be staffed on Fridays, but you may leave a message at any time and someone will get back to you.
Posted October 19:
ONE THOUSAND COATS FOR CHILDREN OF THE INCARCERATED
Winter coats will be distributed by Kerwin Phillips Foundation's Prison Brake Network following their free "Save Our Children: The Fight Continues" event at 2 pm on Saturday, October 24, at New Covenant Dominion Catherdral, 1175 Boston Road, Bx NY. Children ages 5-18 who attend the event and fill out a form will receive a new or gently used winter coat. For more information you can visit www.kphillipsfoundation.org and click on "Coats for 1000's" in the left hand column. Donations of coats are also welcomed. For more details about receiving or giving a coat, you can also call 866/611-0678, X1.
BUILDING BRIDGES OCTOBER 2009
Dear Reader,
This issue is so full of exceptional writing and important reports that I have nothing to add. Except to say, be well, have hope, and please, share your copy of Building Bridges.
In this Issue
1. Actions you can take
2. Alternatives to incarceration
3. Buffalo citizens prevail
4. Family Empowerment Day 5
5. Coalition for Fair Criminal Justice Policies
6. ICARE introduces new team member
7. Larry 'Luqman" White wins Citizen's Award
8. Legislation
9. Lifers and Longtermers Clearinghouse
10. Manhattan’s D.A. Race
11. Parole
13. Prison Media
14. Prisoners of the Census
15. Transportation to prisons
16. 'Visitors' shows at Arthur Kill
1. ACTIONS: WHAT CAN YOU DO? HERE’S A LIST OF THINGS:
ALBANY:
Friday Oct 9, 11 am
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI-NYS)'s 27th Annual Educational Conference
The Friday portion of the conference will once again focus on criminal justice and veterans issues. [Non NAMI-NYS Members $125 includes 2 meals and one year membership to NAMI-NYS.] Our featured speaker will be one of the nation's most progressive judges, Robert Russell. Judge Russell will be speaking on The Future of Veterans Courts. Judge Russell, who created Buffalo's Drug Treatment Court in 1995 and Mental Health Treatment Court in 2003, discusses the city's newest initiative, the Buffalo Veterans Treatment Court. This program, created in 2008 by the Buffalo City Court to keep veterans who are non-violent offenders out of jail, is the nation's first veterans treatment court.
Also featured on Friday is US Navy clinical psychologist Heidi Squier Kraft, PhD. Dr Kraft will describe the challenges, heartbreaks and triumphs of serving in combat as a clinical psychologist, in addition to describing her own struggle with combat trauma, and the journey of healing that became her book, Rule Number Two.
Paul Burke, Executive Director, American Psychiatric Foundation will give Friday evening's keynote address Typical or Troubled?-School Mental Health Education.
Complete agenda of the conference is available here.
Location: The Desmond Hotel and Conference Center, 660 Albany Shaker Rd, Albany, NY 12211
BUFFALO:
Monday October 26, 6:30-8:30pm
Prisoners Are People Too
Presents the program originally scheduled for September, featuring Dr. Catherine Fisher Collins, author of The Incarceration of African American Women: Causes, Experiences, and Effects (1997-2007), (details appear in last month’s ‘Building Bridges’). It was postponed to introduce the newly formed organization, “Buffalo Prison Abuse Project” (BPAP), a coalition of various organizations which believes that “prisoners are people too.” For the last two months, BPAP’s committed members have been demonstrating in front of the Erie County Holding Center in Buffalo, raising the community’s awareness of the urgent need for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the conditions and management of the Holding Center and the Erie County Correctional Facility in Alden. Mental, physical, and fiscal abuse have been documented. Yet, the county’s attorney, Cheryl Green, has barred federal investigators and has directed Sheriff Timothy Howard and County Executive Chris Collins not to discuss the issues. The meeting further indicated the need for more public outrage at the various ways that incarcerated people have their human, civil, and constitutional rights violated. BPAP is bringing pressure to bear on the County Executive, the Sheriff, the county’s Comptroller and the Erie County Legislature. (see update below in article # 2)
Pratt-Willert Community Center, 422 Pratt Street, Buffalo, NY
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.
MANHATTAN
Wednesday October 21, 1-3 pm
NY Reentry Roundtable Hosted by The Community Service Society of New York
Speaker Divine Pryor, Ph.D., Executive Director, Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions, School of Professional and Community Development, Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York on A History of Incarceration
105 East 22nd Street at Park Avenue South, Conference Room 4A
Take the 6 or W/R trains to 23rd Street
Please RSVP to Gabriel Torres-Rivera, or at 212.614.5306
Wednesday October 30, 6 pm.
Citizens Against Recidivism, Inc.'s Third Annual Citizens’ Awards
The Citizens’ Awards acknowledge the successes of formerly incarcerated people and are a public acknowledgment of the contributions these outstanding individuals have made since their release from prison.
Public perception and media portrayal of people with criminal records is predominantly negative, many in the public are unforgiving, and the atmosphere is such that many of those returning from prison find it difficult to make a successful transition into our communities. Research citing the percentage of people who return to prison following their release is well known - often 67% within three years of release. However, few efforts seek to highlight the successes.
Our past honorees include leaders in education, grassroots advocacy, religion, public service, policy change, and management-level personnel of social service programs.
It is important for the world to see that people do turn their lives around and that they work to change the course that those at risk of incarceration are likely to take if no one reaches back to help them. These attitudes and tendency would make no room for the possibility of change, of personal transformation, or of attempts to right wrongs. The Citizens’ Awards are an effort to break the silence. They are an attempt to promote the rise after the fall, the good deed that follows wrong done and to offer hope to those who are still in prison.
The Citizens’ Awards help us combat the pervasive and negative stigma that bars people who are trying to successfully reintegrate from accessing the necessities to lead a law-abiding life. The awards honor what is possible in each of us when we give ourselves a chance.
THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER WILL BE FORMER PAROLE CHAIRMAN, GEORGE B. ALEXANDER
Special invited guest: NYS Senator Bill Perkins
Other Confirmed Guests Include: NYS Assemblyman William Scarborough, Representatives of NYS Senator Malcolm Smith, and Imam Talib ‘Abdur Rashid.
At the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center, 3940 Broadway (164th and Broadway) Manhattan.
Entertainment and Refreshments Provided Advance Tickets at $40 ($45 at the door)
For information about group sales inquire at info@citizensinc.org. For advance tickets send check or money order to:
Citizens Against Recidivism, Inc. (Awards)
137-58 Thurston Street (Lower Level Suite), Springfield Gardens, New York 11413
To place an ad in our program or to be listed as a sponsor, click here.
2. ALTERNATIVES TO INCARCERATION- ROCKLAND COUNTY LAUNCHES VETERAN’S ALTERNATIVE TO INCARCERATION PROGRAM
Mid Hudson News August 31, 2009
NEW CITY – Rockland County officials launch the Veteran’s Alternative to Incarceration program.
Many vets returning from active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan turn to drugs and alcohol in an effort to self-medicate service-related issues. Others facing readjustment are left to struggle through a range of unwanted emotional responses to the trauma of combat. Those vets often enter the criminal justice system in Rockland County.
District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said the program would not be a get out of jail free card. “This is not about going soft on crime or somehow excusing unlawful behavior by people who are now separating from the military. Instead, it’s about diversion and accountability and getting them the treatment that they so necessarily need,” he said.
As part of the program, as announced by District Attorney Thomas Zugibe, County Executive S. Scott Vanderhoef and Veterans Services Director Jerry Donnellan, returning service members facing nonviolent criminal charges in Rockland will be identified and screened, then linked with veteran-specific substance abuse and mental health treatment programs as alternatives to incarceration.
The goal of the program is to reduce criminal behavior and re-arrest rates, while helping veterans turn their lives around.
3. BUFFALO CITIZENS PREVAIL! STATE SUES SHERIFF TO COMPEL THE COUNTY TO OPERATE ITS JAIL IN A SAFE, STABLE AND HUMANE MANNER, AS REQUIRED BY LAW.
The Commission of Correction has made repeated efforts to help Erie County comply with regulations designed to ensure the safety and security of the Erie County Holding Center, and ultimately the public safety.
...We have repeatedly advised the county of its myriad delinquencies – which range from failing to provide inmates with reasonable access to a toilet and a bar of soap to troubling denials of due process in disciplinary matters – and offered to work with local officials to address deficiencies which we believe undermine the safety and security of the facility and needlessly expose the county to civil rights actions.
...We are asking only that Erie County comply with the same set of minimal standards routinely followed by the vast majority of correctional facilities across the state.
...When a county refuses to abide by those regulations and abdicates its responsibility to local taxpayers, as Erie County has, the Commission is obligated to pursue a legal remedy.
NYS Commission of Correction, Albany NY [http://www.scoc.state.ny.us/]
[For a copy of the entire article, please send an email to PAN including the name of article and month of Building Bridges]
4. FAMILY EMPOWERMENT DAY 5 - READERS OF BUILDING BRIDGES WILL BE AMONG THE FIRST TO KNOW
Prison Action Network has been receiving mail and phone calls asking about the next FED. Because the last 3 FEDs were scheduled in October, folks expect one this October and want to be sure they save the date. Be assured, you will NOT MISS THE ANNOUNCEMENT!
However, there is no FED5 in the works although we have been thinking about it. FED4's attendees called for a parole bill that would result in the release of community ready individuals who are continually denied parole based on the nature of their crime. FED5 will likely be the unveiling of the bill that results from that mandate. We will need a large group of committed people, prepared to roll up their sleeves and share in the labor and fund-raising necessary to produce such a large event. Together we can change the world, but alone we’re a voice crying in the wilderness.
5. COALITION FOR FAIR CRIMINAL JUSTICE POLICIES REPORTS ON GENERAL MEETING AND POLICY COMMITTEE PROGRESS
The GENERAL MEETING'S Public Relations Campaign is looking for someone who can help produce on their computer the cards for which we have the photos and text. As soon as that is done we will have quantities printed and a street action will be planned where we will hand out our cards and talk to people about their perceptions of us.
The POLICY COMMITTEE has been meeting weekly whenever possible. We invite your input about parole policies as we continue the work of revising 259-i. We are especially interested in what you think about the use of risk assessment tools, and what criteria you think should be considered in making parole decisions. Please send your ideas immediately to PAN at one of the addresses in the footer of this page so we have them at our next meeting. We will include your contribution in our deliberations and report back to you with our decisions, on which you will be invited to comment. A first draft is expected to be ready in October, at which time we will seek a final opinion from all those who contributed their ideas. We plan to have a final draft ready no later than January 1.
6. ICARE REPORTS - JAFAR ABBAS JOINS THE ICARE TEAM AS THEIR NEW COMMUNITY EDUCATOR. BESIDES WRITING A MONTHLY COLUMN IN BUILDING BRIDGES, MR. ABBAS WILL ALSO BE AVAILABLE FOR SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS.
Jafar Abbas is a formerly incarcerated man who has been home for two years. He is currently residing in Staten Island and works as a Research Assistant for Clinical Directors Network in Manhattan, putting research into practice by helping health clinics provide quality service. In prison he discovered his gifts as a writer and performer as well as an analytical thinker. This past June he appeared in the theatrical exploration, What it Means to Cross the Threshold from Incarceration to Freedom, where he was discovered by a member of the ICARE board.
CAGED
Have you ever wondered how a human being can spend years of life in a prison cell and not become animal? I never gave any thought to the tigers pacing back and forth in their zoo cages, not until I had a cage of my own. It wasn’t until then that I wondered if they felt the same about their captivity as I did mine. After all, our stories aren’t much different.
My caged life started in Juvenile Institutions at a young age. I soon graduated to the County Jail and eventually to the “Big House” - the New York State Department of Corrections. I was twenty years old when I took my ride ‘up the river’ and twenty-five long years later I came back down.
I went through my rites of passage in Attica Correctional Facility and saw how far down a person could go and I witnessed how far up a person could climb reclaiming their lives on their upward journey to freedom.
I could with ease describe for you a host of deplorable and degrading prison conditions. I can tell you first hand of the tension that filled Attica when I first walked through its walls in 1985. I can tell you how tear gas smells three days after it’s been dropped. How riots build unnoticed then burst unexpectedly into uncontrollable rage. I can tell you how night provides no sleep for men who fight demons when the Sun goes down. I can tell you of all this, but I will not. I will not tell you any of these things for they give breath to the well known down sides of prison life and ammunition to those seeking to shoot down the calls for humane treatment of incarcerated men and women; a treatment marked simply by the absence of neglect and abuse.
I want to give you a glimpse of the human struggle for life that exists in prisons throughout this country and exists with such audacity and power that it leaves us continuously asking the question, “How does a human being spend years of life in a prison cell and not become animal?” Most people (even those in prison) have absolutely no idea.
My way was to occupy myself with programs and hobbies that consumed time. If I hadn’t, time would have consumed me! One such hobby was the writing of poetry. Poetry allowed me to use it to make sense of my environment and to understand my past. I wrote to learn, to teach, to struggle, to live.
In the course of these monthly columns I will be sharing parts of my life and poetry with you so you can see how a human being can spend years of life in a prison cell and not become animal. -Jafar Abbas
7. LARRY "LUQMAN" WHITE WINS RECOGNITION FOR A LIFETIME OF SERVICE TO PEOPLE IN PRISON
On October 30, 2009, Citizens Against Recidivism, Inc. will host its Third Annual Citizens’ Awards (see Article #1). Readers will be happy to learn that Larry White, who contributes a regular column to this newsletter (Lifer's and Longtermers Clearinghouse, see Article # 9) will be one of the people receiving an award.
Much of Larry's incarceration was spent mentoring others in prison with him and since being released two years ago he has continued to devote his life to those he left behind. We are thrilled he won this much deserved award.
Please contact us if you would like to be part of Prison Action Network’s group reservation to attend the Awards Ceremony. If there are 10 of us, we will earn a discount of $10 each (individual reservations are $40).
8. LEGISLATION: SIGNED! IN ADDITION TO THE ANTI-SHACKLING BILL, THE DOH OVERSIGHT BILL IS SIGNED BY GOVERNOR PATERSON; SOME BILLS TO WATCH.
The Coalition for Women Prisoners is excited to report that Governor Paterson signed into law the Department of Health HIV/Hepatitis C Oversight Bill. This advance comes after years of advocacy on the part of the Coalition for Women Prisoners, and many other advocates in NY. Now, people living with HIV and hepatitis C in NY's prisons will receive the same quality of treatment and care as people in the community.
We are grateful to every one of you who called and emailed the Governor, attended the rally in front of the Governor's office and shared your lived experiences. Your advocacy was central to this victory. Congratulations to the Conditions & Reentry Committee, co-chaired by Jess Ross and Rusti Miller-Hill, whose main legislative focus was the passage of this important bill.
We would like to thank Tracie Gardner, Director of New York State Policy at the LegalActionCenter's Women's Initiative to Stop HIV/AIDS (WISH) and Jack Beck, Director of the Prison Visiting Project at the CA, whose commitment to passing this legislation has been tireless. We also thank the Latino Commission on AIDS, the Women's HIV Collaborative, Women on the Rise Telling Herstory (WORTH), Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), Fortune Society and so many other organizations who signed on in support.
We would like to extend thanks to Sen. Thomas Duane and Assm. Richard Gottfried who championed this bill as well as Assm. Jeffrion Aubry and Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson.
[If you’d like to read one or both of two related articles, a New York Times editorial "Medical Inattention in New York Prisons", and "HIV-Positive Inmates: The Neglected Population" by Kathleen Reeves at the blogspot RH Reality Check, please send an email to PAN including the name of article and month of Building Bridges.]
THE DOH BILL:
A00903/S3842 SPONSOR:Gottfried (MS)
Amends S206, Pub Health Law
Summary: Authorizes and directs the department of health to review any policy or practice instituted in facilities operated by the department of correctional services and in local correctional facilities regarding human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and hepatitis C including the prevention of the transmission of HIV, HCV and the treatment of AIDS among inmates.
BILLS THAT BEAR WATCHING:
The following bills all have sponsors in both houses of the legislature, and by the end of the last regular session had been sent to the appropriate committee in each house. While they will have to be reintroduced in January when the new session begins, they are bills that affect our readers and we will be keeping an eye on their progress as well as others that will be reported on in November. If your senator or assemblyperson is one of the sponsors, you might want to thank them and offer your support.
A3770-a Assem.Mbr Aubry /S4686 Sen.Hassell-Thompson Allows qualified individuals with criminal records to be employed in certain establishments that hold liquor licenses. Rules calendar.83, Investigations Committee and State Operations Committee.
S4684 Sen. Hassell-Thompson/A8178 Assem.Mbr Aubry Allows modification of child support orders or judgments for persons whose income has been reduced due to incarceration. Finance Committee, Judiciary Committee
S3559 Sen.Adams/A6853 Assem.Mbr Camara Requires written notice be given to people discharged from prisons and discharged from parole or conditional release, of such persons' eligibility to vote. Corrections Committee.
A6065 Assem.Mbr Lentol/S 1708 Sen. Sampson Permits the sealing of records of certain nonviolent misdemeanor or nonsexual misdemeanor criminal offenses Codes Committee
A5474 Assem.Mbr Boyland/S1297 Sen.Montgomery Provides that Correctional institution officials shall provide instruction to and assist certain prisoners, at least 90 days prior to their release, to apply to receive Medicaid. Correction Committee, Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committee
A5946 Assem.Mbr Espaillet/S1633 Sen Schneiderman Directs that State Board of Elections obtain residential data on incarcerated persons to be used in creating congressional, senate, assembly, and county districts. Election Law Committee.
A3260 Assem.Mbr Benjamin/S1294 Sen. Montgomery Relates to prohibiting colleges from denying formerly incarcerated individuals’ admittance to college based solely o their incarceration. Education Committee and Higher Education Committee.
[Copies of any bill can be had by sending an email to PAN including the name and number of Bill, and the month of this issue]
9. LIFERS AND LONGTERMERS CLEARINGHOUSE - SENTENCE PLANNING: WHETHER ONE IS A PRISONER SERVING A SENTENCE, A HOSTAGE IN A KIDNAPPING, OR A CAPTIVE IN A WAR.
A major problem facing a prisoner serving a long-term sentence is how to plan the service of his/her sentence such as to achieve the greatest benefits. The prospect of an extended period of imprisonment raises urgent questions of personal survival that for long-term prisoners are of such immediacy that urgent questions of personal development seem impractical.
The ability to plan for the future, to develop a definiteness of purpose, to consider the need for intellectual and spiritual growth, requires a positive life-giving attitude about one's situation. Such an attitude is not an inherent aspect of long-term imprisonment, but requires an organized, programmed effort to develop.
As in any endeavor designed to produce beneficial results, a well thought out plan of action is required. Such a plan should be based on sound principles and effective guidelines.
Long-term prisoners need more than just prison program planning; they need sentence planning. Sentence planning refers to the need to address the totality of extended prison existence for long-term prisoners through integrated approaches, rather than simply plugging them into traditional correctional programs .
Sentence planning as defined here is the process of utilizing universal principles of behavior during confinement to structure the service of a prison sentence. Contrary to popular belief, there are principles that form the basis of codes of behavior governing prisoners of every kind and designation.
Whether one is a prisoner serving a sentence, a hostage in a kidnap, or a captive in a war, there are two primary principles governing behavior during confinement: 1) to gain one's freedom as quickly as possible, and 2) to leave confinement in better condition than when one began it. These principles are universal in that they apply to all forms of confinement.
THE FIRST PRINCIPLE
The first principle: to gain one’s freedom as quickly as possible - not only identifies the ultimate goal to be reached, but it also provides guidelines for achieving that goal - to act as quickly and expeditiously as possible. To act expeditiously is to take no action that would impede or delay achievement of one’s freedom. This requires a critical awareness of one's behavior and a commitment to a process of liberating action. Liberating acts are behavior designed to expedite rather than impede one’s freedom. Liberating acts are the result of a process: REFLECTION AND ACTION. When faced with a decision, the prisoner reflects upon the guiding principle and then acts accordingly.
THE SECOND PRINCIPLE
The second principle - to leave confinement in better condition than when it started - provides direction and guidelines for personal growth and development during confinement. This principle directs prisoners to pursue a course of growth and development throughout their imprisonment. Just as freedom is an essential attribute of human existence, the ability to grow and develop to the full extent of one's ability is an inherent expression of that freedom. That is why the two principles must be carried out in conjunction, prisoners must not only struggle to obtain their freedom, but as a complement of that struggle, prisoners must pursue every opportunity for the growth and development of their human potential.
LIVING BY PRINCIPLES
Because principles provide rules and guidelines that govern behavior, living a life governed by principles may not be an easy matter for many prisoners. The discipline and commitment required must be learned and internalized.
The learning process begins with an understanding of the principles and a belief that strict adherence to them will achieve positive and beneficial results. Understanding the principles may not be a problem, but developing a motivating belief that such principles can easily be followed in a prison setting requires serious consideration.
One such consideration is the popular belief among many prisoners that strict adherence to prison rules and regulations is a sign of weakness and an inability to stand up to authority, of "being down with the administration". Such beliefs may be popular with peers and provide a fashionable image, but they do nothing to enhance efforts to free oneself or positively affect your growth and development. If your beliefs do nothing to motivate behaviors toward freedom, or improve growth and development then they must surely foster actions that result in continued confinement.
APPLICATION OF THE UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLES
Although these principles are universal in their application to the conditions of confinement, they are generally adhered to in all situations. Hostages in a kidnap or a botched robbery who endure lengthy periods of confinement instinctively follow these principles without specific instructions about them. They certainly do not engage in mindless macho contests to the detriment of their own freedom and well being. Soldiers captured in a state of war have been trained and instructed regarding aspects of these principles and follow them with strict discipline . Yet state prisoners who are subject to greater periods of confinement would seem to be oblivious to these principles and their application in a prison setting. -Larry White
10. MANHATTAN'S DISTRICT ATTORNEY RACE: CY VANCE WINS PRIMARY ON A PLATFORM OF COMMUNITY BASED JUSTICE, SAYS PRISON SHOULD BE A LAST RESORT.
Defense lawyer and political scion Cy Vance won Manhattan's Democratic primary with close to 44 percent of the vote in a three-way race. In an interview with All Things Harlem (see link below), Mr. Vance stated many views supported by members of the Prison Action Network. His past record includes working as a prosecutor for former DA Robert Morris Morgenthau (who is resigning after 35 years), serving on NYS's Sentencing Commission, and practicing as a Defense Attorney.
Among policies he promised in his interview with Jazz Hayden:
community based justice (teams assigned to neighborhoods, to know a smaller area well, and take pride in reducing crime there as well as winning cases)
DA's office will be full partner with community leaders as well as Probation and Parole.
diversion to alternative programs for minors and low level offenders.
will help people returning from prison to find housing, a job, and treatment, in order to prevent recidivism.
acknowledged the racial imbalance in the composition of arrests and prosecutions and incarceration and promised his office would use their power to administer justice fairly so as to bring safety to our communities and fairness in our courtrooms.
for his office a crime prevented is far more powerful than a crime prosecuted. Prison should be a last resort.
Watch and listen to the interview.
11. PAROLE NEWS: PART 10 FROM THE PAROLE HANDBOOK; PRESUMPTIVE RELEASE; JULY and AUGUST PAROLE STATISTICS
PART 10 ON PAROLE AND PAROLE BOARD ACTIVITIES IN STATE CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES (#s 12,13,14 IN THEIR HANDBOOK)
[available online at http://parole.state.ny.us/Handbook.pdf or from PAN for a donation of $4 or more - it’s approximately 50 pages]
WHAT IS PRESUMPTIVE RELEASE?
In 2003, Section 806 of the Correction Law was amended to enable the Department of Correctional Services to grant presumptive release to an eligible inmate upon serving a prescribed term of his or her indeterminate sentence. Conditions of release for persons granted Presumptive Release is set by the Board of Parole.
If you are granted Presumptive Release, you will be released from prison and supervised by a Parole Officer. You are not eligible for Presumptive Release if you are serving a sentence for or previously convicted of any of the following:
• An A-1 felony offense;
• A Penal Law Sec. 70.02 violent felony offense;
• Manslaughter 2nd degree;
• Vehicular manslaughter 1st and 2nd degree;
• Criminal negligent homicide;
• Penal Law Article 130 or 263 offenses; or
• Incest.
Presumptive Release may be withheld if, while incarcerated, you commit a serious disciplinary infraction or if you have initiated a frivolous lawsuit or have had sanctions imposed against you under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for litigation you have commenced against the State or its employees.
If you meet the above criteria and also meet the criteria for Merit Time, you may be entitled to Presumptive Release at the expiration of five-sixths of your minimum term or aggregate minimum term. You should talk with your Correction Counselor regarding program application.
WHAT IF I AM DENIED PRESUMPTIVE RELEASE?
You will appear before the Parole Board for discretionary release consideration, based on either a merit time allowance or satisfaction of your minimum term.
AUGUST 2009 PAROLE BOARD RELEASES – A1 VIOLENT FELONS – unofficial research from parole database
Total Interviews...# Released........# Denied.........Rate of Release
18 initial ................... 2.................... 16................. 11%
88 reappearances ...... 7.................... 81................. 8%
106 Total................... 9.................... 97................. 8%
August Initial Releases
Facility..................... Sentence .........Offense........... # of Board
Bedford Hills............. 20-Life.......... Murder 2 .............initial
Clinton...................... 25-Life.......... Murder 2.............initial
August Reappearances
Facility....................... Sentence......... Offense......... # of Board
Clinton....................... 25-Life............ Murder 2 ....... 2nd
Clinton ...................... 7-Life.............. Murder 2........ 11th**
Great Meadow............ 25-Life............ Murder 2........ 4th
Otisville..................... 15-Life............ Murder 2........ 5th
Otisville..................... 15-Life............ Murder 2........ 4th
Shawangunk.............. 20-Life............ Murder 2........ 4th
Wallkill...................... 25-Life............ Murder 2........ 7th
**Special Consideration Hearing
SEPTEMBER RELEASES FROM PRISON REPORTS. (Only one prison reported this month):
OTISVILLE
Sept - commissioners’ names were not given, total number of appearances was not supplied
8 were paroled, 2 were A1VOs.
3 of the 8 were for deportation
12. PRISON MEDIA: ALL THINGS HARLEM, FANCY BROCCOLI, ON THE COUNT, SOUL SPECTRUM WITH LIBERTY GREEN
ALL THINGS HARLEM - www.allthingsharlem.com
Watch and listen to the interview with Cy Vance (reported in Article #10), as well as many other videos likely to be of interest to our readers. New coverage is added regularly. See their TV program on MNN. If you know of events in the community that you think are worth covering please contact Joseph Hayden at info@allthingsharlem.com.
FANCY BROCCOLI RADIO SHOW, WVKR, 91.3 FM - Sundays - Jazz & Prison Talk, 3:00-6:00 pm
Box 726, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie NY 12604-0726
Fancy Broccoli streams online - go to www.WVKR.org and click on (or near) the word 'LISTEN'.
Visit archives to find lots of other good interviews.
ON THE COUNT, WBAI, 99.5FM. - Sundays 10:30am-noon. To listen live on your computer, visit www.wbai.org. To listen later, visit their archives.
SOUL SPECTRUM WITH LIBERTY GREEN, WJFF Radio Catskill 90.5FM - Thursday evenings from 10pm to 1:30am. PO Box 546, Jeffersonville, NY 12748 Voice Box Call-in Comment Line: 845 431 6500 To listen on your computer, live, click here: www.wjffradio.org. To send an email, click here: Email:libertygreen@citlink.net
13. PRISONERS OF THE CENSUS - THE BURDEN TO ELIMINATE PRISON-BASED GERRYMANDERING IS SHIFTING TO THE STATES. IN WISCONSIN, A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT WOULD REQUIRE THE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS TO IGNORE THE PRISON POPULATIONS WHEN DRAWING DISTRICTS.
WISCONSIN AMENDMENT CORRECTS CENSUS
by Peter Wagner, September 14, 2009
[read entire article here]
The 23rd decennial Census will again be counting incarcerated people in the wrong place. But if a proposed constitutional amendment in Wisconsin passes, the state's days of using prison counts to distort districts (and influence elections) will be over.
Ideally, the Census Bureau would change where it counts people in prison. But the pace of change has so far been slow, and with time running short before the next Census in April, the number of options are limited.
Now, the burden to eliminate prison-based gerrymandering is shifting to the states. In Wisconsin, Rep. Frederick Kessler has introduced a constitutional amendment that would require the state and local governments to ignore the prison populations when drawing districts. This approach would not credit incarcerated people back to their homes in Milwaukee and other urban areas, but it would end the practice of crediting them to the rural districts where they count for as much as a tenth of a state legislative district.
On September 15th, I traveled to the Wisconsin State Capital to testify in support of the Wisconsin Census Correction amendment which would direct state and local governments to omit the Census Bureau's incarcerated population when drawing legislative districts.
The Prison Policy Initiative depends on the support of the people who receive this newsletter. If you can help support our work with a tax-deductible contribution it can be done at Network for Good.
14. TRANSPORTATION TO PRISONS:
CAPITAL DISTRICT
NEST Prison Shuttle schedule: Mt McGregor, Washington, Grt Meadow CFs on Sat, Oct 3 ($35 adults, $25 children), Coxsackie, Greene, Hudson on BOTH Sat, Oct 10 & 17 ($20 adults, $15 children) leaving Oakwood Ave Presbyt. Church parking lot, Troy at 7 AM, then Albany Greyhound bus station at 7:15. Sullivan trip (Ulster, Eastern, Woodbourne, Sullivan) on Oct 24 leaving at 6:30 AM ($45 adults, $30 children). Reservations: Linda O'Malley 518- 273-5199.
Free door to door rides from the Capital District: The Justice Committee at the Unitarian Church has 3 volunteer drivers. If you have a loved one in prison and you have no other way of getting to see him or her, maybe we can help. Call us to find out: 518 253 7533
15 "VISITORS" SCREENING AT ARTHUR KILL CORRECTIONAL FACILITY ON STATEN ISLAND RAISES AWARENESS OF FAMILY SACRIFICES: REPORT FROM MELIS BIRDER, THE FILMMAKER
On June 17th, we had a screening at the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility for a group of inmates who were members of the “Lifers and Long Timers Group”. The screening turned out be a moving experience both for the inmates and myself. We received many insightful feedbacks and comments.
During the Q & A session, the inmates emphasized that “the film raised an awareness about the trials and the tribulations that their loved one's go through year after year thus giving them strength and hope to continue to do what’s right.”
The counselors who arranged the screening were also very supportive of the film. A few days following the screening, one of them told me that “the film created such a positive buzz at the facility that the men couldn’t stop talking about it. ”
Our next goal is to reach out to as many correctional facilities as possible.
You can contact Ms. Birder at melisbirder@yahoo.com. Some quotes and comments by men who saw the film at Arthur Kill Correctional Facility are posted here.
Building Bridges is the monthly newsletter of the Prison Action Network.
For information on joining, please send an email to prisonactionnetwork@gmail.com .
Posted October 30
GOVERNOR VETOES BILL A4809 TO GIVE WOMEN IN PRISON EQUAL REHABILITATION OPPORTUNITIES.
Bill A4809, same as S5993
Requires Equivalent Rehabilitation Programs for Males and Females in Prison [Details below]
This bill passed in both houses and was delivered to the Governor on Oct 16.
Bill A04809/S5993
Requires that rehabilitation programs for female inmates in state correctional facilities be equivalent to those provided to male inmates of correctional facilities elsewhere in the state; provides that such rehabilitation programs shall include, but not be limited to, vocational, academic and industrial programs.
SPONSORS: Weinstein (MS) Hassell-Thompson (SEN)
Posted October 21:
JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS
FACES NY
New York, NY
FACES NY, Inc. a nonprofit agency in Central Harlem is seeking three full-time staffing positions for an Office of Minority Health funded re-entry initiative titled HIRE NY (Health Improvement for Re-entering Ex-offenders). The HIRE NY Project will coordinate a system of care for individuals re-entering NYC from jails and prisons needing HIV/STI prevention education, HIV/AIDS treatment and care, substance use and mental health, and family reunification support.
Job Title: Project Coordinator
Reports To: Director of Education & Client Services
Hours: 35 hrs/weekly
Salary Range: $40,000 - $45,000/yr
Job Summary: Will have the responsibility of providing clinical supervision and administrative oversight to program staff, group intervention development and facilitation, program development, resource development, data collection and reporting and participation in project evaluation activities.
Qualifications: MSW or its equivalent in health or social service field, with 3 -5 years background /knowledge in substance abuse/mental health counseling, HIV/AIDS and co-occurring conditions and supervisory experience in individual, family and group counseling. It is preferred that the candidate be bilingual, Spanish-English speaking. FACES NY, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Job Title: Re-Entry Case Manager
Reports To: HIRE Project Coordinator
Hours: 35 hrs/weekly
Salary Range: $30,000 - $35,000/yr
Job Summary: Will be responsible for providing and/or facilitating access to comprehensive and integrated social services and treatment to offenders that include, but not limited to, case management, supportive substance abuse/mental health counseling, service coordination and referrals, service plan development and implementation and advocacy.
Qualifications: BA degree in Social Work and/or 5 years, minimum experience in substance abuse/mental health counseling or related field, strong knowledge of chemical dependency issues, familiarity with MICA, homelessness, entitlements, HIV/AIDS and co-occurring conditions and criminal justice system. Bilingual skills desirable. FACES NY, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
ALL POTENTIAL CANDIDATES MAY SUBMIT THEIR RESUMES WITH COVER LETTERS TO:
Antonio Rivera, Director of Education & Client Services
Fax #: 212 864-1614 or via email arivera@FACESNY.org
Posted October 20:
*NYSACDL's POST CONVICTION SEALING HOTLINE*
The New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is collecting stories from people who have been adversely affected by an old conviction in order to convince the government to allow people to apply for their records to be sealed after staying out of trouble for a period of time. Please call the hotline at 1-888-898-0700.
If you are uncomfortable using your real name, you may remain anonymous. The hotline will be staffed on Fridays, but you may leave a message at any time and someone will get back to you.
Posted October 19:
ONE THOUSAND COATS FOR CHILDREN OF THE INCARCERATED
Winter coats will be distributed by Kerwin Phillips Foundation's Prison Brake Network following their free "Save Our Children: The Fight Continues" event at 2 pm on Saturday, October 24, at New Covenant Dominion Catherdral, 1175 Boston Road, Bx NY. Children ages 5-18 who attend the event and fill out a form will receive a new or gently used winter coat. For more information you can visit www.kphillipsfoundation.org and click on "Coats for 1000's" in the left hand column. Donations of coats are also welcomed. For more details about receiving or giving a coat, you can also call 866/611-0678, X1.
BUILDING BRIDGES OCTOBER 2009
Dear Reader,
This issue is so full of exceptional writing and important reports that I have nothing to add. Except to say, be well, have hope, and please, share your copy of Building Bridges.
In this Issue
1. Actions you can take
2. Alternatives to incarceration
3. Buffalo citizens prevail
4. Family Empowerment Day 5
5. Coalition for Fair Criminal Justice Policies
6. ICARE introduces new team member
7. Larry 'Luqman" White wins Citizen's Award
8. Legislation
9. Lifers and Longtermers Clearinghouse
10. Manhattan’s D.A. Race
11. Parole
13. Prison Media
14. Prisoners of the Census
15. Transportation to prisons
16. 'Visitors' shows at Arthur Kill
1. ACTIONS: WHAT CAN YOU DO? HERE’S A LIST OF THINGS:
ALBANY:
Friday Oct 9, 11 am
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI-NYS)'s 27th Annual Educational Conference
The Friday portion of the conference will once again focus on criminal justice and veterans issues. [Non NAMI-NYS Members $125 includes 2 meals and one year membership to NAMI-NYS.] Our featured speaker will be one of the nation's most progressive judges, Robert Russell. Judge Russell will be speaking on The Future of Veterans Courts. Judge Russell, who created Buffalo's Drug Treatment Court in 1995 and Mental Health Treatment Court in 2003, discusses the city's newest initiative, the Buffalo Veterans Treatment Court. This program, created in 2008 by the Buffalo City Court to keep veterans who are non-violent offenders out of jail, is the nation's first veterans treatment court.
Also featured on Friday is US Navy clinical psychologist Heidi Squier Kraft, PhD. Dr Kraft will describe the challenges, heartbreaks and triumphs of serving in combat as a clinical psychologist, in addition to describing her own struggle with combat trauma, and the journey of healing that became her book, Rule Number Two.
Paul Burke, Executive Director, American Psychiatric Foundation will give Friday evening's keynote address Typical or Troubled?-School Mental Health Education.
Complete agenda of the conference is available here.
Location: The Desmond Hotel and Conference Center, 660 Albany Shaker Rd, Albany, NY 12211
BUFFALO:
Monday October 26, 6:30-8:30pm
Prisoners Are People Too
Presents the program originally scheduled for September, featuring Dr. Catherine Fisher Collins, author of The Incarceration of African American Women: Causes, Experiences, and Effects (1997-2007), (details appear in last month’s ‘Building Bridges’). It was postponed to introduce the newly formed organization, “Buffalo Prison Abuse Project” (BPAP), a coalition of various organizations which believes that “prisoners are people too.” For the last two months, BPAP’s committed members have been demonstrating in front of the Erie County Holding Center in Buffalo, raising the community’s awareness of the urgent need for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the conditions and management of the Holding Center and the Erie County Correctional Facility in Alden. Mental, physical, and fiscal abuse have been documented. Yet, the county’s attorney, Cheryl Green, has barred federal investigators and has directed Sheriff Timothy Howard and County Executive Chris Collins not to discuss the issues. The meeting further indicated the need for more public outrage at the various ways that incarcerated people have their human, civil, and constitutional rights violated. BPAP is bringing pressure to bear on the County Executive, the Sheriff, the county’s Comptroller and the Erie County Legislature. (see update below in article # 2)
Pratt-Willert Community Center, 422 Pratt Street, Buffalo, NY
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.
MANHATTAN
Wednesday October 21, 1-3 pm
NY Reentry Roundtable Hosted by The Community Service Society of New York
Speaker Divine Pryor, Ph.D., Executive Director, Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions, School of Professional and Community Development, Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York on A History of Incarceration
105 East 22nd Street at Park Avenue South, Conference Room 4A
Take the 6 or W/R trains to 23rd Street
Please RSVP to Gabriel Torres-Rivera, or at 212.614.5306
Wednesday October 30, 6 pm.
Citizens Against Recidivism, Inc.'s Third Annual Citizens’ Awards
The Citizens’ Awards acknowledge the successes of formerly incarcerated people and are a public acknowledgment of the contributions these outstanding individuals have made since their release from prison.
Public perception and media portrayal of people with criminal records is predominantly negative, many in the public are unforgiving, and the atmosphere is such that many of those returning from prison find it difficult to make a successful transition into our communities. Research citing the percentage of people who return to prison following their release is well known - often 67% within three years of release. However, few efforts seek to highlight the successes.
Our past honorees include leaders in education, grassroots advocacy, religion, public service, policy change, and management-level personnel of social service programs.
It is important for the world to see that people do turn their lives around and that they work to change the course that those at risk of incarceration are likely to take if no one reaches back to help them. These attitudes and tendency would make no room for the possibility of change, of personal transformation, or of attempts to right wrongs. The Citizens’ Awards are an effort to break the silence. They are an attempt to promote the rise after the fall, the good deed that follows wrong done and to offer hope to those who are still in prison.
The Citizens’ Awards help us combat the pervasive and negative stigma that bars people who are trying to successfully reintegrate from accessing the necessities to lead a law-abiding life. The awards honor what is possible in each of us when we give ourselves a chance.
THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER WILL BE FORMER PAROLE CHAIRMAN, GEORGE B. ALEXANDER
Special invited guest: NYS Senator Bill Perkins
Other Confirmed Guests Include: NYS Assemblyman William Scarborough, Representatives of NYS Senator Malcolm Smith, and Imam Talib ‘Abdur Rashid.
At the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center, 3940 Broadway (164th and Broadway) Manhattan.
Entertainment and Refreshments Provided Advance Tickets at $40 ($45 at the door)
For information about group sales inquire at info@citizensinc.org. For advance tickets send check or money order to:
Citizens Against Recidivism, Inc. (Awards)
137-58 Thurston Street (Lower Level Suite), Springfield Gardens, New York 11413
To place an ad in our program or to be listed as a sponsor, click here.
2. ALTERNATIVES TO INCARCERATION- ROCKLAND COUNTY LAUNCHES VETERAN’S ALTERNATIVE TO INCARCERATION PROGRAM
Mid Hudson News August 31, 2009
NEW CITY – Rockland County officials launch the Veteran’s Alternative to Incarceration program.
Many vets returning from active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan turn to drugs and alcohol in an effort to self-medicate service-related issues. Others facing readjustment are left to struggle through a range of unwanted emotional responses to the trauma of combat. Those vets often enter the criminal justice system in Rockland County.
District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said the program would not be a get out of jail free card. “This is not about going soft on crime or somehow excusing unlawful behavior by people who are now separating from the military. Instead, it’s about diversion and accountability and getting them the treatment that they so necessarily need,” he said.
As part of the program, as announced by District Attorney Thomas Zugibe, County Executive S. Scott Vanderhoef and Veterans Services Director Jerry Donnellan, returning service members facing nonviolent criminal charges in Rockland will be identified and screened, then linked with veteran-specific substance abuse and mental health treatment programs as alternatives to incarceration.
The goal of the program is to reduce criminal behavior and re-arrest rates, while helping veterans turn their lives around.
3. BUFFALO CITIZENS PREVAIL! STATE SUES SHERIFF TO COMPEL THE COUNTY TO OPERATE ITS JAIL IN A SAFE, STABLE AND HUMANE MANNER, AS REQUIRED BY LAW.
The Commission of Correction has made repeated efforts to help Erie County comply with regulations designed to ensure the safety and security of the Erie County Holding Center, and ultimately the public safety.
...We have repeatedly advised the county of its myriad delinquencies – which range from failing to provide inmates with reasonable access to a toilet and a bar of soap to troubling denials of due process in disciplinary matters – and offered to work with local officials to address deficiencies which we believe undermine the safety and security of the facility and needlessly expose the county to civil rights actions.
...We are asking only that Erie County comply with the same set of minimal standards routinely followed by the vast majority of correctional facilities across the state.
...When a county refuses to abide by those regulations and abdicates its responsibility to local taxpayers, as Erie County has, the Commission is obligated to pursue a legal remedy.
NYS Commission of Correction, Albany NY [http://www.scoc.state.ny.us/]
[For a copy of the entire article, please send an email to PAN including the name of article and month of Building Bridges]
4. FAMILY EMPOWERMENT DAY 5 - READERS OF BUILDING BRIDGES WILL BE AMONG THE FIRST TO KNOW
Prison Action Network has been receiving mail and phone calls asking about the next FED. Because the last 3 FEDs were scheduled in October, folks expect one this October and want to be sure they save the date. Be assured, you will NOT MISS THE ANNOUNCEMENT!
However, there is no FED5 in the works although we have been thinking about it. FED4's attendees called for a parole bill that would result in the release of community ready individuals who are continually denied parole based on the nature of their crime. FED5 will likely be the unveiling of the bill that results from that mandate. We will need a large group of committed people, prepared to roll up their sleeves and share in the labor and fund-raising necessary to produce such a large event. Together we can change the world, but alone we’re a voice crying in the wilderness.
5. COALITION FOR FAIR CRIMINAL JUSTICE POLICIES REPORTS ON GENERAL MEETING AND POLICY COMMITTEE PROGRESS
The GENERAL MEETING'S Public Relations Campaign is looking for someone who can help produce on their computer the cards for which we have the photos and text. As soon as that is done we will have quantities printed and a street action will be planned where we will hand out our cards and talk to people about their perceptions of us.
The POLICY COMMITTEE has been meeting weekly whenever possible. We invite your input about parole policies as we continue the work of revising 259-i. We are especially interested in what you think about the use of risk assessment tools, and what criteria you think should be considered in making parole decisions. Please send your ideas immediately to PAN at one of the addresses in the footer of this page so we have them at our next meeting. We will include your contribution in our deliberations and report back to you with our decisions, on which you will be invited to comment. A first draft is expected to be ready in October, at which time we will seek a final opinion from all those who contributed their ideas. We plan to have a final draft ready no later than January 1.
6. ICARE REPORTS - JAFAR ABBAS JOINS THE ICARE TEAM AS THEIR NEW COMMUNITY EDUCATOR. BESIDES WRITING A MONTHLY COLUMN IN BUILDING BRIDGES, MR. ABBAS WILL ALSO BE AVAILABLE FOR SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS.
Jafar Abbas is a formerly incarcerated man who has been home for two years. He is currently residing in Staten Island and works as a Research Assistant for Clinical Directors Network in Manhattan, putting research into practice by helping health clinics provide quality service. In prison he discovered his gifts as a writer and performer as well as an analytical thinker. This past June he appeared in the theatrical exploration, What it Means to Cross the Threshold from Incarceration to Freedom, where he was discovered by a member of the ICARE board.
CAGED
Have you ever wondered how a human being can spend years of life in a prison cell and not become animal? I never gave any thought to the tigers pacing back and forth in their zoo cages, not until I had a cage of my own. It wasn’t until then that I wondered if they felt the same about their captivity as I did mine. After all, our stories aren’t much different.
My caged life started in Juvenile Institutions at a young age. I soon graduated to the County Jail and eventually to the “Big House” - the New York State Department of Corrections. I was twenty years old when I took my ride ‘up the river’ and twenty-five long years later I came back down.
I went through my rites of passage in Attica Correctional Facility and saw how far down a person could go and I witnessed how far up a person could climb reclaiming their lives on their upward journey to freedom.
I could with ease describe for you a host of deplorable and degrading prison conditions. I can tell you first hand of the tension that filled Attica when I first walked through its walls in 1985. I can tell you how tear gas smells three days after it’s been dropped. How riots build unnoticed then burst unexpectedly into uncontrollable rage. I can tell you how night provides no sleep for men who fight demons when the Sun goes down. I can tell you of all this, but I will not. I will not tell you any of these things for they give breath to the well known down sides of prison life and ammunition to those seeking to shoot down the calls for humane treatment of incarcerated men and women; a treatment marked simply by the absence of neglect and abuse.
I want to give you a glimpse of the human struggle for life that exists in prisons throughout this country and exists with such audacity and power that it leaves us continuously asking the question, “How does a human being spend years of life in a prison cell and not become animal?” Most people (even those in prison) have absolutely no idea.
My way was to occupy myself with programs and hobbies that consumed time. If I hadn’t, time would have consumed me! One such hobby was the writing of poetry. Poetry allowed me to use it to make sense of my environment and to understand my past. I wrote to learn, to teach, to struggle, to live.
In the course of these monthly columns I will be sharing parts of my life and poetry with you so you can see how a human being can spend years of life in a prison cell and not become animal. -Jafar Abbas
7. LARRY "LUQMAN" WHITE WINS RECOGNITION FOR A LIFETIME OF SERVICE TO PEOPLE IN PRISON
On October 30, 2009, Citizens Against Recidivism, Inc. will host its Third Annual Citizens’ Awards (see Article #1). Readers will be happy to learn that Larry White, who contributes a regular column to this newsletter (Lifer's and Longtermers Clearinghouse, see Article # 9) will be one of the people receiving an award.
Much of Larry's incarceration was spent mentoring others in prison with him and since being released two years ago he has continued to devote his life to those he left behind. We are thrilled he won this much deserved award.
Please contact us if you would like to be part of Prison Action Network’s group reservation to attend the Awards Ceremony. If there are 10 of us, we will earn a discount of $10 each (individual reservations are $40).
8. LEGISLATION: SIGNED! IN ADDITION TO THE ANTI-SHACKLING BILL, THE DOH OVERSIGHT BILL IS SIGNED BY GOVERNOR PATERSON; SOME BILLS TO WATCH.
The Coalition for Women Prisoners is excited to report that Governor Paterson signed into law the Department of Health HIV/Hepatitis C Oversight Bill. This advance comes after years of advocacy on the part of the Coalition for Women Prisoners, and many other advocates in NY. Now, people living with HIV and hepatitis C in NY's prisons will receive the same quality of treatment and care as people in the community.
We are grateful to every one of you who called and emailed the Governor, attended the rally in front of the Governor's office and shared your lived experiences. Your advocacy was central to this victory. Congratulations to the Conditions & Reentry Committee, co-chaired by Jess Ross and Rusti Miller-Hill, whose main legislative focus was the passage of this important bill.
We would like to thank Tracie Gardner, Director of New York State Policy at the LegalActionCenter's Women's Initiative to Stop HIV/AIDS (WISH) and Jack Beck, Director of the Prison Visiting Project at the CA, whose commitment to passing this legislation has been tireless. We also thank the Latino Commission on AIDS, the Women's HIV Collaborative, Women on the Rise Telling Herstory (WORTH), Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), Fortune Society and so many other organizations who signed on in support.
We would like to extend thanks to Sen. Thomas Duane and Assm. Richard Gottfried who championed this bill as well as Assm. Jeffrion Aubry and Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson.
[If you’d like to read one or both of two related articles, a New York Times editorial "Medical Inattention in New York Prisons", and "HIV-Positive Inmates: The Neglected Population" by Kathleen Reeves at the blogspot RH Reality Check, please send an email to PAN including the name of article and month of Building Bridges.]
THE DOH BILL:
A00903/S3842 SPONSOR:Gottfried (MS)
Amends S206, Pub Health Law
Summary: Authorizes and directs the department of health to review any policy or practice instituted in facilities operated by the department of correctional services and in local correctional facilities regarding human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and hepatitis C including the prevention of the transmission of HIV, HCV and the treatment of AIDS among inmates.
BILLS THAT BEAR WATCHING:
The following bills all have sponsors in both houses of the legislature, and by the end of the last regular session had been sent to the appropriate committee in each house. While they will have to be reintroduced in January when the new session begins, they are bills that affect our readers and we will be keeping an eye on their progress as well as others that will be reported on in November. If your senator or assemblyperson is one of the sponsors, you might want to thank them and offer your support.
A3770-a Assem.Mbr Aubry /S4686 Sen.Hassell-Thompson Allows qualified individuals with criminal records to be employed in certain establishments that hold liquor licenses. Rules calendar.83, Investigations Committee and State Operations Committee.
S4684 Sen. Hassell-Thompson/A8178 Assem.Mbr Aubry Allows modification of child support orders or judgments for persons whose income has been reduced due to incarceration. Finance Committee, Judiciary Committee
S3559 Sen.Adams/A6853 Assem.Mbr Camara Requires written notice be given to people discharged from prisons and discharged from parole or conditional release, of such persons' eligibility to vote. Corrections Committee.
A6065 Assem.Mbr Lentol/S 1708 Sen. Sampson Permits the sealing of records of certain nonviolent misdemeanor or nonsexual misdemeanor criminal offenses Codes Committee
A5474 Assem.Mbr Boyland/S1297 Sen.Montgomery Provides that Correctional institution officials shall provide instruction to and assist certain prisoners, at least 90 days prior to their release, to apply to receive Medicaid. Correction Committee, Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committee
A5946 Assem.Mbr Espaillet/S1633 Sen Schneiderman Directs that State Board of Elections obtain residential data on incarcerated persons to be used in creating congressional, senate, assembly, and county districts. Election Law Committee.
A3260 Assem.Mbr Benjamin/S1294 Sen. Montgomery Relates to prohibiting colleges from denying formerly incarcerated individuals’ admittance to college based solely o their incarceration. Education Committee and Higher Education Committee.
[Copies of any bill can be had by sending an email to PAN including the name and number of Bill, and the month of this issue]
9. LIFERS AND LONGTERMERS CLEARINGHOUSE - SENTENCE PLANNING: WHETHER ONE IS A PRISONER SERVING A SENTENCE, A HOSTAGE IN A KIDNAPPING, OR A CAPTIVE IN A WAR.
A major problem facing a prisoner serving a long-term sentence is how to plan the service of his/her sentence such as to achieve the greatest benefits. The prospect of an extended period of imprisonment raises urgent questions of personal survival that for long-term prisoners are of such immediacy that urgent questions of personal development seem impractical.
The ability to plan for the future, to develop a definiteness of purpose, to consider the need for intellectual and spiritual growth, requires a positive life-giving attitude about one's situation. Such an attitude is not an inherent aspect of long-term imprisonment, but requires an organized, programmed effort to develop.
As in any endeavor designed to produce beneficial results, a well thought out plan of action is required. Such a plan should be based on sound principles and effective guidelines.
Long-term prisoners need more than just prison program planning; they need sentence planning. Sentence planning refers to the need to address the totality of extended prison existence for long-term prisoners through integrated approaches, rather than simply plugging them into traditional correctional programs .
Sentence planning as defined here is the process of utilizing universal principles of behavior during confinement to structure the service of a prison sentence. Contrary to popular belief, there are principles that form the basis of codes of behavior governing prisoners of every kind and designation.
Whether one is a prisoner serving a sentence, a hostage in a kidnap, or a captive in a war, there are two primary principles governing behavior during confinement: 1) to gain one's freedom as quickly as possible, and 2) to leave confinement in better condition than when one began it. These principles are universal in that they apply to all forms of confinement.
THE FIRST PRINCIPLE
The first principle: to gain one’s freedom as quickly as possible - not only identifies the ultimate goal to be reached, but it also provides guidelines for achieving that goal - to act as quickly and expeditiously as possible. To act expeditiously is to take no action that would impede or delay achievement of one’s freedom. This requires a critical awareness of one's behavior and a commitment to a process of liberating action. Liberating acts are behavior designed to expedite rather than impede one’s freedom. Liberating acts are the result of a process: REFLECTION AND ACTION. When faced with a decision, the prisoner reflects upon the guiding principle and then acts accordingly.
THE SECOND PRINCIPLE
The second principle - to leave confinement in better condition than when it started - provides direction and guidelines for personal growth and development during confinement. This principle directs prisoners to pursue a course of growth and development throughout their imprisonment. Just as freedom is an essential attribute of human existence, the ability to grow and develop to the full extent of one's ability is an inherent expression of that freedom. That is why the two principles must be carried out in conjunction, prisoners must not only struggle to obtain their freedom, but as a complement of that struggle, prisoners must pursue every opportunity for the growth and development of their human potential.
LIVING BY PRINCIPLES
Because principles provide rules and guidelines that govern behavior, living a life governed by principles may not be an easy matter for many prisoners. The discipline and commitment required must be learned and internalized.
The learning process begins with an understanding of the principles and a belief that strict adherence to them will achieve positive and beneficial results. Understanding the principles may not be a problem, but developing a motivating belief that such principles can easily be followed in a prison setting requires serious consideration.
One such consideration is the popular belief among many prisoners that strict adherence to prison rules and regulations is a sign of weakness and an inability to stand up to authority, of "being down with the administration". Such beliefs may be popular with peers and provide a fashionable image, but they do nothing to enhance efforts to free oneself or positively affect your growth and development. If your beliefs do nothing to motivate behaviors toward freedom, or improve growth and development then they must surely foster actions that result in continued confinement.
APPLICATION OF THE UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLES
Although these principles are universal in their application to the conditions of confinement, they are generally adhered to in all situations. Hostages in a kidnap or a botched robbery who endure lengthy periods of confinement instinctively follow these principles without specific instructions about them. They certainly do not engage in mindless macho contests to the detriment of their own freedom and well being. Soldiers captured in a state of war have been trained and instructed regarding aspects of these principles and follow them with strict discipline . Yet state prisoners who are subject to greater periods of confinement would seem to be oblivious to these principles and their application in a prison setting. -Larry White
10. MANHATTAN'S DISTRICT ATTORNEY RACE: CY VANCE WINS PRIMARY ON A PLATFORM OF COMMUNITY BASED JUSTICE, SAYS PRISON SHOULD BE A LAST RESORT.
Defense lawyer and political scion Cy Vance won Manhattan's Democratic primary with close to 44 percent of the vote in a three-way race. In an interview with All Things Harlem (see link below), Mr. Vance stated many views supported by members of the Prison Action Network. His past record includes working as a prosecutor for former DA Robert Morris Morgenthau (who is resigning after 35 years), serving on NYS's Sentencing Commission, and practicing as a Defense Attorney.
Among policies he promised in his interview with Jazz Hayden:
community based justice (teams assigned to neighborhoods, to know a smaller area well, and take pride in reducing crime there as well as winning cases)
DA's office will be full partner with community leaders as well as Probation and Parole.
diversion to alternative programs for minors and low level offenders.
will help people returning from prison to find housing, a job, and treatment, in order to prevent recidivism.
acknowledged the racial imbalance in the composition of arrests and prosecutions and incarceration and promised his office would use their power to administer justice fairly so as to bring safety to our communities and fairness in our courtrooms.
for his office a crime prevented is far more powerful than a crime prosecuted. Prison should be a last resort.
Watch and listen to the interview.
11. PAROLE NEWS: PART 10 FROM THE PAROLE HANDBOOK; PRESUMPTIVE RELEASE; JULY and AUGUST PAROLE STATISTICS
PART 10 ON PAROLE AND PAROLE BOARD ACTIVITIES IN STATE CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES (#s 12,13,14 IN THEIR HANDBOOK)
[available online at http://parole.state.ny.us/Handbook.pdf or from PAN for a donation of $4 or more - it’s approximately 50 pages]
WHAT IS PRESUMPTIVE RELEASE?
In 2003, Section 806 of the Correction Law was amended to enable the Department of Correctional Services to grant presumptive release to an eligible inmate upon serving a prescribed term of his or her indeterminate sentence. Conditions of release for persons granted Presumptive Release is set by the Board of Parole.
If you are granted Presumptive Release, you will be released from prison and supervised by a Parole Officer. You are not eligible for Presumptive Release if you are serving a sentence for or previously convicted of any of the following:
• An A-1 felony offense;
• A Penal Law Sec. 70.02 violent felony offense;
• Manslaughter 2nd degree;
• Vehicular manslaughter 1st and 2nd degree;
• Criminal negligent homicide;
• Penal Law Article 130 or 263 offenses; or
• Incest.
Presumptive Release may be withheld if, while incarcerated, you commit a serious disciplinary infraction or if you have initiated a frivolous lawsuit or have had sanctions imposed against you under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for litigation you have commenced against the State or its employees.
If you meet the above criteria and also meet the criteria for Merit Time, you may be entitled to Presumptive Release at the expiration of five-sixths of your minimum term or aggregate minimum term. You should talk with your Correction Counselor regarding program application.
WHAT IF I AM DENIED PRESUMPTIVE RELEASE?
You will appear before the Parole Board for discretionary release consideration, based on either a merit time allowance or satisfaction of your minimum term.
AUGUST 2009 PAROLE BOARD RELEASES – A1 VIOLENT FELONS – unofficial research from parole database
Total Interviews...# Released........# Denied.........Rate of Release
18 initial ................... 2.................... 16................. 11%
88 reappearances ...... 7.................... 81................. 8%
106 Total................... 9.................... 97................. 8%
August Initial Releases
Facility..................... Sentence .........Offense........... # of Board
Bedford Hills............. 20-Life.......... Murder 2 .............initial
Clinton...................... 25-Life.......... Murder 2.............initial
August Reappearances
Facility....................... Sentence......... Offense......... # of Board
Clinton....................... 25-Life............ Murder 2 ....... 2nd
Clinton ...................... 7-Life.............. Murder 2........ 11th**
Great Meadow............ 25-Life............ Murder 2........ 4th
Otisville..................... 15-Life............ Murder 2........ 5th
Otisville..................... 15-Life............ Murder 2........ 4th
Shawangunk.............. 20-Life............ Murder 2........ 4th
Wallkill...................... 25-Life............ Murder 2........ 7th
**Special Consideration Hearing
SEPTEMBER RELEASES FROM PRISON REPORTS. (Only one prison reported this month):
OTISVILLE
Sept - commissioners’ names were not given, total number of appearances was not supplied
8 were paroled, 2 were A1VOs.
3 of the 8 were for deportation
12. PRISON MEDIA: ALL THINGS HARLEM, FANCY BROCCOLI, ON THE COUNT, SOUL SPECTRUM WITH LIBERTY GREEN
ALL THINGS HARLEM - www.allthingsharlem.com
Watch and listen to the interview with Cy Vance (reported in Article #10), as well as many other videos likely to be of interest to our readers. New coverage is added regularly. See their TV program on MNN. If you know of events in the community that you think are worth covering please contact Joseph Hayden at info@allthingsharlem.com.
FANCY BROCCOLI RADIO SHOW, WVKR, 91.3 FM - Sundays - Jazz & Prison Talk, 3:00-6:00 pm
Box 726, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie NY 12604-0726
Fancy Broccoli streams online - go to www.WVKR.org and click on (or near) the word 'LISTEN'.
Visit archives to find lots of other good interviews.
ON THE COUNT, WBAI, 99.5FM. - Sundays 10:30am-noon. To listen live on your computer, visit www.wbai.org. To listen later, visit their archives.
SOUL SPECTRUM WITH LIBERTY GREEN, WJFF Radio Catskill 90.5FM - Thursday evenings from 10pm to 1:30am. PO Box 546, Jeffersonville, NY 12748 Voice Box Call-in Comment Line: 845 431 6500 To listen on your computer, live, click here: www.wjffradio.org. To send an email, click here: Email:libertygreen@citlink.net
13. PRISONERS OF THE CENSUS - THE BURDEN TO ELIMINATE PRISON-BASED GERRYMANDERING IS SHIFTING TO THE STATES. IN WISCONSIN, A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT WOULD REQUIRE THE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS TO IGNORE THE PRISON POPULATIONS WHEN DRAWING DISTRICTS.
WISCONSIN AMENDMENT CORRECTS CENSUS
by Peter Wagner, September 14, 2009
[read entire article here]
The 23rd decennial Census will again be counting incarcerated people in the wrong place. But if a proposed constitutional amendment in Wisconsin passes, the state's days of using prison counts to distort districts (and influence elections) will be over.
Ideally, the Census Bureau would change where it counts people in prison. But the pace of change has so far been slow, and with time running short before the next Census in April, the number of options are limited.
Now, the burden to eliminate prison-based gerrymandering is shifting to the states. In Wisconsin, Rep. Frederick Kessler has introduced a constitutional amendment that would require the state and local governments to ignore the prison populations when drawing districts. This approach would not credit incarcerated people back to their homes in Milwaukee and other urban areas, but it would end the practice of crediting them to the rural districts where they count for as much as a tenth of a state legislative district.
On September 15th, I traveled to the Wisconsin State Capital to testify in support of the Wisconsin Census Correction amendment which would direct state and local governments to omit the Census Bureau's incarcerated population when drawing legislative districts.
The Prison Policy Initiative depends on the support of the people who receive this newsletter. If you can help support our work with a tax-deductible contribution it can be done at Network for Good.
14. TRANSPORTATION TO PRISONS:
CAPITAL DISTRICT
NEST Prison Shuttle schedule: Mt McGregor, Washington, Grt Meadow CFs on Sat, Oct 3 ($35 adults, $25 children), Coxsackie, Greene, Hudson on BOTH Sat, Oct 10 & 17 ($20 adults, $15 children) leaving Oakwood Ave Presbyt. Church parking lot, Troy at 7 AM, then Albany Greyhound bus station at 7:15. Sullivan trip (Ulster, Eastern, Woodbourne, Sullivan) on Oct 24 leaving at 6:30 AM ($45 adults, $30 children). Reservations: Linda O'Malley 518- 273-5199.
Free door to door rides from the Capital District: The Justice Committee at the Unitarian Church has 3 volunteer drivers. If you have a loved one in prison and you have no other way of getting to see him or her, maybe we can help. Call us to find out: 518 253 7533
15 "VISITORS" SCREENING AT ARTHUR KILL CORRECTIONAL FACILITY ON STATEN ISLAND RAISES AWARENESS OF FAMILY SACRIFICES: REPORT FROM MELIS BIRDER, THE FILMMAKER
On June 17th, we had a screening at the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility for a group of inmates who were members of the “Lifers and Long Timers Group”. The screening turned out be a moving experience both for the inmates and myself. We received many insightful feedbacks and comments.
During the Q & A session, the inmates emphasized that “the film raised an awareness about the trials and the tribulations that their loved one's go through year after year thus giving them strength and hope to continue to do what’s right.”
The counselors who arranged the screening were also very supportive of the film. A few days following the screening, one of them told me that “the film created such a positive buzz at the facility that the men couldn’t stop talking about it. ”
Our next goal is to reach out to as many correctional facilities as possible.
You can contact Ms. Birder at melisbirder@yahoo.com. Some quotes and comments by men who saw the film at Arthur Kill Correctional Facility are posted here.
Building Bridges is the monthly newsletter of the Prison Action Network.
For information on joining, please send an email to prisonactionnetwork@gmail.com .
Monday, August 31, 2009
SEPTEMBER 2009
Late-breaking News and Announcements:
(please scroll down to read the September issue of Building Bridges):
INVITATION TO THE VISITORS' NEW YORK PREMIERE
Posted 9/17, sent by filmmaker Melis Birder
Urbanworld Film Festival
Manhattan's AMC 34th Street Theater
Thursday Sept 24th, 12:15
Friday Sept 25th, 3:30
To read some letters written by men in prison who saw Visitors at Arthur Kill Correctional Facility, please visit the Visitors website.
BUILDING BRIDGES, SEPTEMBER 2009
Dear Reader,
You know I’m always behind in my correspondence. I complain about it all the time! Some of you wrote me over a year ago and still haven't gotten a reply and probably never will, because the present always presses harder than the past. But a couple of weeks ago, when I was taking a few days to catch up on some of my mail, I realized how much I rely on your letters, both snail and email, for guiding Prison Action Network. We didn't begin this work with an agenda beyond being an informational conduit for the people most directly impacted by incarceration. But as time went on, the volume of mail about certain causes demanded more than reporting and we got involved in actions, such as Family Empowerment Days and campaigns for certain bills and certain political appointments, and now as the lead organization for the Coalition for Fair Criminal Justice Policies which is currently working to modernize Parole Board practices. So I'm through feeling guilty about the mail that goes unanswered and instead I want to thank readers for all the information and opinions and problems that you report. All mail gets read and filed in my memory (such as it is) for future reference. So please keep it coming! But don't expect a reply (although I will continue to try...).
Be well, have hope, and please, share your copy of Building Bridges.
In this Issue
1. Actions you can take
2. Center for Community Alternatives - 2 stories
3. Coalition For Fair Criminal Justice Policies
4. Fiscal crisis in corrections
5. ICARE Reports
6. Legislation
7. Lifers and longtermers clearinghouse
8. Parole news
9. Prison media
10. Transportation to prisons
11. Karen Lewis is found!
1. ACTIONS: WHAT CAN YOU DO? HERE’S A LIST OF THINGS:
BRONX:
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 8:30 AM TO 3:30 PM THE LEGAL ACTION CENTER NATIONAL H.I.R.E. NETWORK, in collaboration with Youth Represent and the Center for Community Alternatives.
4th Annual NYS Reentry Policy Conference - Youth and Criminal Records
National, state and local experts, including young people, will be addressing issues related to the school-to-prison pipeline and the effect of the criminal and juvenile justice system on young people and their families.
Hostos Community College Center for the Arts and Culture Auditorium, 450 Grand Concourse, the Bronx. Please RSVP. Seating is limited and reserved on a first-come basis.
BROOKLYN:
WEDNESDAY, SEPT 9 - FRIDAY, SEPT. 11, 9AM-5PM NULEADERSHIP POLICY GROUP presents a Criminal Justice Symposium.
The event will include a series of seminars to help professionals in various disciplines work more effectively with formerly incarcerated people and their families. Seminars will be taught by Dr. Divine Pryor and Mr. Eddie Ellis, M.P.S.. Seminars are open to community or faith-based service providers, law enforcement officers, social service workers, educators, govt. agency personnel, attorneys, students and others. Coffee and light morning refreshments served. Pre-registration required by Sept. 2. 718 270 6400. 1637 Bedford Ave. Room S-122, Brooklyn. One day: $95, three days: $195. NYC
BUFFALO:
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 6:00-8:00PM COUNTY LEGISLATOR BETTY JEAN GRANT will host a public meeting:
We will discuss the alleged abuse of inmates at the Erie County Holding Center. Former inmates and their families are invited to attend this meeting to voice their concerns. Sheriff Howard, County Executive Collins, County Attorney Green, the Anti-Crime Task Force and others have been invited.
Frank E. Merriweather Library, 1324 Jefferson Avenue @ East Utica, Buffalo.
Contact Legislator Grant for more information: 716-536-7323 or 716-894-0914.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 6:30-8:30PM PRISONERS ARE PEOPLE TOO. September’s meeting will open with a screening of the film, “Tree Shade” (Women Make Movies, Lisa Collins, 1998), in which an African American teenage girl, Savannah, takes an imaginative journey through time and space to witness the prison convictions of her great grandmother Etta Mae, her grand-aunt Olive, and her aunt Denise. This is a film that speaks volumes about identity and self-worth where shame and embarrassment are defining factors.
Our guest speaker, Dr. Catherine Fisher Collins, is an Associate Professor at SUNY Buffalo’s Empire State College who works with graduate and undergraduate students in the fields of Health Care and Criminal Justice. She is a respected author of several publications, mostly dealing with the incarceration of Black women. Her most recent research will be published later this year as The Incarceration of African American Women: Causes, Experiences, and Effects (1997-2007). Following the Attica Uprising, Gov. Hugh Carey appointed her to serve on the NYS Commission of Corrections’ Medical Review Board. As the first nurse appointed to this position, she served in this capacity for five years, reviewing all New York State prisoners’ health complaints and deaths.
Pratt-Willert Community Center, 422 Pratt Street, Buffalo, NY
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.
MANHATTAN
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 6:00 - 8:00 PM THE NEW YORK LAWYER CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY, the Legal Action Center and Fordham Law School's Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics present: Rockefeller Drug Law Reform: A Step Towards Smarter Sentencing Policy for the 21st Century
Featuring:
The Honorable Jeffrion L. Aubry, 35th Assembly District, New York State Assembly
Martin F. Horn, Commissioner, New York City Department of Probation and Commissioner, New York City Department of Corrections
Alan Rosenthal, Co-Director, Justice Strategies, Center for Community Alternatives
Cy Vance, Jr., Member, New York State Commission on Sentencing Reform and Former Attorney, New York County District Attorney's Office
Moderated by: Anita Marton, Vice President, Legal Action Center
Fordham University Lowenstein Building, 12th Floor Meeting Room
(entrance is at West 60th Street and Columbus Avenue) New York, NY
Please RSVP, or by phone: 202-393-6181. For more details: send an email.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 9:00 AM TO 10:30 AM THE PRISONER REENTRY INSTITUTE AT JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE kick-off lecture in the Fall 2009 Occasional Series on Reentry Research
Speaker Derrick Franke, Doctoral Candidate, University of Maryland at College Park, will present his research on the role of restorative justice in prisoner reentry and its application. Preliminary findings will be shared from a randomized controlled trial designed to test the effectiveness of victim/offender conferencing among adult males housed in a reentry-oriented correctional facility. Joining in the discussion will be Susan Herman, Associate Professor, Department of Criminal Justice and Sociology, Pace University and Reverend Petero Sabune, Pastor and Chaplain, Sing Sing Correctional Facility
John Jay College 899 Tenth Avenue (betw 58th and 59th Streets), Room 630.
Please RSVP to Amelia Thompson (212.484.1399; amthompson@jjay.cuny.edu.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 5-7 PM COALITION FOR WOMEN PRISONERS MEETING (New Members Meeting at 4 pm)
Correctional Association of New York, 2090 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., between 124th & 125th streets, Suite 200. Take the 2/3/A/C/B/D to 125th Street. For more information contact Stacey Thompson, Women
in Prison Project Coalition Associate, at: 212-254 5700 x333 or via email sthompson@correctionalassociation.org.
NEW YORK CITY
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, HALF THE DAY FAMILIES AGAINST MANDATORY MINIMUMS (FAMM) is looking for families in the New York City area to participate in a video shoot. We are seeking families that have been impacted by harsh sentencing laws, particularly for nonviolent drug offenses.
FAMM is working with John Forté, a Grammy-nominated singer songwriter best known for his work with the Fugees, to raise awareness of the impact of harsh sentencing laws on families through a project called "The Waiting Project." The project will benefit In Arms Reach, a New York-based program that works with the children of prisoners. The video will accompany a new song by John Forté called, "Who Will Play My Cards for Me." The video begins with a photographer, played by John Forté, as he positions a mother, two children and an elderly grandfather for a family portrait. He sings as he hands the family members a card with the name and prison identification number of their missing family member. In the video, the family is photographed twice -- from the front and then in profile. The photographer ushers them out and a new family enters. Their portraits are a means to tell a story. It's an endless line of families, their lives all put on hold, waiting for their loved one to return from prison.
The Waiting Project is also planning a website and book that will feature the stories of families. Families will be asked to sign a release form giving permission to use your story in the video, website and book.
What we need:
Names and ages of everyone in the family.
A family photo.
A one page description of your experience waiting for a loved one in prison.
Available for a half day shoot on Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Please email Monica Pratt Raffanel, Communications Director if you think you know a family or are a family that can help. Families come in all shapes and sizes and we want to hear from you.
SEND IN YOUR TESTIMONY ABOUT SOLITARY CONFINEMENT: MENTAL HEALTH ALTERNATIVES TO SOLITARY CONFINEMENT (MHASC) is collecting testimonies from families who've been told about, or people who've experienced first hand, being in solitary confinement. As mental health advocates we're especially interested in stories from people who've suffered with psychiatric disabilities while incarcerated. Please write to Alexandra Smith at: Urban Justice Center, 123 William Street, 16th Floor , NY NY 10038, 646-602-5683
2. THE CENTER FOR COMMUNITY ALTERNATIVES (CCA) RECENTLY SHARED TWO STORIES OF TRANSFORMATION: "MY JOURNEY" BY ALAN ROSENTHAL, "A SECOND CHANCE", THE STORY OF ALEJANDRO TORRES
"My Journey" by Alan Rosenthal (Chronicle of Philanthropy, July 6, 2009) tells of Alan's help starting Justice Strategies, CCA's policy and research division. "Success," writes Alan, "is not measured by winning cases but by change systemwide." Alan is now co-director of Justice Strategies.
An excerpt from Alan’s story:
In law school, back in the early 1970s, my interests quickly gravitated to poverty law, public-interest law, and prisoners' rights.
This turn was driven by two events. As an undergraduate at Syracuse University, I had spent a semester studying in Italy. Seeing the United States from an outside perspective provided me with an opportunity to more critically observe the existence of widespread poverty in the wealthiest nation in the world.
Then, during my first week at Syracuse University College of Law in 1971, the Attica prison rebellion began. Within months, I would get to meet directly and through correspondence the men who survived the retaking of the prison. I would come to know them as human beings crying out to be treated as such.
[copies of the article can be had by sending a request to PAN with the name of the article and the month of this issue.]
"A Second Chance" (Hora Hispana, July 9, 2009) describes the help that Alejandro Torres, a Brooklyn youth, received from CCA after he was arrested. Shortly after the article appeared, Alejandro's case was dismissed for lack of evidence that he had committed a crime.
An Excerpt from the article by JOSÉ MANUEL SIMIÁN
Alejandro Torres swears he is innocent. A year ago, he says, he was walking down a street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, when someone accused him of robbery—an incident he describes in few details, as if trying to forget a bad memory. In spite of being underage—he was 15 at the time—, the fact that he was charged with a violent crime sent his case to the New York Supreme Court, where he was tried as an adult. Wanting to avoid sending him to Rikers Island while the trial was resolved, the judge gave him an alternative sentence: participate in the Youth Advocacy Project, one of several programs of the Center for Community Alternatives.
[copies of the article can be had by sending a request to PAN with the name of the article and the month of this issue.]
CCA is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote reintegrative justice and reduce society's reliance on incarceration. We help indigent defendants from the time they are arrested by advocating on their behalf in court and by providing community treatment programs where judges can send them as alternatives to jail or prison. These programs are far less costly than prison and have achieved excellent results for helping participants live safe, healthy lives and avoid re-arrest. We also help women, men, and youth who are newly released from prison with re-entry and recovery programs. Our Justice Strategies division works for systemic reform that will end the over-use of prison as a response to crime.
Their postal addresses are 115 East Jefferson St., Suite 300, Syracuse, New York 13202
39 West 19th Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10011, and 25 Chapel Street, 7th Floor Brooklyn, NY 11217
3. COALITION FOR FAIR CRIMINAL JUSTICE POLICIES REPORTS ON GENERAL MEETING AND POLICY COMMITTEE PROGRESS
The General Meeting met in August to design cards for our campaign to de-stigmatize the image of incarcerated men and women and their loved ones. Due to low attendance, we are discontinuing our monthly meetings. Our next planned event will be sometime in the fall when we will have a street action where we will hand out our cards and talk to people about their perceptions of us. [See Article 1: NEW YORK CITY for a similar project, by FAMM, using video, that we support.]
The Policy Committee has been meeting weekly whenever possible. We invite your input about parole policies as we continue the work of revising 259-i. We are especially interested in what you think about the use of risk assessment tools, and what criteria you think should be considered in making parole decisions. Please send your ideas immediately to PAN so we have them at our next meeting. We will include your contribution in our deliberations and report back to you with our decisions, on which you will be invited to comment. A first draft is expected to be ready in September, at which time we will seek a final opinion from all those who contributed their ideas. We plan to have a final draft by January 1.
4. THE FISCAL CRISIS IN CORRECTIONS: RETHINKING POLICIES AND PRACTICES, A REPORT PUBLISHED BY THE VERA INSTITUTE'S CENTER ON SENTENCING AND CORRECTIONS, EXAMINES HOW STATES ARE RESPONDING TO THE CURRENT FISCAL CRISIS AND ATTEMPTING TO MAKE CHANGES IN THEIR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS THAT WILL NOT ONLY REDUCE COSTS BUT ALSO ENHANCE PUBLIC SAFETY AND REDUCE RECIDIVISM.
The policy framework created by the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States in 2008, reported on p. 12 of the report. " The framework includes five innovative policy options that have already been implemented in several states: *Evidence-based practices * Earned compliance credits *Administrative sanctions * Performance incentive funding * Performance measurement. Although each of these policies has the potential to reduce recidivism and control corrections costs on its own, they promise an even greater impact when implemented together."
Interestingly the report also mentions NY's expanded eligibility for Medical parole which they claim has a projected cost savings of $2 million annually. I've yet to hear about one person being released on medical parole this year. If any reader knows of such a case, please let us know.
[Copies of the report can be had by sending a request naming the article and the issue to PAN.]
5. ICARE REPORTS: THIS COLUMN IS THE FIRST IN A SERIES EMPHASIZING THE ETHICAL ISSUES RELATED TO VARIOUS ASPECTS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND PRISONS IN NEW YORK STATE.
Bringing a Justice Agenda to a Fractured Capital
By Rima Vesely-Flad, Founder, Interfaith Coalition of Advocates for Reentry and Employment (ICARE)
The five-week stalemate in Albany at the end of the 2009 legislative session highlighted the paralyzing politics wrought by gerrymandered senatorial districts, which have consolidated political power at the expense of approximately 63,000 incarcerated persons. As advocates begin to prepare legislative agendas for the next session, it is critical that we understand the demographic context in which prisons have been built and sustained, despite the exorbitant financial cost and devastation to New York’s urban families and communities.
As Peter Wagner and Eric Lotke chronicle in their 2005 article “Prisoners of the Census: Electoral and Financial Consequences of Counting Prisoners Where They Go, Not Where They Come From,” the U.S. Census Bureau counts people in prison where their bodies are confined—in prison—not the communities from which they come. This has extraordinary consequences for the political dynamics of New York State. There are seven senatorial districts that do not have enough residents in them without counting incarcerated persons (See the Prison Policy Initiative). Redistricting in 2002 revealed that Senator Dale Volker, the former chair of the Codes Committee and member of the Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committee, along with Senator Michael Nozzolio, the chair of the Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committee and member of the Codes Committee, together held 23 percent of the state’s prisoners in their two districts. Thus incarcerated men and women are an important means of consolidating conservative Republican political power, not unlike the process in which slaves were counted as three-fifths of a person as means to elevating Congressional political power in the antebellum South.
During the 2009 session, in which the Democrats gained the majority in the Senate by two seats, the Republicans’ loss of committee chairmanships, office space, and staff resulted in a backlash which ultimately harmed the efforts of advocates seeking support for ethical criminal justice bills—legislation that would enhance job seeking opportunities for people with criminal convictions and fair parole practices, amongst others. To be sure, important changes were made to the Rockefeller Drug Laws and the rules of shackling women in labor. However, the vast majority of issues affecting 63,000 incarcerated residents and their families were sidelined in a game of political volleyball, in which the same party that benefits from keeping people in prison to maintain senatorial district boundaries attempted to hijack the floor from fairly elected representatives.
For advocates, this bears on our strategic approach to successfully arguing for a moral agenda. We tend to be issue-oriented, sometimes extending our emphasis to include economic development and voting rights. We need to extend our reach to emphasize redistricting as a primary strategy to change criminal justice policy. This approach to reform in Albany was argued persuasively by an August 8 New York Times editorial and is critical for those of us who push a progressive criminal justice agenda.
We have one more session during which the Democratic leadership definitively holds the reigns in the Senate, and now is the time to expand our advocacy strategy from pushing proposals to focusing on long-term changes to the district boundaries in New York State.
6. LEGISLATION: ANTI-SHACKLING BILL SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; UPDATE ON 6 MO LIMITED TIME CREDIT; RULING ON FEDERAL EXCLUSION POLICY; UNIFORM COLLATERAL CONSEQUENCES OF CONVICTION ACT [Copies of all bills mentioned are available from PAN by asking for the bill by number and the month in which we reported it.]
UPDATES
ANTI-SHACKLING BILL S1290-A/ A3373-A Sponsored by Sen Montgomery and A.M. Parry.
To prohibit the use of mechanical restraints including handcuffs and shackles, on any pregnant female prisoner who is about to give birth during transport from a correctional facility to a medical facility or other accommodation for the purpose of delivering her child.
SIGNED! The Coalition for Women Prisoners has exciting news! Governor Paterson signed into law the Anti-Shackling Bill on Wednesday August 26th! The Governor had 3 more days to make a decision.
It is in large part because of your willingness to put yourselves out there - to make sure the lawmakers and the public understood what was really going on - that this law is now a reality.
Congratulations to all. We hope to see you at the next Coalition meeting on September 29th [see Art. #1 above].
The Coalition for Women Prisoners, coordinated by the Women in Prison Project of the Correctional Association of New York, is a statewide alliance of individuals and organizations dedicated to making the criminal justice system more responsive to the needs and rights of women and their families.
SIX-MONTH LIMITED TIME CREDIT - Passed into law, it should be implemented any day now. A list of those persons who are eligible will be sent to each facility, and those on the list will be notified that they are eligible to apply. Applications will be reviewed by Central Office.
FEDERAL EXCLUSION POLICY RULED INVALID. Appeals panel says the Federal Bureau of Prisons has not adequately explained why inmates who have committed murder, rape and other violent crimes can't participate in an early release program.
By Carol J. Williams- LA Times, August 26, 2009
A Federal Bureau of Prisons policy excluding murderers, rapists and others with violent crimes on their record from an early-release program is invalid because authorities have failed to explain why those inmates are ineligible, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the prison administration to reconsider the application for sentence reduction from Jerry Crickon, a federal prisoner in a Long Beach halfway house due for release in six months.
Crickon, convicted of drug offenses in 2000, was offered a drug rehabilitation program two years ago but was told that, because of a 1970 voluntary manslaughter conviction, he wasn't eligible for the one-year sentence reduction other inmates could get.
... Bureau of Prison rules for sentence-reduction incentive programs categorically exclude inmates with prior convictions for homicide, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
The 9th Circuit panel didn't say the bureau couldn't make such exclusions, just that the bureau hadn't adequately explained its rationale for doing so. Under the federal Administrative Procedures Act, government agencies are required to justify their rules and procedures, then offer the public an opportunity to comment or make proposals.
[copies of this article can be had from PAN if you name the article and the date of this issue]
UNIFORM COLLATERAL CONSEQUENCES OF CONVICTION ACT: Today’s offenders learn – often too late – that they have only begun to suffer the consequences of their convictions after they have served their sentences.
More and more, states are imposing subsequent penalties and disabilities on those convicted of particular crimes. These “collateral consequences” are in addition to those imposed at sentencing. The sanctions vary from state to state, but they generally relate to restrictions on voting, occupational licensing, vehicle licensing, firearm restrictions, offender registration, and public benefits. Preliminary studies show that, in many states, literally hundreds of these consequences may apply. Unlike direct consequences of conviction, collateral consequences are often unknown, may prove devastating, and often last a lifetime.
To deal with this issue, the Uniform Collateral Consequences of Conviction Act was approved today (July 15, 2009) by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) at its 118th Annual Meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The Act includes provisions to ensure that defendants are aware of the existence of collateral sanctions before conviction, are reminded of them at release, govern the effect of out of state convictions, and provide limited means by which some offenders may obtain relief from many such consequences.
Concern about the impact of collateral consequences has grown in recent years as the numbers and complexity of these consequences have mushroomed and the U.S. prison population has grown. There is a real concern on a societal level that collateral consequences may impose such harsh burdens on convicted persons that they will be unable to reintegrate into society.
The Act requires collection in a single document all of the collateral sanctions and disqualifications contained in state statutes or administrative regulations. Fortunately, this task has been simplified by a recent complimentary federal legislation which requires that the Director of the National Institute of Justice identify collateral sanctions in the constitution, codes and administrative rules of the 50 states and the territories. Accordingly, the federal government will do the bulk of the initial work.
......... The Uniform Collateral Consequences of Conviction Act is an effort to clarify the state’s collateral consequences in such a way as to make the criminal justice system both smarter and fairer to all involved.
The Uniform Law Commission, now in its 118th year, comprises more than 300 practicing lawyers, governmental lawyers, judges, law professors, and lawyer-legislators from every state as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Uniform Law Commissioners are appointed by their states to draft and promote enactment of uniform laws that are designed to solve problems common to all the states.
After receiving the ULC’s seal of approval, a uniform act is officially promulgated for consideration by the states, and legislatures are urged to adopt it. Since its inception in 1892, the ULC has been responsible for more than 200 acts, among them such bulwarks of state statutory law as the Uniform Commercial Code, the Uniform Probate Code, the Uniform Partnership Act, and the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.
[copies of the article can be had from PAN if you name the article and the date of this issue]
7. LIFERS AND LONGTERMERS CLEARINGHOUSE: THE STRUGGLE TO CHANGE PAROLE LAWS NEEDS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS THAT PROVIDE REHABILITATION PROGRAMS INSIDE PRISON TO JOIN IN ADVOCACY EFFORTS.
The struggle to change parole law is an ongoing effort of the lifer and long-termer organizations throughout the system. The ability to marshal support in this struggle is a key strategic undertaking that requires an examination of the relationship between state prisoners and the community organizations that provide direct program services to state prisoners.
Community organizations that provide direct program services designed to address the rehabilitative needs of the incarcerated should be guided by two primary goals: 1) to effect positive change in the social deficits of their clients, and 2) to improve their clients’ opportunities for release.
It must be remembered that the ultimate purpose of addressing the rehabilitative needs of the incarcerated person is to correct the social deficits that played a role in the criminal behavior for which they were sentenced. Whether the social deficits are violence, substance abuse or lack of a supportive family structure, there must be evidence that the deficits have been addressed and corrected in order to establish a basis for release.
The problem is when the parole board fails to recognize evidence that the social deficits have been addressed and corrected. Community and faith-based organizations which provide direct services to people in prison face the obligation of establishing themselves as evidence-based programs that work. The success of these programs needs to rest not only on how many individuals complete the course, but on whether successful completion results in improved opportunities for release.
From the point of view of the incarcerated person, they are participating in the program under the belief that it will at least increase their chances for release. There is also the expectation that the community organization will take steps to insure that the release apparatus (parole board) recognizes and gives proper weight to the successful completion of its program.
Community organizations must become involved in the struggle to reform parole laws so that proper evaluative functions are the primary function of the parole board. There are organizations like the New York City Reentry Roundtable composed of service provider organizations, agencies, and faith communities that are involved in providing services to currently and formerly incarcerated persons. Lifer and long-termers organizations and other active prisoner organizations should identify the community organizations providing rehabilitation programs at their facility and inform them of the need for their participation in the struggle for parole reform. - Larry White
8. PAROLE NEWS: PART 9 OF PAROLE HANDBOOK; MERIT TIME; JULY and AUGUST PAROLE STATISTICS; AND A RECOMMENDATION FOR GETTING PAROLE SUPPORT.
PART 9 ON PAROLE AND PAROLE BOARD ACTIVITIES IN STATE CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES
[available online at http://parole.state.ny.us/Handbook.pdf.]
WHAT IS MERIT TIME?
In 1997, Section 803 of Correction Law was amended to provide for a Merit Time allowance; a Merit Time allowance is granted by DOCS. Under this provision, early release may be granted to inmates meeting certain criteria. Inmates meeting these criteria for early release are eligible for a Parole Board interview.
If you are serving an indeterminate sentence and meet the criteria below, you may be eligible for a Merit Time allowance equal to one-sixth of your minimum term. This allowance is then applied to your minimum term to determine when you would be eligible for early release.
For example, if you were serving an indeterminate sentence with a minimum term of six years, your Merit Time allowance would equal one year. When this allowance is applied to your minimum term, you would be eligible for early release by the Parole Board after serving five years.
To qualify for this allowance, you must be sentenced to an indeterminate term with a minimum of more than one year. You are not eligible for Merit Time if you are serving a sentence for any of the following:
• An A-1 felony offense (other than A-1 drug offense);
• A Penal Law sec. 70.02 violent felony offense;
• Manslaughter 2nd degree;
• Vehicular manslaughter 1st degree;
• Criminally negligent homicide;
• Penal Law Articles 130 and 263 offenses; or
• Incest.
If your crime of conviction does not fall within any of the above categories, to qualify for Merit Time, you must also have successfully participated in a work or treatment program assigned pursuant to Correction Law and have accomplished one of the following:
• Earned a GED;
• Acquired an ASAT Certificate;
• Earned a Vocational Trade Certificate after six months of vocational programming; or
• Performed 400 hours of community service on a work crew.
Merit Time may be withheld if, while incarcerated, you have incurred a serious disciplinary infraction, or you have initiated a frivolous lawsuit, or have had sanctions imposed against you under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for litigation that you have commenced against the state or its employees.
In 2003, Section 803 of Correction Law was amended to extend merit time provisions to Class A-1 drug offenses. If you are serving an indeterminate sentence for an A-1 offense defined in Article 220 of the Penal Law and if in the case of multiple sentences, all other sentences are merit eligible, you may be eligible for merit consideration. Merit time allowance for A-1 drug offenses is a possible one-third reduction of the minimum term.
JULY 2009 PAROLE BOARD RELEASES – A1 VIOLENT FELONS – unofficial research from parole database
Total Interviews........ # Released............... # Denied.....Rate of Release
18 initials.............................2 ....................... 16................. 11%
62 reappearances..................8 ....................... 54.................. 13%
80 total ...............................10 ....................... 70 ................ 13%
July Initial Release
Facility........... Sentence..... Offense ....... # of Board
Otisville ........ 22-Life ........ Murder 2 ...... initial
Mid Orange... 15-Life........ Murder 2....... initial
July Reappearances
Facility ........ Sentence..... Offense ................. # of Board
Arthurkill ..... 25-Life......... Murder pre74 .......... 7th
Attica........... 15-Life......... Murder 2.................. 6th
Fishkill......... 21-Life......... Murder 2................. 4th
Franklin........ 15-Life ......... Murder 2 ................. 6th
Franklin ........ 20-Life ......... Murder 2 ................. 3rd
Hudson......... 15-Life ......... Murder 2.................. 6th
Mid Orange.. 15-Life......... Murder 2................. 4th
Otisville........ 15-Life......... Murder 2.................. 4th* * Special Consideration Hearing
AUGUST RELEASES FROM PRISON REPORTS. (Please note that the following statistics are not all limited to people convicted of A1 Violent felonies - some include all parole hearings):
MID-ORANGE
Aug - Ferguson, Loomis, Crangle
21 appearances (8 A1VO)
4 were paroled (2 A1VO)
SULLIVAN ANNEX (this will be last report, the annex is closing at end of this month)s
Aug - Ferguson, Ross, Elovitch??
4 appearances
2 were paroled: 1 A1VO on denovo, 1 non-viol. on first board
2 denied: 1 non-viol, initial, 2 yr hit; 1 viol, initial, CRs in 12/09.
WOODBOURNE
Aug - Ferguson, Elovitch, Ross
20 appearances
1 was paroled
REQUESTS FOR PAROLE SUPPORT:
Prison Action Network frequently receives mail from readers who are weeks, or a few months, away from a parole appearance, and they want us to write a letter of support, or advise them what to do to enhance their chances at being released. I don't write support letters for people I don't know well, no matter how outstanding their potential contribution to society is, so please don’t ask. The Parole Board needs information that is not available in the institutional records. They need to hear from people who know the applicant well; have known him or her for a long enough time to observe changes; who can talk about why they believe that person will never again commit a crime. PAN doesn’t have that information.
But we can point you to some useful information. Although Building Bridges does not accept advertising we do occasionally recommend books and articles that could prove useful to our readers. A few months ago Gerald Balone sent me a notice of his new book, "A Former Insider's Guide to Parole, A Manual for Anyone Trying to Get Out of Prison" , and we mentioned it in our pages because I was familiar with Jerry’s story and had confidence he knew as much about it as anyone. But I didn't read it until two weeks ago. The decisions of the Parole Board are inscrutable, but Jerry, who had met with them many times before he was released, tried to put himself in their place as he prepared for his hearings. And against all odds - he had been committing crimes since he was 8 and his last was considered heinous - he was released. His book makes lots of sense to me. Much of what he says I've heard from others also, but he lays it out very neatly and very completely. So if you want help preparing for a parole hearing, your own or a loved one's, instead of writing or calling me, invest in your future and send him $20 for this book. He’s much more knowledgeable than I am. Gerald T. Balone, 345 Bristol Street, Buffalo, New York 14206-2001
Home: 716-852-0346, Cell: 716-725-7747, A Former Insider's Guide to Parole: A Manual for Anyone Trying to Get Out of Prison www.gtbspeaks.com.
- The Editor
9. PRISON MEDIA: FANCY BROCCOLI, ON THE COUNT, SOUL SPECTRUM WITH LIBERTY GREEN, ALL THINGS HARLEM,
FANCY BROCCOLI RADIO SHOW, WVKR 91.3 FM - Sundays - Jazz & Prison Talk, 3:00-6:00 pm
Box 726, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie NY 12604-0726
Fancy Broccoli streams online - go to www.WVKR.org and click on (or near) the word 'LISTEN'.
Visit archives to find lots of other good interviews.
ON THE COUNT, WBAI , 99.5FM. 10:30am-noon. To listen live on your computer, visit www.wbai.org. To listen later, visit their archives.
SOUL SPECTRUM WITH LIBERTY GREEN, WJFF Radio Catskill 90.5FM - Thursday evenings from 10pm to 1:30am. PO Box 546, Jeffersonville, NY 12748. Voice Box Call-in Comment Line: 845 431 6500
To listen on your computer, live, click here: www.wjffradio.org To send an email, click here: Email:libertygreen@citlink.net
ALL THINGS HARLEM - www.allthingsharlem.com
All of you who were at the Young Lords 40th anniversary should have seen Jazz and his co-defendant Nellie Hester Bailey covering the event and gathering interviews which will be up on the website soon. Keep checking the website because they put new coverage up regularly. Also, their TV program is on MNN. They too have been covering the candidates and will be posting interviews with them within the next two weeks. If you know of events in the community that you think are worth covering please contact us at info@allthingsharlem.com.
10. TRANSPORTATION TO PRISONS:
CAPITAL DISTRICT
NEST Prison Shuttle schedule: Mt McGregor, Washington, Grt Meadow CFs on Sat, Sept 5 ($35 adults, $25 children), Coxsackie, Greene, Hudson on BOTH Sat, Sept 12 & 19 ($20 adults, $15 children) leaving Oakwood Ave Presbyt. Church parking lot, Troy at 7 AM, then Albany Greyhound bus station at 7:15. Sullivan trip (Ulster, Eastern, Woodbourne, Sullivan) on Sept 26 leaving at 6:30 AM ($45 adults, $30 children). Reservations: Linda O'Malley 518- 273-5199.
Free door to door rides from the Capital District: The Justice Committee at the Unitarian Church has 3 volunteer drivers. If you have a loved one in prison and you have no other way of getting to see him or her, maybe we can help. Call us to find out: 518 253 7533
11. KAREN LEWIS, OF AL LEWIS LIVES!, IS ALIVE AND WELL. THANK YOU TO THE ANGEL WHO READ OUR CALL FOR INFORMATION, AND SHARED IT WITH HER.
Karen left New York City last December to move to California, where she’s been writing a memoir of her life with Al Lewis. She sends her warmest regards to all our readers.
Building Bridges is the monthly newsletter of the Prison Action Network.
For information on joining, please call 518 253 7533, or send an email.
(please scroll down to read the September issue of Building Bridges):
INVITATION TO THE VISITORS' NEW YORK PREMIERE
Posted 9/17, sent by filmmaker Melis Birder
Urbanworld Film Festival
Manhattan's AMC 34th Street Theater
Thursday Sept 24th, 12:15
Friday Sept 25th, 3:30
To read some letters written by men in prison who saw Visitors at Arthur Kill Correctional Facility, please visit the Visitors website.
BUILDING BRIDGES, SEPTEMBER 2009
Dear Reader,
You know I’m always behind in my correspondence. I complain about it all the time! Some of you wrote me over a year ago and still haven't gotten a reply and probably never will, because the present always presses harder than the past. But a couple of weeks ago, when I was taking a few days to catch up on some of my mail, I realized how much I rely on your letters, both snail and email, for guiding Prison Action Network. We didn't begin this work with an agenda beyond being an informational conduit for the people most directly impacted by incarceration. But as time went on, the volume of mail about certain causes demanded more than reporting and we got involved in actions, such as Family Empowerment Days and campaigns for certain bills and certain political appointments, and now as the lead organization for the Coalition for Fair Criminal Justice Policies which is currently working to modernize Parole Board practices. So I'm through feeling guilty about the mail that goes unanswered and instead I want to thank readers for all the information and opinions and problems that you report. All mail gets read and filed in my memory (such as it is) for future reference. So please keep it coming! But don't expect a reply (although I will continue to try...).
Be well, have hope, and please, share your copy of Building Bridges.
In this Issue
1. Actions you can take
2. Center for Community Alternatives - 2 stories
3. Coalition For Fair Criminal Justice Policies
4. Fiscal crisis in corrections
5. ICARE Reports
6. Legislation
7. Lifers and longtermers clearinghouse
8. Parole news
9. Prison media
10. Transportation to prisons
11. Karen Lewis is found!
1. ACTIONS: WHAT CAN YOU DO? HERE’S A LIST OF THINGS:
BRONX:
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 8:30 AM TO 3:30 PM THE LEGAL ACTION CENTER NATIONAL H.I.R.E. NETWORK, in collaboration with Youth Represent and the Center for Community Alternatives.
4th Annual NYS Reentry Policy Conference - Youth and Criminal Records
National, state and local experts, including young people, will be addressing issues related to the school-to-prison pipeline and the effect of the criminal and juvenile justice system on young people and their families.
Hostos Community College Center for the Arts and Culture Auditorium, 450 Grand Concourse, the Bronx. Please RSVP. Seating is limited and reserved on a first-come basis.
BROOKLYN:
WEDNESDAY, SEPT 9 - FRIDAY, SEPT. 11, 9AM-5PM NULEADERSHIP POLICY GROUP presents a Criminal Justice Symposium.
The event will include a series of seminars to help professionals in various disciplines work more effectively with formerly incarcerated people and their families. Seminars will be taught by Dr. Divine Pryor and Mr. Eddie Ellis, M.P.S.. Seminars are open to community or faith-based service providers, law enforcement officers, social service workers, educators, govt. agency personnel, attorneys, students and others. Coffee and light morning refreshments served. Pre-registration required by Sept. 2. 718 270 6400. 1637 Bedford Ave. Room S-122, Brooklyn. One day: $95, three days: $195. NYC
BUFFALO:
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 6:00-8:00PM COUNTY LEGISLATOR BETTY JEAN GRANT will host a public meeting:
We will discuss the alleged abuse of inmates at the Erie County Holding Center. Former inmates and their families are invited to attend this meeting to voice their concerns. Sheriff Howard, County Executive Collins, County Attorney Green, the Anti-Crime Task Force and others have been invited.
Frank E. Merriweather Library, 1324 Jefferson Avenue @ East Utica, Buffalo.
Contact Legislator Grant for more information: 716-536-7323 or 716-894-0914.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 6:30-8:30PM PRISONERS ARE PEOPLE TOO. September’s meeting will open with a screening of the film, “Tree Shade” (Women Make Movies, Lisa Collins, 1998), in which an African American teenage girl, Savannah, takes an imaginative journey through time and space to witness the prison convictions of her great grandmother Etta Mae, her grand-aunt Olive, and her aunt Denise. This is a film that speaks volumes about identity and self-worth where shame and embarrassment are defining factors.
Our guest speaker, Dr. Catherine Fisher Collins, is an Associate Professor at SUNY Buffalo’s Empire State College who works with graduate and undergraduate students in the fields of Health Care and Criminal Justice. She is a respected author of several publications, mostly dealing with the incarceration of Black women. Her most recent research will be published later this year as The Incarceration of African American Women: Causes, Experiences, and Effects (1997-2007). Following the Attica Uprising, Gov. Hugh Carey appointed her to serve on the NYS Commission of Corrections’ Medical Review Board. As the first nurse appointed to this position, she served in this capacity for five years, reviewing all New York State prisoners’ health complaints and deaths.
Pratt-Willert Community Center, 422 Pratt Street, Buffalo, NY
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.
MANHATTAN
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 6:00 - 8:00 PM THE NEW YORK LAWYER CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY, the Legal Action Center and Fordham Law School's Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics present: Rockefeller Drug Law Reform: A Step Towards Smarter Sentencing Policy for the 21st Century
Featuring:
The Honorable Jeffrion L. Aubry, 35th Assembly District, New York State Assembly
Martin F. Horn, Commissioner, New York City Department of Probation and Commissioner, New York City Department of Corrections
Alan Rosenthal, Co-Director, Justice Strategies, Center for Community Alternatives
Cy Vance, Jr., Member, New York State Commission on Sentencing Reform and Former Attorney, New York County District Attorney's Office
Moderated by: Anita Marton, Vice President, Legal Action Center
Fordham University Lowenstein Building, 12th Floor Meeting Room
(entrance is at West 60th Street and Columbus Avenue) New York, NY
Please RSVP, or by phone: 202-393-6181. For more details: send an email.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 9:00 AM TO 10:30 AM THE PRISONER REENTRY INSTITUTE AT JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE kick-off lecture in the Fall 2009 Occasional Series on Reentry Research
Speaker Derrick Franke, Doctoral Candidate, University of Maryland at College Park, will present his research on the role of restorative justice in prisoner reentry and its application. Preliminary findings will be shared from a randomized controlled trial designed to test the effectiveness of victim/offender conferencing among adult males housed in a reentry-oriented correctional facility. Joining in the discussion will be Susan Herman, Associate Professor, Department of Criminal Justice and Sociology, Pace University and Reverend Petero Sabune, Pastor and Chaplain, Sing Sing Correctional Facility
John Jay College 899 Tenth Avenue (betw 58th and 59th Streets), Room 630.
Please RSVP to Amelia Thompson (212.484.1399; amthompson@jjay.cuny.edu.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 5-7 PM COALITION FOR WOMEN PRISONERS MEETING (New Members Meeting at 4 pm)
Correctional Association of New York, 2090 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., between 124th & 125th streets, Suite 200. Take the 2/3/A/C/B/D to 125th Street. For more information contact Stacey Thompson, Women
in Prison Project Coalition Associate, at: 212-254 5700 x333 or via email sthompson@correctionalassociation.org.
NEW YORK CITY
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, HALF THE DAY FAMILIES AGAINST MANDATORY MINIMUMS (FAMM) is looking for families in the New York City area to participate in a video shoot. We are seeking families that have been impacted by harsh sentencing laws, particularly for nonviolent drug offenses.
FAMM is working with John Forté, a Grammy-nominated singer songwriter best known for his work with the Fugees, to raise awareness of the impact of harsh sentencing laws on families through a project called "The Waiting Project." The project will benefit In Arms Reach, a New York-based program that works with the children of prisoners. The video will accompany a new song by John Forté called, "Who Will Play My Cards for Me." The video begins with a photographer, played by John Forté, as he positions a mother, two children and an elderly grandfather for a family portrait. He sings as he hands the family members a card with the name and prison identification number of their missing family member. In the video, the family is photographed twice -- from the front and then in profile. The photographer ushers them out and a new family enters. Their portraits are a means to tell a story. It's an endless line of families, their lives all put on hold, waiting for their loved one to return from prison.
The Waiting Project is also planning a website and book that will feature the stories of families. Families will be asked to sign a release form giving permission to use your story in the video, website and book.
What we need:
Names and ages of everyone in the family.
A family photo.
A one page description of your experience waiting for a loved one in prison.
Available for a half day shoot on Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Please email Monica Pratt Raffanel, Communications Director if you think you know a family or are a family that can help. Families come in all shapes and sizes and we want to hear from you.
SEND IN YOUR TESTIMONY ABOUT SOLITARY CONFINEMENT: MENTAL HEALTH ALTERNATIVES TO SOLITARY CONFINEMENT (MHASC) is collecting testimonies from families who've been told about, or people who've experienced first hand, being in solitary confinement. As mental health advocates we're especially interested in stories from people who've suffered with psychiatric disabilities while incarcerated. Please write to Alexandra Smith at: Urban Justice Center, 123 William Street, 16th Floor , NY NY 10038, 646-602-5683
2. THE CENTER FOR COMMUNITY ALTERNATIVES (CCA) RECENTLY SHARED TWO STORIES OF TRANSFORMATION: "MY JOURNEY" BY ALAN ROSENTHAL, "A SECOND CHANCE", THE STORY OF ALEJANDRO TORRES
"My Journey" by Alan Rosenthal (Chronicle of Philanthropy, July 6, 2009) tells of Alan's help starting Justice Strategies, CCA's policy and research division. "Success," writes Alan, "is not measured by winning cases but by change systemwide." Alan is now co-director of Justice Strategies.
An excerpt from Alan’s story:
In law school, back in the early 1970s, my interests quickly gravitated to poverty law, public-interest law, and prisoners' rights.
This turn was driven by two events. As an undergraduate at Syracuse University, I had spent a semester studying in Italy. Seeing the United States from an outside perspective provided me with an opportunity to more critically observe the existence of widespread poverty in the wealthiest nation in the world.
Then, during my first week at Syracuse University College of Law in 1971, the Attica prison rebellion began. Within months, I would get to meet directly and through correspondence the men who survived the retaking of the prison. I would come to know them as human beings crying out to be treated as such.
[copies of the article can be had by sending a request to PAN with the name of the article and the month of this issue.]
"A Second Chance" (Hora Hispana, July 9, 2009) describes the help that Alejandro Torres, a Brooklyn youth, received from CCA after he was arrested. Shortly after the article appeared, Alejandro's case was dismissed for lack of evidence that he had committed a crime.
An Excerpt from the article by JOSÉ MANUEL SIMIÁN
Alejandro Torres swears he is innocent. A year ago, he says, he was walking down a street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, when someone accused him of robbery—an incident he describes in few details, as if trying to forget a bad memory. In spite of being underage—he was 15 at the time—, the fact that he was charged with a violent crime sent his case to the New York Supreme Court, where he was tried as an adult. Wanting to avoid sending him to Rikers Island while the trial was resolved, the judge gave him an alternative sentence: participate in the Youth Advocacy Project, one of several programs of the Center for Community Alternatives.
[copies of the article can be had by sending a request to PAN with the name of the article and the month of this issue.]
CCA is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote reintegrative justice and reduce society's reliance on incarceration. We help indigent defendants from the time they are arrested by advocating on their behalf in court and by providing community treatment programs where judges can send them as alternatives to jail or prison. These programs are far less costly than prison and have achieved excellent results for helping participants live safe, healthy lives and avoid re-arrest. We also help women, men, and youth who are newly released from prison with re-entry and recovery programs. Our Justice Strategies division works for systemic reform that will end the over-use of prison as a response to crime.
Their postal addresses are 115 East Jefferson St., Suite 300, Syracuse, New York 13202
39 West 19th Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10011, and 25 Chapel Street, 7th Floor Brooklyn, NY 11217
3. COALITION FOR FAIR CRIMINAL JUSTICE POLICIES REPORTS ON GENERAL MEETING AND POLICY COMMITTEE PROGRESS
The General Meeting met in August to design cards for our campaign to de-stigmatize the image of incarcerated men and women and their loved ones. Due to low attendance, we are discontinuing our monthly meetings. Our next planned event will be sometime in the fall when we will have a street action where we will hand out our cards and talk to people about their perceptions of us. [See Article 1: NEW YORK CITY for a similar project, by FAMM, using video, that we support.]
The Policy Committee has been meeting weekly whenever possible. We invite your input about parole policies as we continue the work of revising 259-i. We are especially interested in what you think about the use of risk assessment tools, and what criteria you think should be considered in making parole decisions. Please send your ideas immediately to PAN so we have them at our next meeting. We will include your contribution in our deliberations and report back to you with our decisions, on which you will be invited to comment. A first draft is expected to be ready in September, at which time we will seek a final opinion from all those who contributed their ideas. We plan to have a final draft by January 1.
4. THE FISCAL CRISIS IN CORRECTIONS: RETHINKING POLICIES AND PRACTICES, A REPORT PUBLISHED BY THE VERA INSTITUTE'S CENTER ON SENTENCING AND CORRECTIONS, EXAMINES HOW STATES ARE RESPONDING TO THE CURRENT FISCAL CRISIS AND ATTEMPTING TO MAKE CHANGES IN THEIR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS THAT WILL NOT ONLY REDUCE COSTS BUT ALSO ENHANCE PUBLIC SAFETY AND REDUCE RECIDIVISM.
The policy framework created by the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States in 2008, reported on p. 12 of the report. " The framework includes five innovative policy options that have already been implemented in several states: *Evidence-based practices * Earned compliance credits *Administrative sanctions * Performance incentive funding * Performance measurement. Although each of these policies has the potential to reduce recidivism and control corrections costs on its own, they promise an even greater impact when implemented together."
Interestingly the report also mentions NY's expanded eligibility for Medical parole which they claim has a projected cost savings of $2 million annually. I've yet to hear about one person being released on medical parole this year. If any reader knows of such a case, please let us know.
[Copies of the report can be had by sending a request naming the article and the issue to PAN.]
5. ICARE REPORTS: THIS COLUMN IS THE FIRST IN A SERIES EMPHASIZING THE ETHICAL ISSUES RELATED TO VARIOUS ASPECTS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND PRISONS IN NEW YORK STATE.
Bringing a Justice Agenda to a Fractured Capital
By Rima Vesely-Flad, Founder, Interfaith Coalition of Advocates for Reentry and Employment (ICARE)
The five-week stalemate in Albany at the end of the 2009 legislative session highlighted the paralyzing politics wrought by gerrymandered senatorial districts, which have consolidated political power at the expense of approximately 63,000 incarcerated persons. As advocates begin to prepare legislative agendas for the next session, it is critical that we understand the demographic context in which prisons have been built and sustained, despite the exorbitant financial cost and devastation to New York’s urban families and communities.
As Peter Wagner and Eric Lotke chronicle in their 2005 article “Prisoners of the Census: Electoral and Financial Consequences of Counting Prisoners Where They Go, Not Where They Come From,” the U.S. Census Bureau counts people in prison where their bodies are confined—in prison—not the communities from which they come. This has extraordinary consequences for the political dynamics of New York State. There are seven senatorial districts that do not have enough residents in them without counting incarcerated persons (See the Prison Policy Initiative). Redistricting in 2002 revealed that Senator Dale Volker, the former chair of the Codes Committee and member of the Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committee, along with Senator Michael Nozzolio, the chair of the Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committee and member of the Codes Committee, together held 23 percent of the state’s prisoners in their two districts. Thus incarcerated men and women are an important means of consolidating conservative Republican political power, not unlike the process in which slaves were counted as three-fifths of a person as means to elevating Congressional political power in the antebellum South.
During the 2009 session, in which the Democrats gained the majority in the Senate by two seats, the Republicans’ loss of committee chairmanships, office space, and staff resulted in a backlash which ultimately harmed the efforts of advocates seeking support for ethical criminal justice bills—legislation that would enhance job seeking opportunities for people with criminal convictions and fair parole practices, amongst others. To be sure, important changes were made to the Rockefeller Drug Laws and the rules of shackling women in labor. However, the vast majority of issues affecting 63,000 incarcerated residents and their families were sidelined in a game of political volleyball, in which the same party that benefits from keeping people in prison to maintain senatorial district boundaries attempted to hijack the floor from fairly elected representatives.
For advocates, this bears on our strategic approach to successfully arguing for a moral agenda. We tend to be issue-oriented, sometimes extending our emphasis to include economic development and voting rights. We need to extend our reach to emphasize redistricting as a primary strategy to change criminal justice policy. This approach to reform in Albany was argued persuasively by an August 8 New York Times editorial and is critical for those of us who push a progressive criminal justice agenda.
We have one more session during which the Democratic leadership definitively holds the reigns in the Senate, and now is the time to expand our advocacy strategy from pushing proposals to focusing on long-term changes to the district boundaries in New York State.
6. LEGISLATION: ANTI-SHACKLING BILL SIGNED BY GOVERNOR; UPDATE ON 6 MO LIMITED TIME CREDIT; RULING ON FEDERAL EXCLUSION POLICY; UNIFORM COLLATERAL CONSEQUENCES OF CONVICTION ACT [Copies of all bills mentioned are available from PAN by asking for the bill by number and the month in which we reported it.]
UPDATES
ANTI-SHACKLING BILL S1290-A/ A3373-A Sponsored by Sen Montgomery and A.M. Parry.
To prohibit the use of mechanical restraints including handcuffs and shackles, on any pregnant female prisoner who is about to give birth during transport from a correctional facility to a medical facility or other accommodation for the purpose of delivering her child.
SIGNED! The Coalition for Women Prisoners has exciting news! Governor Paterson signed into law the Anti-Shackling Bill on Wednesday August 26th! The Governor had 3 more days to make a decision.
It is in large part because of your willingness to put yourselves out there - to make sure the lawmakers and the public understood what was really going on - that this law is now a reality.
Congratulations to all. We hope to see you at the next Coalition meeting on September 29th [see Art. #1 above].
The Coalition for Women Prisoners, coordinated by the Women in Prison Project of the Correctional Association of New York, is a statewide alliance of individuals and organizations dedicated to making the criminal justice system more responsive to the needs and rights of women and their families.
SIX-MONTH LIMITED TIME CREDIT - Passed into law, it should be implemented any day now. A list of those persons who are eligible will be sent to each facility, and those on the list will be notified that they are eligible to apply. Applications will be reviewed by Central Office.
FEDERAL EXCLUSION POLICY RULED INVALID. Appeals panel says the Federal Bureau of Prisons has not adequately explained why inmates who have committed murder, rape and other violent crimes can't participate in an early release program.
By Carol J. Williams- LA Times, August 26, 2009
A Federal Bureau of Prisons policy excluding murderers, rapists and others with violent crimes on their record from an early-release program is invalid because authorities have failed to explain why those inmates are ineligible, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the prison administration to reconsider the application for sentence reduction from Jerry Crickon, a federal prisoner in a Long Beach halfway house due for release in six months.
Crickon, convicted of drug offenses in 2000, was offered a drug rehabilitation program two years ago but was told that, because of a 1970 voluntary manslaughter conviction, he wasn't eligible for the one-year sentence reduction other inmates could get.
... Bureau of Prison rules for sentence-reduction incentive programs categorically exclude inmates with prior convictions for homicide, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
The 9th Circuit panel didn't say the bureau couldn't make such exclusions, just that the bureau hadn't adequately explained its rationale for doing so. Under the federal Administrative Procedures Act, government agencies are required to justify their rules and procedures, then offer the public an opportunity to comment or make proposals.
[copies of this article can be had from PAN if you name the article and the date of this issue]
UNIFORM COLLATERAL CONSEQUENCES OF CONVICTION ACT: Today’s offenders learn – often too late – that they have only begun to suffer the consequences of their convictions after they have served their sentences.
More and more, states are imposing subsequent penalties and disabilities on those convicted of particular crimes. These “collateral consequences” are in addition to those imposed at sentencing. The sanctions vary from state to state, but they generally relate to restrictions on voting, occupational licensing, vehicle licensing, firearm restrictions, offender registration, and public benefits. Preliminary studies show that, in many states, literally hundreds of these consequences may apply. Unlike direct consequences of conviction, collateral consequences are often unknown, may prove devastating, and often last a lifetime.
To deal with this issue, the Uniform Collateral Consequences of Conviction Act was approved today (July 15, 2009) by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) at its 118th Annual Meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The Act includes provisions to ensure that defendants are aware of the existence of collateral sanctions before conviction, are reminded of them at release, govern the effect of out of state convictions, and provide limited means by which some offenders may obtain relief from many such consequences.
Concern about the impact of collateral consequences has grown in recent years as the numbers and complexity of these consequences have mushroomed and the U.S. prison population has grown. There is a real concern on a societal level that collateral consequences may impose such harsh burdens on convicted persons that they will be unable to reintegrate into society.
The Act requires collection in a single document all of the collateral sanctions and disqualifications contained in state statutes or administrative regulations. Fortunately, this task has been simplified by a recent complimentary federal legislation which requires that the Director of the National Institute of Justice identify collateral sanctions in the constitution, codes and administrative rules of the 50 states and the territories. Accordingly, the federal government will do the bulk of the initial work.
......... The Uniform Collateral Consequences of Conviction Act is an effort to clarify the state’s collateral consequences in such a way as to make the criminal justice system both smarter and fairer to all involved.
The Uniform Law Commission, now in its 118th year, comprises more than 300 practicing lawyers, governmental lawyers, judges, law professors, and lawyer-legislators from every state as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Uniform Law Commissioners are appointed by their states to draft and promote enactment of uniform laws that are designed to solve problems common to all the states.
After receiving the ULC’s seal of approval, a uniform act is officially promulgated for consideration by the states, and legislatures are urged to adopt it. Since its inception in 1892, the ULC has been responsible for more than 200 acts, among them such bulwarks of state statutory law as the Uniform Commercial Code, the Uniform Probate Code, the Uniform Partnership Act, and the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.
[copies of the article can be had from PAN if you name the article and the date of this issue]
7. LIFERS AND LONGTERMERS CLEARINGHOUSE: THE STRUGGLE TO CHANGE PAROLE LAWS NEEDS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS THAT PROVIDE REHABILITATION PROGRAMS INSIDE PRISON TO JOIN IN ADVOCACY EFFORTS.
The struggle to change parole law is an ongoing effort of the lifer and long-termer organizations throughout the system. The ability to marshal support in this struggle is a key strategic undertaking that requires an examination of the relationship between state prisoners and the community organizations that provide direct program services to state prisoners.
Community organizations that provide direct program services designed to address the rehabilitative needs of the incarcerated should be guided by two primary goals: 1) to effect positive change in the social deficits of their clients, and 2) to improve their clients’ opportunities for release.
It must be remembered that the ultimate purpose of addressing the rehabilitative needs of the incarcerated person is to correct the social deficits that played a role in the criminal behavior for which they were sentenced. Whether the social deficits are violence, substance abuse or lack of a supportive family structure, there must be evidence that the deficits have been addressed and corrected in order to establish a basis for release.
The problem is when the parole board fails to recognize evidence that the social deficits have been addressed and corrected. Community and faith-based organizations which provide direct services to people in prison face the obligation of establishing themselves as evidence-based programs that work. The success of these programs needs to rest not only on how many individuals complete the course, but on whether successful completion results in improved opportunities for release.
From the point of view of the incarcerated person, they are participating in the program under the belief that it will at least increase their chances for release. There is also the expectation that the community organization will take steps to insure that the release apparatus (parole board) recognizes and gives proper weight to the successful completion of its program.
Community organizations must become involved in the struggle to reform parole laws so that proper evaluative functions are the primary function of the parole board. There are organizations like the New York City Reentry Roundtable composed of service provider organizations, agencies, and faith communities that are involved in providing services to currently and formerly incarcerated persons. Lifer and long-termers organizations and other active prisoner organizations should identify the community organizations providing rehabilitation programs at their facility and inform them of the need for their participation in the struggle for parole reform. - Larry White
8. PAROLE NEWS: PART 9 OF PAROLE HANDBOOK; MERIT TIME; JULY and AUGUST PAROLE STATISTICS; AND A RECOMMENDATION FOR GETTING PAROLE SUPPORT.
PART 9 ON PAROLE AND PAROLE BOARD ACTIVITIES IN STATE CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES
[available online at http://parole.state.ny.us/Handbook.pdf.]
WHAT IS MERIT TIME?
In 1997, Section 803 of Correction Law was amended to provide for a Merit Time allowance; a Merit Time allowance is granted by DOCS. Under this provision, early release may be granted to inmates meeting certain criteria. Inmates meeting these criteria for early release are eligible for a Parole Board interview.
If you are serving an indeterminate sentence and meet the criteria below, you may be eligible for a Merit Time allowance equal to one-sixth of your minimum term. This allowance is then applied to your minimum term to determine when you would be eligible for early release.
For example, if you were serving an indeterminate sentence with a minimum term of six years, your Merit Time allowance would equal one year. When this allowance is applied to your minimum term, you would be eligible for early release by the Parole Board after serving five years.
To qualify for this allowance, you must be sentenced to an indeterminate term with a minimum of more than one year. You are not eligible for Merit Time if you are serving a sentence for any of the following:
• An A-1 felony offense (other than A-1 drug offense);
• A Penal Law sec. 70.02 violent felony offense;
• Manslaughter 2nd degree;
• Vehicular manslaughter 1st degree;
• Criminally negligent homicide;
• Penal Law Articles 130 and 263 offenses; or
• Incest.
If your crime of conviction does not fall within any of the above categories, to qualify for Merit Time, you must also have successfully participated in a work or treatment program assigned pursuant to Correction Law and have accomplished one of the following:
• Earned a GED;
• Acquired an ASAT Certificate;
• Earned a Vocational Trade Certificate after six months of vocational programming; or
• Performed 400 hours of community service on a work crew.
Merit Time may be withheld if, while incarcerated, you have incurred a serious disciplinary infraction, or you have initiated a frivolous lawsuit, or have had sanctions imposed against you under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for litigation that you have commenced against the state or its employees.
In 2003, Section 803 of Correction Law was amended to extend merit time provisions to Class A-1 drug offenses. If you are serving an indeterminate sentence for an A-1 offense defined in Article 220 of the Penal Law and if in the case of multiple sentences, all other sentences are merit eligible, you may be eligible for merit consideration. Merit time allowance for A-1 drug offenses is a possible one-third reduction of the minimum term.
JULY 2009 PAROLE BOARD RELEASES – A1 VIOLENT FELONS – unofficial research from parole database
Total Interviews........ # Released............... # Denied.....Rate of Release
18 initials.............................2 ....................... 16................. 11%
62 reappearances..................8 ....................... 54.................. 13%
80 total ...............................10 ....................... 70 ................ 13%
July Initial Release
Facility........... Sentence..... Offense ....... # of Board
Otisville ........ 22-Life ........ Murder 2 ...... initial
Mid Orange... 15-Life........ Murder 2....... initial
July Reappearances
Facility ........ Sentence..... Offense ................. # of Board
Arthurkill ..... 25-Life......... Murder pre74 .......... 7th
Attica........... 15-Life......... Murder 2.................. 6th
Fishkill......... 21-Life......... Murder 2................. 4th
Franklin........ 15-Life ......... Murder 2 ................. 6th
Franklin ........ 20-Life ......... Murder 2 ................. 3rd
Hudson......... 15-Life ......... Murder 2.................. 6th
Mid Orange.. 15-Life......... Murder 2................. 4th
Otisville........ 15-Life......... Murder 2.................. 4th* * Special Consideration Hearing
AUGUST RELEASES FROM PRISON REPORTS. (Please note that the following statistics are not all limited to people convicted of A1 Violent felonies - some include all parole hearings):
MID-ORANGE
Aug - Ferguson, Loomis, Crangle
21 appearances (8 A1VO)
4 were paroled (2 A1VO)
SULLIVAN ANNEX (this will be last report, the annex is closing at end of this month)s
Aug - Ferguson, Ross, Elovitch??
4 appearances
2 were paroled: 1 A1VO on denovo, 1 non-viol. on first board
2 denied: 1 non-viol, initial, 2 yr hit; 1 viol, initial, CRs in 12/09.
WOODBOURNE
Aug - Ferguson, Elovitch, Ross
20 appearances
1 was paroled
REQUESTS FOR PAROLE SUPPORT:
Prison Action Network frequently receives mail from readers who are weeks, or a few months, away from a parole appearance, and they want us to write a letter of support, or advise them what to do to enhance their chances at being released. I don't write support letters for people I don't know well, no matter how outstanding their potential contribution to society is, so please don’t ask. The Parole Board needs information that is not available in the institutional records. They need to hear from people who know the applicant well; have known him or her for a long enough time to observe changes; who can talk about why they believe that person will never again commit a crime. PAN doesn’t have that information.
But we can point you to some useful information. Although Building Bridges does not accept advertising we do occasionally recommend books and articles that could prove useful to our readers. A few months ago Gerald Balone sent me a notice of his new book, "A Former Insider's Guide to Parole, A Manual for Anyone Trying to Get Out of Prison" , and we mentioned it in our pages because I was familiar with Jerry’s story and had confidence he knew as much about it as anyone. But I didn't read it until two weeks ago. The decisions of the Parole Board are inscrutable, but Jerry, who had met with them many times before he was released, tried to put himself in their place as he prepared for his hearings. And against all odds - he had been committing crimes since he was 8 and his last was considered heinous - he was released. His book makes lots of sense to me. Much of what he says I've heard from others also, but he lays it out very neatly and very completely. So if you want help preparing for a parole hearing, your own or a loved one's, instead of writing or calling me, invest in your future and send him $20 for this book. He’s much more knowledgeable than I am. Gerald T. Balone, 345 Bristol Street, Buffalo, New York 14206-2001
Home: 716-852-0346, Cell: 716-725-7747, A Former Insider's Guide to Parole: A Manual for Anyone Trying to Get Out of Prison www.gtbspeaks.com.
- The Editor
9. PRISON MEDIA: FANCY BROCCOLI, ON THE COUNT, SOUL SPECTRUM WITH LIBERTY GREEN, ALL THINGS HARLEM,
FANCY BROCCOLI RADIO SHOW, WVKR 91.3 FM - Sundays - Jazz & Prison Talk, 3:00-6:00 pm
Box 726, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie NY 12604-0726
Fancy Broccoli streams online - go to www.WVKR.org and click on (or near) the word 'LISTEN'.
Visit archives to find lots of other good interviews.
ON THE COUNT, WBAI , 99.5FM. 10:30am-noon. To listen live on your computer, visit www.wbai.org. To listen later, visit their archives.
SOUL SPECTRUM WITH LIBERTY GREEN, WJFF Radio Catskill 90.5FM - Thursday evenings from 10pm to 1:30am. PO Box 546, Jeffersonville, NY 12748. Voice Box Call-in Comment Line: 845 431 6500
To listen on your computer, live, click here: www.wjffradio.org To send an email, click here: Email:libertygreen@citlink.net
ALL THINGS HARLEM - www.allthingsharlem.com
All of you who were at the Young Lords 40th anniversary should have seen Jazz and his co-defendant Nellie Hester Bailey covering the event and gathering interviews which will be up on the website soon. Keep checking the website because they put new coverage up regularly. Also, their TV program is on MNN. They too have been covering the candidates and will be posting interviews with them within the next two weeks. If you know of events in the community that you think are worth covering please contact us at info@allthingsharlem.com.
10. TRANSPORTATION TO PRISONS:
CAPITAL DISTRICT
NEST Prison Shuttle schedule: Mt McGregor, Washington, Grt Meadow CFs on Sat, Sept 5 ($35 adults, $25 children), Coxsackie, Greene, Hudson on BOTH Sat, Sept 12 & 19 ($20 adults, $15 children) leaving Oakwood Ave Presbyt. Church parking lot, Troy at 7 AM, then Albany Greyhound bus station at 7:15. Sullivan trip (Ulster, Eastern, Woodbourne, Sullivan) on Sept 26 leaving at 6:30 AM ($45 adults, $30 children). Reservations: Linda O'Malley 518- 273-5199.
Free door to door rides from the Capital District: The Justice Committee at the Unitarian Church has 3 volunteer drivers. If you have a loved one in prison and you have no other way of getting to see him or her, maybe we can help. Call us to find out: 518 253 7533
11. KAREN LEWIS, OF AL LEWIS LIVES!, IS ALIVE AND WELL. THANK YOU TO THE ANGEL WHO READ OUR CALL FOR INFORMATION, AND SHARED IT WITH HER.
Karen left New York City last December to move to California, where she’s been writing a memoir of her life with Al Lewis. She sends her warmest regards to all our readers.
Building Bridges is the monthly newsletter of the Prison Action Network.
For information on joining, please call 518 253 7533, or send an email.
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