NYAPRS Note: Please join today’s call in drive to convince Governor Cuomo to release elderly people and those with chronic illnesses from cancer to heart disease from state prisons. See the call in information and a recent news article below. Thank you!
Mass Call-In Day TODAY to
#HALTsolitary & #FreeOurElders
Please join a Mass Call-in Day TODAY by making the below calls to demand that the New York Senate and Assembly immediately reconvene remotely and pass the HALT Solitary Confinement Act, Elder Parole, Fair & Timely Parole and other urgently needed bills.
Call Governor Cuomo: 518-474-8390
“You must grant clemency to thousands of people to save lives & stop the spread of COVID-19. You must also end solitary confinement immediately and back the passage of the HALT Solitary Confinement Act.”
Please also share this jpg and pdf versions of a flyer for this call-in day.
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Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins: 518-455-2585
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Assembly Speaker Heastie: 518-455-3791
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Your Own Senate & Assembly Reps (find at openstates.org)
“Please reconvene session remotely ASAP & pass the HALT Solitary Confinement Act, Elder Parole, Fair & Timely Parole, and other urgent bills. Thousands of New Yorkers are suffering in solitary – for months, years, & decades. HALT (S1623/A2500) has majority support; it must be brought to a vote now!
Also, Elder Parole (S2144/A9040) & Fair & Timely Parole (S497A/A4346A) must urgently be passed now more than ever to save lives & stop the spread of COVID-19.”
BACKGROUND: The New York State Legislature was originally scheduled to resume today, April 20. They have the ability to continue to convene remotely, just as so many other New Yorkers are working remotely. And they have the moral imperative to continue working to save lives and address the vast crisis plaguing our state and the gross inequities made plain by and exacerbated by the virus, including for people who are incarcerated. Yet, they are not convening today and have not given any definitive plans or time frame for when they will resume. Meanwhile:
The Need to End Solitary: Thousands of New Yorkers are suffering the torture of solitary confinement right now. In ordinary times, solitary itself is a public health crisis that causes immense suffering and far too often leads to heart disease, psychosis, self-mutilation, and death. During this pandemic, these physical and mental health harms of solitary are greatly exacerbated (particularly with all visits ended, packages restricted, and anxiety around the virus heightened) and weaken people’s immune systems, making them especially vulnerable to COVID-19. Yet, NY has doubled down on the use of solitary, continuing to hold and send more people to solitary (including for absurd reasons – even for trying to wear a mask or refusing to wear a mask), placing people in solitary in keeplock or SHU if they report symptoms, and placing entire units on lockdown in contravention of health experts.
The Need for Mass Releases: As COVID-19 spreads through the prison system hundreds of incarcerated people and staff in New York State prisons have already tested positive for COVID and five incarcerated people and one staff person have already died from the virus. According to allies at RAPP and Parole Prep who are leading the charge to demand mass releases from prison, of the 43,801 New Yorkers who are currently in custody, 72% are Black or Latinx, 10,200 are over 50, and 3,500 have been behind bars for more than 20 years, including 800 people who have served over 30 years. There are countless people particularly susceptible to the virus, including elderly people, people with chronic illnesses from cancer to heart disease, pregnant women and new mothers, people with mental health needs, and others. Yet, Governor Cuomo is still refusing to grant clemency to incarcerated elders and others who are vulnerable to the virus.
The legislature could have long ago addressed the crises of solitary and elders in prison and could have mitigated the devastating harm of COVID-19 in the prisons if they had already passed HALT, Elder Parole, Fair & Timely Parole, and other urgently needed bills (such as legalizing marijuana, restoring voting rights and higher education access, ending incarceration for parole violations, paying people in prison real wages, making phone calls and emails free, repealing the Walking While Trans ban, and more).
They can wait no longer and must act now to save lives and stop immense suffering. Please call today to demand that they reconvene remotely and pass these bills immediately.
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More COVID-19 Cases In NY Prisons, Groups Urge Cuomo To Release High-Risk Inmates
By Robert Harding the Citizen April 8, 2020
Nearly 400 incarcerated individuals, parolees and employees within the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision have tested positive for the coronavirus.
The department, which oversees New York’s parole system and 52 state prisons, released the new figures on Tuesday. There are 319 employees who have confirmed cases of COVID-19. Among the incarcerated population, 55 inmates contracted the virus.
Fifteen parolees also tested positive for COVID-19.
Five coronavirus-related deaths — two incarcerated individuals, two individuals parolees and a civilian employee — have been reported. DOCCS said that the official cause of death is pending for the two deceased inmates.
Citing security reasons, DOCCS won’t disclose the correctional facilities where the positive cases are employed or incarcerated. The agency also won’t reveal where confirmed cases are hospitalized.
“With each confirmed case, DOCCS works with the Department of Health to identify any potentially exposed individuals to provide notifications and to stop the spread of the virus,” DOCCS wrote in an email to The Citizen.
There has been concern about an outbreak occurring in New York state prisons. DOCCS has more than 43,000 incarcerated individuals in its 52 correctional facilities. The agency employs approximately 29,000 people.
In March, a former Auburn Correctional Facility inmate tested positive for the coronavirus after being transferred to a western New York prison. The New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, the union representing the state’s correction officers, told The Citizen that at least two dozen employees quarantined due to possible exposure to the positive case.
With an increasing number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in state prisons, a coalition of criminal justice advocacy groups called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to release incarcerated individuals who are at high risk of serious illness if they contract the virus.
Seniors, people with chronic health conditions and those who are immunocompromised could have severe symptoms of COVID-19. Cuomo has been asked about whether he will release some inmates from state prisons to prevent the spread of the virus, but he hasn’t made a decision.
On Tuesday, Cuomo said there was “nothing new” to report.
“A record number of people are sick, lives have already been lost and a ticking time bomb looms over New York state,” the coalition, which includes the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign, Parole Preparation Project, #HALTsolitary Campaign, VOCAL-NY and Worth Rises, said in a statement. “The governor must act now by granting clemency to older people and others in prison to whom this virus presents a life and death risk.”
DOCCS has implemented measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 in state prisons. The policies include suspending visitation, limiting inmate transfers and allowing staff to wear personal protective equipment.