NYAPRS Note: Groups including NYS social workers and advocates for the release of aging people from prisons and jails have joined forced to urge Governor Cuomo to grant immediate clemency to and release all people over 50, people with HIV/AIDS, people with chronic illnesses (including lung conditions such as COPD, asthma, hepatitis, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and/or cardiac disease, cancer), other immunocompromised people, people with comorbid medical conditions, pregnant people and trans people.
See more at https://sites.google.com/view/socialworkletter-clemencynow/ and https://4411e058-27c0-4b13-9697-267baceaaea3.filesusr.com/ugd/5982b2_7c681b17292b4e44a278dd121e2af7c0.pdf.
A broad array of groups are holding a virtual news conference today:
Join at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_pox1sFaRTDCHSEYmx73E8w
US: +1 929 205 6099 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 669 900 6833
Webinar ID: 542 929 800
Grant Clemencies to Older New Yorkers in Prison Who Are Vulnerable to Coronavirus
Hon. Andrew Cuomo
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
Cc:
Hon. Andrea Stewart-Cousins
Majority Leader, New York State Senate
188 State Street LOB – Room 907
Albany, NY 12247
Hon. Carl Heastie
Speaker, New York State Assembly
New York State Capitol Room 349
Albany, NY 12247
Dear Governor Andrew M. Cuomo,
In the wake of COVID-19, we write you as social workers, as mental health experts and practitioners, as researchers, as professors, and as advocates, to ask you to grant emergency clemencies to New Yorkers in prison who are older, sick, pregnant, have serious respiratory conditions, or who have otherwise compromised immune systems. COVID-19 continues to spread throughout New York State, and officially entered the state prison system on Tuesday, March 17 when staff at Sing Sing Correctional Facility tested positive for the virus. The continued spread of the virus will have devastating consequences for incarcerated New Yorkers, their families, prison staff, and entire communities throughout the state.
Over the years and decades we’ve worked in incarceration settings, we’ve seen the serious damage done to people in prison and jail by HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, MRSA, Tuberculosis, seasonal influenza, and other viruses and communicable diseases. Correctional settings were and continue to be hotbeds for the spread of these outbreaks. Whether it’s on prison cellblocks, in mess halls, program areas, or hallways, close contact among people in correctional settings is absolutely unavoidable and inevitably means the virus will be susceptible to serious spreading.
As in the outside world, we are particularly concerned about the health and well being of incarcerated older adults, people with serious chronic conditions, and others who are particularly vulnerable to the virus and its health consequences. There are currently more than 10,000 older New Yorkers in prison who will be significantly endangered once the virus enters the prisons, including people in hospice units and regional medical units. This population generally poses the least risk to public safety, including those convicted of violent crimes, is the most difficult to care for, and requires critical state resources while confined.
As a profession, we believe that every person is inherently sacred and has an inherent right to dignity, respect, self-determination and freedom to thrive. We fear for the many people inside New York State prisons who will be hardest hit by COVID-19 and who will be unable to access the conditions to prevent it’s spread, nor access the quality treatment needed to respond if infected.
We urge you to act before it’s too late on behalf of incarcerated people and their families by granting emergency clemencies to incarcerated older New Yorkers and others who are vulnerable to the virus. Doing so would save lives and resources that could be reinvested into necessary public health tools during this serious time. Thank you for considering our urgent request.