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 .

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.

AUGUST 2009

Dear Reader,

I’ve been on the road a lot this summer; to NYC for meetings, to a farm garden in NW Pennsyvania, visiting incarcerated people as I travel, and last Monday I ended up in Buffalo, where I had grown up, to attend Prisoners Are People Too’s monthly meeting. Boy! was I impressed by the folks in Buffalo!

The topic was restorative justice, and the meeting started with a film about the families of two young men from adjoining neighborhoods, one of whom had murdered the other, resulting in one gone forever, and the other who wouldn’t be returning until he was an old man. Through the intervention of a priest in whose parish both had lived, and who had recognized the terrible loss both families had suffered, the families actually became close. As if that wasn’t enough of an inspiration for choosing forgiveness instead of revenge, in the audience were 2 women with powerful stories to tell. One who had lost 2 children to violence on the streets, and the other whose brother had killed her sister. Both found the ability to forgive the people who had harmed them so deeply, through the help of an organization which amazed by its message and its business smarts.

According to literature they handed out, the Stop the Violence Coalition has been effective in reducing violence by 50% on the streets of Buffalo, but more than that they’ve replaced it with the message of peace and love. Two of its chief organizers spoke, and described their 100 Days of Peace Campaign which kicked off on June 1 and will continue through Sept. 1. Through selling advertising space on their Stop the Violence Bus (which was parked outside as we left), at all their public appearances and on all their literature, they hope to raise the money for the Campaign which also includes a $10,000 Peace Awareness Contest. Entry in the contest requires registering at the Stop the Violence Bus or a number of other local Buffalo places of business, and it provides an opportunity for one lucky family in the Buffalo area to win a grand prize of $10,000 in cash and prizes.

Buffalo has won my heart! Karima Amin rates some kind of award for bringing so many good people together every month to learn and be inspired to do something to make this a better world.

Be well, have hope, and please, tell your friends about this website.


In this Issue

1. Actions you can take
2. Birth in shackles
3. ICARE is on vacation
4. Legislation updates and bills to watch
5. Parole News
6. Prison Media
7. Prisoners of the census
8. Public Defense
9. Transportation
10. Voting rights
11. Writing Contest


1. ACTIONS: WHAT CAN YOU DO? HERE’S A LIST OF THINGS TO START WITH

BUFFALO:
Prisoners Are People Too is a justice advocacy program that meets monthly on selected Mondays in Buffalo. Most meetings feature a documentary film related to some criminal justice or prison issue, and one or more guest speakers who address that issue. 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 5-7:30PM PRP2! SPONSORS LETTER WRITING EVENT - Frank E. Merriweather, Jr. Library, 1324 Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo.
George BaBa Eng (77A4777) will face his 5th Parole Board hearing in October of 2009 after nearly 33 years of incarceration in New York State Prisons. Well known as a Reformed Offender, BaBa has many longtime supporters who are advocating for his release. At this support event for BaBa the documentary film “Life Sentence” (2008), which features six formerly incarcerated men and women who have spent decades behind bars and who are now outstanding contributors to their families and communities, will be shown. Several speakers will attest to BaBa’s parole worthiness and attendees will receive instructions and assistance for writing an effective letter of support for George BaBa Eng.


MONDAY AUGUST 31, 6:30 - 8:30PM - THE NEXT MEETING OF PRISONERS ARE PEOPLE TOO! Pratt-Willert Community Center, 422 Pratt Street

The next meeting of Prisoners Are People Too will open with a screening of the documentary film, “Prisons for Profit” (PBS, 2008) which explores the growing trend of prison privatization and asks two questions: “Should incarceration be incorporated?” and “If money is being made from filling a prison bed, is this a violation of a prisoner’s human rights?” Since there are no private prisons in New York State, the screening of this film may appear to be moot but it relates to our guest speaker’s topic which, in a word, is greed.
Rev. Eugene L. Pierce, Executive Director of “Western New York Outreach Ministries,” served as Deputy Superintendent of the Erie County Correctional Facility from 1984 until 1997 when he was forced into retirement by then Erie County Executive Dennis Gorski, for complaining for four years about the misuse of the prisoner commissary fund.  Funds intended for the sole purpose of “prisoner welfare and rehabilitation,” according to New York State Correction Law, have been misspent.  Audits and reviews of the commissary fund in 1998 and 2007 officially document that monies were inappropriately spent. Greed and a lack of concern for prisoner well-being has meant that prisoners have not benefitted from funds intended for their education and rehabilitative programs. Rev. Pierce will talk about his demand for an investigation  into  the misuse of  these monies at the Erie County Holding Center and the Erie County Correctional Facility.

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.


NEW YORK CITY
SATURDAY, AUGUST 15TH, FROM 10:30AM-1PM -COALITION FOR FAIR CRIMINAL JUSTICE POLICY MEETING

Fortune Society Castle, 630 Riverside Drive, corner W.140th St. (#1 Train, 137th St/City College stop.)  (Note: the Fortune Society does not sponsor our events, but they generously share their space with us.)

At our last meeting (on July 11) we began working on our Public Relations Campaign, the goal of which is to transform the public's negative perception of formerly incarcerated people and the families and friends of currently incarcerated individuals.  This first phase of the project involves creating postcard sized messages which we will hand out at public demonstrations. 
At the meeting we each made 2 lists, one of our skills, accomplishments, and values and the other of how we think the public would perceive us if they knew of our criminal history, or our relationship to someone who has one.  

So if you weren't there, please make these 2 lists for yourself, and bring them to the next meeting. Come lookin' good, cuz we will be taking your picture for the postcard. (If you are reluctant to have your picture made public, we can use a sillouette.)  We will create a model of our cards to be taken to a printer for mass production.

Our first planned action is for September, when we will gather at a major thoroughfare in Harlem and hand them out to people on the street, hopefully engaging them in conversation in the process.  The postcards will feature our pictures and on one side a description of who we are in our community, and on the other, our relationship to someone who is incarcerated, or to our past incarceration if such is the case.  In other words, it will humanize us, and hopefully dispel the demonization that afflicts us and our loved ones.


SATURDAY, AUGUST 15TH   PARENT EMPOWERMENT SEMINAR HOSTED BY NYS SENATOR ERIC ADAMS
3rd Annual "Cradle to College" event. This year's theme is "Securing our Families’ Futures."  There will be a series of feature presentations, breakout sessions, an array of resources and giveaways on: Career Choices, Job Recruitment, Health and Nutrition, Personal and Family Development, Internet Safety, Financial Literacy, and Public Safety.

To attend, please contact Lamona Knight B.S., MPA, Coordinator, NYS Senator Eric Adams, 2009 Parent Empowerment Seminar, at 917-592-7971or Medgar Evers College, 1650 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn NY 11225

Plenary Session - 
Child Safety Book – Keeping Our Children Safe: Presenter: NYS Senator Adams
Parenting is a Process - Presenter:  Keith Rogerss.
 
Session A – Classrooms (11:35 -12:45)
Assessing your Social Service Resources through Difficult Times  Facilitator:  Chaz Crowder          
Autism Awareness – Empowering The Family, Understanding Autism: First Sign   Facilitator: Lucina Clarke
Bullying:  Facilitator:  Sabra Jackson
Career Planning: How Can Parents Help? Facilitator:     Jan Cummings-Grayson
Computer and Internet Marketing Facilitator:     Kelvin Alexander
NYC Family Court:  An Overview of Parties’ Rights and Responsibilities Part I Facilitator:     Tyrone Cherry  
Resume Writing & Interviewing With Confidence Facilitator:     Audrey Brown-Douglas
Stress Management Facilitator:     Robin St. Clair
The Psychology of Money Facilitator:     Erik Shumar – Amalgamated Bank
What to do When Stopped by the Police Facilitator:     Amin Kosseim
 
Session B – Classrooms (1:35 – 2:45)
Face-to-Face:  What It Means To Be A Young Man Of Color In The World.  Facilitator: Keith Rogers
Face to Face:  What it Means to be a Young Woman of Color in the World. Facilitator:  Audrey Brown-Douglas  
Financial Planning and Literacy: Facilitator:  Office of NYS Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and The Alliance for Financial Literacy
Gang Awareness Facilitator:     Amin Kosseim
Goal-Setting Facilitator:     Sabra Jackson
How to Make Success Follow You  Facilitator:  Eliandra West
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and How to Listen so Kids Will Talk  Facilitator:    Robin St. Clair
NYC Family Court:  An Overview of Parties’ Rights and Responsibilities Part II Facilitator:     Tyrone Cherry  
Pre-Paid Legal Facilitator:    Richard Jones
Preparing yourself and your Child for College Facilitator:  Jan Cummings-Grayson
Watching the News with a Critical Eye  Facilitator:  Peter Katona, Deputy Communications Director for NYS Senator Eric Adams

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009 6:30 – 9:00 PM WOMEN ON THE RISE TELLING HER STORY “A WOMAN’S WORTH”
Please join us in celebrating our 5th Anniversary by recognizing our esteemed members
Silent Auction - Musical Performance by Mahina Movement -Keynote Speaker- Susan L. Taylor (Refreshments Served)
American Indian Community House, 11 Broadway 2nd floor, Manh. (the # 4 or 5 train to Bowling Green then a one block walk up to Broadway

Please RSVP to Tina Reynolds 917 626 8168 or fill in the contact page on our website www.womenontherise-worth.org.



2. BIRTH IN SHACKLES: WOMEN WHO’VE GIVEN BIRTH KNOW THE PAIN OF A NORMAL BIRTH, IMAGINE IT WHILE CHAINED AND SHACKLED. THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS IN NYS PRISONS, BUT HOPEFULLY NOT FOR MUCH LONGER

On May 20, both houses of the Legislature — with broad support from Democrats and Republicans — passed Bill S1290-A/A3373-A [see #5 Legislation] that would bar the shackling of women during labor. It would permit the use of handcuffs only in “extraordinary circumstances” to protect the woman or others around her. Sen Montgomery’s office reports the bill will be sent to the Governor next week to sign.  He has 10 days after that date to sign the bill. If the Gov. does not sign a bill after the 10 days it has to go back through the entire process again. 

Last week women organized by the NYCLU and Women on the RIse Telling Herstory (WORTH) rallied across from Governor Paterson's office and with a crowd of close to 100 people urged Governor Paterson to sign the Anti-Shackling Bill into law.  Courageous formerly incarcerated mothers shared their stories.  Representatives from Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson and Sen. Velmanette Montgomery's offices spoke.  Assemblymember Nick Perry attended and spoke movingly about the need for the passage of this bill. The rally received terrific press coverage: The New York Times Sunday Edition, Giving Life, Wearing Chains and Shackles, The Indypendent, Unbinding Pregnant Inmates and a Newsday Editorial, An end to a barbaric practice. David Rothenberg spoke about the issue on his Any Saturday morning show on WBAI, 99.5FM.  Rothenberg mentions the bill about halfway through the show and Senator Thomas Duane called in to support the bill and offer more information about it. 

3. ICARE REPORTS WILL BE TAKING THE SUMMER OFF. LOOK FOR THE NEXT COLUMN IN THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE.

4. LEGISLATION: UPDATES AND BILLS TO WATCH [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.]

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.
Status: awaiting the governor’s signature.

MERIT TIME BILL S2932/A6487
Passed out of the Senate Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committee. Now sitting in the Rules Committee.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MERIT TIME BILL A4516-C/S3438-C
Passed in the Assembly after revision, was sent to the Senate and committed to Rules Committee.

ADOPTION POLICIES AFFECTING CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED PARENTS A5462/S2233
Passed in the Assembly, delivered to Senate who referred to Finance Committee..

BILLS WE’RE WATCHING:
A3260/S1295 - Benjamin/Montgomery - relates to prohibiting colleges from denying formerly incarcerated individuals admittance to college based solely on thier incarcertaion
A2445/S4643 - O’Donnell/Hassell-Thompson - Relates to voting and registration for voting by convicted felons
A6665/S4495 - Gottfried/Duane - Prohibits participation in torture and improper treatment of prisoners by health care professionals
A1414 - Wright - Grants a convicted felon the right to register to vote at any election
A6439 - Aubry - Creates a pilot project for filing medical assistance applications for inmates prior to their release
A4327 - Heastie - Establishes a commission to study and develop a plan for improving education in state prisons.
A8552/S5685 - Aubry/Hassel Thompson - Establishes the commission on post-secondary correctional education
S5684/A8911- Padavan/Fields - Would repeal section 160.58 of the criminal procedure law which requires the sealing of the conviction records of persons who have completed drug treatment program. Introduced by Sens. Padavan, Skelos, Alesi, Bonacic, Defrancisco, Farley, Flanagan, Fuschillo, Golden, Griffo, Hannon, O. Johnson, Lanza, Larkin, Lavalle, Leibell, Libous, Little, Marcellino, Maziarz, McDonald, Morahan, Nozzolio, Ranzenhofer, Robach, Saland, Seward, Volker, Winner, Young


5. PAROLE NEWS: PART 8 OF PAROLE HANDBOOK: WHAT IS MEDICAL PAROLE?; JUNE and JULY PAROLE STATISTICS

PART 8 ON PAROLE AND PAROLE BOARD ACTIVITIES IN STATE CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES
[available online:Parole Handbook]

WHAT IS MEDICAL PAROLE?
The purpose of Medical Parole is to reunite terminally ill inmates with their families and loved ones during the final stages of illness and to allow death with dignity outside of prison. Section 259-r of the New York State Executive Law permits the Board of Parole to release certain terminally ill inmates prior to the expiration of the minimum term imposed by the sentencing court. Inmates who are in the final stages of a terminal illness, are severely restricted in their ability to walk and care for themselves, and have not served their minimum sentence are eligible to apply for Medical Parole. To apply for Medical Parole, an inmate or someone acting on his or her behalf should contact the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Correctional Services.
Release on Medical Parole may only be granted by the Board of Parole after a physician diagnoses an inmate as suffering from a terminal medical condition and concludes that he or she is so debilitated or incapacitated as to be severely restricted in ability to self-ambulate and care for his or herself. The Commissioner of DOCS or a designee must review the physician’s diagnosis and conclusions and certify that the inmate is so debilitated or incapacitated as to create a reasonable probability that he or she is physically incapable of presenting any danger to society and forward the application to the Division of Parole. Medical Parole is granted for a period of six months and is renewable under certain conditions.
An appropriate medical discharge plan is established by DOCS and provided to Parole. The plan identifies the level of medical care the inmate will require upon release, and must include a confirmed placement in a facility that can provide the appropriate level of care. All inmates released on Medical Parole must have a special condition to remain under the care of a physician and in a medically appropriate placement, as well as other conditions of release.


JUNE 2009 PAROLE BOARD RELEASES – A1 VIOLENT FELONS – unofficial research from parole database

In May we saw no releases on first appearances, in June they made up for it with 8.

Total Interviews in June # Released
35 initials seen 8
97 reappearances 14
132 total 22

June Initial Releases
Facility................Sentence.......Offense
Greenhaven..........25-Life........Murder 2
Groveland.............15-Life....... Murder 2
Marcy....................25-Life....... Murder 2
Mid Orange...........25-Life........Murder 2
Mid Orange...........17-Life........Murder 2
Otisville.................20-Life........Murder 2
Woodbourne..........18-Life........Murder 2
Woodbourne..........25-Life........Murder 2

June Reappearances
Facility..........Sentence............. Offense............# of board
Auburn.........20-Life................Murder 2.............2nd bd
Elmira...........25-Life................Murder pre-74....7th bd
Fishkill..........15-Life................Murder 2.............2nd bd
Fishkill..........1 1/2-3...............Murder 2.............5th bd
Fishkill..........15-Life................Murder 2.............2nd bd
Fishkill..........18-Life................Murder 2.............6th bd
Greenhaven...25-Life................Murder 2.............6th bd
Groveland.....20-Life.................Murder 2.............2nd bd
Livingston.....25-Life.................Murder 2.............2nd bd
Livingston.....20-Life.................Murder 2.............2nd bd
Marcy............25-Life.................Murder pre-74....7th bd
Otisville........ 20-Life.................Murder 2.............2nd bd/spec cons
Otisville........ 25-Life.................Murder 2.............3rd bd
Woodbourne..15-Life.................Murder 2.............2nd bd


JULY 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
July 21 - Clark, Casey, Hagler
21 appearances (8 A1VO)
2 were paroled (no A1VO)

SULLIVAN ANNEX
July - Lemons, Ludlow, Elovich
5 appearances
2 were paroled: both non-violent on their initial boards.
3 denied: 1 merit, hit to initial in 1 year, 1 flat bid, hit 2 years, CRs in Nov., 1 A1VO 5th board, hit 16 months

WOODBOURNE
July - Lemons, Ludlow, Elovich
16 appearances: (3 A1VO, all denied)
3 were granted parole (15-life on 7th board, 21-life on 2nd board, 15-life on 4th board)
2 postponed



6. PRISON MEDIA: ALL THINGS HARLEM, FANCY BROCCOLI, ON THE COUNT, SOUL SPECTRUM WITH LIBERTY GREEN

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. August 2: Guest Serena Alfieri from the Correctional Association’s Coalition for Women Prisoners will speak about the Anti-Shackling bill [see #2]. 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
Web video at it’s activist best! Available whenever you have time to visit the website. Watch an interview with Amiri Baraka, poet, author, and activist for over a half a century.  His comments on what we have to do vis a vis Barak Obama are insightful.  Also the anniversary birthday of Malcom X and Identity theft in Harlem.  If you know of events in the community that you think are worth covering please contact us at info@allthingsharlem.com.



7. PRISONERS OF THE CENSUS. WISCONSIN'S REP. KESSLER INTRODUCES CENSUS CORRECTION AMENDMENT WHICH DOES NOT INVOLVE THE CENSUS BUREAU; EIGHT PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DISTRICTS WOULD NOT MEET FEDERAL "ONE-PERSON, ONE-VOTE" STANDARDS

This is a condensed version of the article appearing at www.prisonersofthecensus.org.

by Peter Wagner, June 18, 2009 MADISON -
Rep. Frederick Kessler, D-Milwaukee, today introduced a state Constitutional amendment to change the way state and local electoral districts are drawn. If enacted, the amendment would direct that incarcerated felons, who may not vote, also not be counted toward the population of the districts where their prisons are located.
The federal Census Bureau regards prison inmates as "residents" of the prisons where they are held, regardless of any permanent home address and regardless of the length of sentence. This malapportionment effectively turns those who happen to live near prisons into "supervoters": they have more powerful votes and more representation in the Legislature Than other Wisconsinites.
The problem is even more pronounced on the local level. Because county and municipal board districts are smaller, the inmate population of even one prison can make up a large percentage of a given district. In Waupun's Third Aldermanic District, for example, inmates make up 79% of the population. One vote in this district is equivalent to five votes in a district without a prison.
Kessler's amendment would allow federal census data to continue to be used, but would require that the data be altered to remove disenfranchised, incarcerated felons before districting maps are drawn. The amendment would apply to Assembly and Senate districts as well as county and local board districts. The United States Supreme Court has held, in Burns v. Richardson, 384 U.S. 73, 92 (1966), that states need not include disenfranchised felons in the data used to draw district maps.
At this time, no other state requires the exclusion of prisoners from districting data for state legislative districts, though Oregon, New York and Texas all have legislation pending on the subject. In addition, Virginia, Colorado and New Jersey require or allow correction of census data regarding inmates for the districting of certain local boards, and some municipalities and counties around the nation, and particularly in New York State, alter census data to remove prisoners on their own authority.


This next was condensed from: Report: Census Prisoner Count Dilutes Urban Political Clout from The Legal Intelligencer
found here.

By Amaris Elliott-Engel, June 26, 2009
Eight Pennsylvania House of Representatives districts would not meet federal "one-person, one-vote" standards if nonvoting state prisoners did not count as district residents for purposes of drawing up legislative districts, according to an analysis conducted by Prison Policy Initiative, an advocacy group based in Northampton, Mass.

Prisoners make up 5.5 percent to 7.5 percent of the eight districts that wouldn't otherwise meet federal population requirements, according to the PPI.
"Eight legislative districts lack sufficient population to meet accepted one-person, one-vote standards without counting disenfranchised prisoners as part of their population base," the report said. "At the same time, heavily minority urban districts would in all likelihood be entitled to additional representation if prisoners were counted as residents of their home communities for purposes of redistricting."
Wagner said the issue also should be a matter of democratic concern for constituents in any Pennsylvania legislative district that doesn't have prisoners counting toward the district's population base to meet the minimum population requirements.
Wagner also argues that Pennsylvania's use of Census Bureau data that counts prisoners where they are incarcerated violates the state's voter registration statute. The statute states: "No individual who is confined in a penal institution shall be deemed a resident of the election district where the institution is located. The individual shall be deemed to reside where the individual was last registered before being confined in the penal institution, or if there was no registration prior to confinement, the individual shall be deemed to reside at the last known address before confinement."
States, however, could easily subtract the inmate population out of the data used to draw legislative districts, Persily said. That is Persily's preferred policy fix because it wouldn't cost the Census Bureau anything and because prisoners would still be captured in census data like health statistics.
Angus Love, executive director of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, said legislative districts should be defined by eligible voters, and that inmates shouldn't be counted in the configuration of legislative districts, either in the districts that inmates are imprisoned in or in their home communities.


Excerpt from ‘Change is Predicted in Census Prisoner Count’, by Amaris Elliott-Engel
Wednesday, July 22, 2009 Legal Intelligencer Staff
The 2010 census will be the last to count inmates at their place of incarceration instead of their home communities, an advocate for changing where the U.S. census counts the incarcerated predicted at the National Conference of State Legislatures Tuesday.

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 via Network for Good by clicking here, or via a paper check sent to Prison Policy Initiative PO Box 127 Northampton, MA 01061



8. PUBLIC DEFENSE: THE NEW YORK JUSTICE FUND GETS MORE SUPPORT FOR THEIR BILL WHICH CALLS FOR AN INDEPENDENT COMMISSION TO OVERSEE, FUND AND CONTROL PUBLIC DEFENSE SERVICES, WHILE PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING THE STATE'S ASSUMPTION OF THESE RESPONSIBILITIES IN A MANNER THAT IS RESPONSIVE TO REGIONAL AND COMMUNITY NEEDS.

Senator Thomas K. Duane and Assemblymember Vivian E. Cook have signed on to the Public Defense Act of 2009 (A.8793/S.6002)! There are now 83 Assembly members and 22 Senators on the bill – and we must build even further support so that the act can be passed easily upon legislators' return to Albany. While they are home in their districts is the perfect time to thank those who are on the bill:

A8793 Sponsors: ASSEMBLY PERSON LENTOL, GOTTFRIED, PAULIN, CAHILL, CLARK, CANESTRARI, ENGLEBRIGHT, JACOBS, DINOWITZ, POWELL, PEOPLES, KAVANAGH, ROSENTHAL, BENEDETTO, WEINSTEIN, JOHN, SCHIMEL, LANCMAN, O'DONNELL, LATIMER, CAMARA, CASTRO, GIBSON; THOMPSON, VALESKY and urge the rest - in particular anyone who represents you - to join them:
Assembly Members: Abbate, Alfano, Aubry, Bacalles, Benjamin, Bing, Boyland, Bradley, Brennan, Brodsky, Brook-Krasny, Cymbrowitz, DenDekker, Espaillat, Farrell, Fields, Gantt, Giglio, Glick, Gordon, Heastie, Hikind, Hooper, Hoyt, Jaffee, Jeffries, Kellner, Lavine, Lifton, V. Lopez, Lupardo, Magee, Magnarelli, Maisel, Markey, McEneny, Millman, Morelle, Ortiz, Parment, Perry, Pheffer, Pretlow, Ramos, Reilly, N. Rivera, P. Rivera, Robinson, Scarborough, Schroeder, Scozzafava, Sweeney, Thiele, Titone, Titus, Towns, Townsend, Weisenberg, Wright


S6002 Sponsors: SENATOR SCHNEIDERMAN, HASSELL-THOMPSON, SAMPSON, ADAMS, BONACIC, BRESLIN, DIAZ, DILAN, FOLEY, HUNTLEY, MONSERRATE, MONTGOMERY, ONORATO, OPPENHEIMER, PARKER, PERKINS, SERRANO, SQUADRON, STEWART-COUSINS, THOMPSON AND VALESKY

Try convincing these, especially anyone who represents you:
Addabbo, Jr., Aubertine, Duane, Espada, Jr., Owen H. Johnson, Klein, Liz Krueger, Carl Kruger, , Savino, Malcolm A. Smith, Stachowski, Toby Ann Stavisky.

Updates on the Campaign's blog as to new sign-ons can be foundhere

- Jonathan E. Gradess, Campaign Manager,jgradess@newyorkjusticefund.org, (518) 465-0519



9. TRANSPORTATION: CAPITAL DISTRICT
NEST Prison Shuttle schedule: Mt McGregor, Washington, Grt Meadow CFs on Sat, Aug 1 ($35 adults, $25 children), Coxsackie, Greene, Hudson on BOTH Sat, Aug 8 & 15  ($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 Aug 22 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




10. VOTING RIGHTS BILL WOULD RESTORE THE RIGHT TO VOTE IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS TO FORMERLY INCARCERATED PEOPLE. MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, LAW ENFORCEMENT, RELIGIOUS LEADERS, CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS AND THE FORMERLY INCARCERATED JOIN FORCES TO RESTORE THE RIGHT TO VOTE

Senator Russ Feingold from Wisconsin and Representative John Conyers from Michigan introduced the Democracy Restoration Act of 2009, a bill that seeks to restore voting rights in federal elections to nearly 4 million formerly incarcerated American citizens who are out of prison, living in the community.

The importance of having a voice in the community was described in the recent Brennan Center publication My First Vote, a compilation of stories from Americans who voted for the first time in November 2008 after having lost, and then regained, their voting rights after a conviction. According to a mother in California who is featured in the collection, "voting . . . is about the inspiration and hope people feel when they have a voice they can use to bring real change." 

For more information please contact Jeanine Plant-Chirlin at 212-998-6289 or jeanine.plant-or Susan Lehman at 212-998-6318 or susan.lehman@nyu.edu.

[A copy of the ACLU/Brennan Center factsheet on the Democracy Restoration Act is available with request to PAN stating name of the document and issue of Building Bridges in which it was mentioned]



11. WRITING CONTEST: RESILIENCE MULTIMEDIA IS SPONSORING ITS SECOND WRITING CONTEST FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE OR WERE IN PRISON, AND THEIR LOVED ONES. THE BEST SUBMISSIONS WILL BE INCLUDED IN THE“THINK OUTSIDE THE CELL” BOOK SERIES, WHICH IS A REFLECTION OF PRISON ACTION NETWORK’S UPCOMING MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO PRESENT A FAIRER, MORE BALANCED IMAGE OF THE MEN, WOMEN AND FAMILIES IN THIS POPULATION. [Winners of the first contest are posted below.]
 
CONTEST DETAILS

STORY TOPICS: 
1. Reentering society after incarceration
2. Waiting for loved ones to return home from prison
3. Prison marriages and relationships

THREE WINNERS FOR EACH TOPIC: 1st: $300; 2nd: $150; 3rd: $75
Stories that do not win cash prizes will still be eligible for inclusion in the series. Everyone whose work is published will receive a free copy of the book in which their story appears. Publication is tentatively set for early 2010.
 
GUIDELINES: 
Stories may be up to 3,000 words, must be original and must be about events or situations that actually happened.
You may submit stories on more than one topic.
Stories should be typewritten or neatly handwritten.
Each page must include page number, name, contact information, story title.
Stories may be edited for clarity, punctuation, spelling, grammar. Resilience retains the rights to the stories to ensure the widest possible publicity and distribution.
Stories will not be returned.

ENTRIES MUST BE POSTMARKED BY OCT. 1, 2009. WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON DEC. 1, 2009.
 
Email your story, indicating the topic, to: Resilience Multimedia
OR mail to: Resilience Multimedia, 511 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 525, New York, NY 10011

QUESTIONS? Email resiliencemultimedia@verizon.net, call 877-267-2303 or write to the above address.
 
2008 WINNERS  (Note: The relatively high number of California winners may reflect that state’s ranking as the nation’s largest prison system.)
 
Reentering society after incarceration: 1st Place: Tion Terrell, Pound, VA. 2nd Place: Esther Morales Guzman, San Diego, CA . 3rd Place: Delores Mariano, Anaheim, CA
 
Waiting for loved ones to return home from prison: 1st Place: Lawrence J. Schulenberg, Council Bluffs, IA. 2nd Place: Kimberly Milberg, Roxbury, MA. 3rd Place: Zee Mink-Fuller, Burleson, TX
 
Prison marriages and relationships: 1st Place: Tanea Lunsford, San Francisco, CA. 2nd Place:  Joel Williams, Ione, CA. 3rd Place:(tie) Daniel Skalla, Rockwell City, IA and  Lise Porter, San Diego, 
 
[Resilience Multimedia is the publisher of “Think Outside the Cell: An Entrepreneur’s Guide for the Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated”]


Building Bridges is the monthly newletter of the Prison Action Network.
For information on joining, please call 518 253 7533, or send us an email.