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Sign this petition for a visitor board at the Nassau County jail now!
Sign up to Become a member of NAAP
Prison Reform Fact Sheet
There is a human rights crisis behind the walls of the Nassau
County Correctional Center. The thousands of inmates housed there, many whom have not yet been convicted of a crime,
are living in the shadows and facing serious injustices everyday. People with serious medical conditions are being denied
necessary treatment and medications. Requests to see mental health specialists go unanswered. Family members who take the
day off fromwork to visit their loved ones are being turned away after hours ofwaiting outside. But no one is listening. We
need your help!
The County Charter requires an oversight committee, called the Board of Visitors, to address issues
at the jail. Though mandated by the law, the committee has never fully operated since it was established in 1990. The volunteer
committee would consist of seven county residents who are knowledgeable of the correctional system. There is no shortage of
individuals willing to take on this important work.
It's time for County Executive Edward Mangano and the Nassau
County Legislature to stop turning a blind eye to this problem. It's time to restore the Board of Visitors.
Come
rally with us and put pressure on the County to do the right thing.
What: Rally to Restore Human Dignity
When: Monday, Dec. 19th at 10 a.m.
Where: Nassau County Legislature, 1550 Franklin Ave. Mineola, NY 11501
Details: We'll rally outside of the legislature building and then head inside for the Legislative Meeting at 10p.m.
Individuals interested in
testifying before the legislature about the problems at the jail and the need for an oversight
committee can sign up to testify. There is a 3 minute limit per person.
More info: Contact Samantha Fredrickson,
NYCLU Nassau Chapter at 516-741-8520 or Nassau@nyclu.org.
NASSAU AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PROJECT (NAAP)
Nassau Charter Board of Visitors
Inmate Assistance Programs
Prison Oversight Agencies Link
Nassau Jail Suicides
I in 11 Blacks in correction
Nassau County Sheriff Department
Black officers make case against Nassau in courtOriginally
published: June 14, 2010 9:24 PM
Updated: June 14, 2010 9:40 PM
By ANDREW STRICKLER andrew.strickler@newsday.com A group of black Nassau correction officers who say county officials have not lived up
to the terms of a long-standing federal order to improve racial hiring and properly administer an affirmative action job in the sheriff's department began to make their case in a Brooklyn courthouse Monday. In a contentious first day of the hearing, attorneys for the Nassau County Sheriff Guardians, a
group of black correction officers, and a lawyer representing the county objected dozens of times to the other side's questioning
and failed to finish with the day's sole witness. At one point, the federal magistrate called the proceedings "tedious"
and threatened to stop the hearing, saying attorneys had failed to adequately discuss "in good faith" the production
of documents or who would be called to testify. In February, attorneys for the Guardians filed a letter in U.S. District
Court in Brooklyn seeking monetary damages and compliance with a 1998 decree. That legally binding agreement settled a 1992
lawsuit alleging discrimination in hiring, and the unequal treatment of black employees, the Guardians president has said. The
letter said the sheriff's office has marginalized the role of a "special assistant to the sheriff for affirmative action,"
appointed under the decree. The position was intended to investigate allegations of bias and help with recruitment and community
outreach. The job was created in part to ensure the agency's compliance with the county's affirmative action policy. Much
of Monday's testimony centered on the county's hiring this year of Andre Guilty, a one-time rapper and cable television producer,
for the county sheriff's affirmative action position. Guilty is a well-known figure in Hempstead and a former supporter of former Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi. Guilty switched allegiance during current County
Executive Ed Mangano's successful run for the seat last year. Under questioning by plaintiff's attorney Bonita Zelman,
county Civil Service Commission personnel specialist Deborah Welt said hiring documents entered into evidence Monday indicated that county commissioners
knew that Guilty had prior criminal convictions at the time they approved his provisional hiring. Welt also acknowledged
that a job application signed by Guilty indicated that he had no such criminal past. A letter Zelman said was from a county
official recommending that Guilty be paid $71,662 annually, based on his job experience, was also entered into evidence. The
minimum salary for the job of affirmative action specialist III is $48,600, Welt said. After the hearing, which U.S.
Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York Joan Azrack ended abruptly before ordering lawyers to her chambers, an attorney representing the county, Joshua Jemal, said
the agency has always been in compliance with the decree. He also said Guilty acknowledged on the first of two applications
that he had a misdemeanor criminal conviction from 1993, and that a subsequent application related to an exam required for
the position referred back to the previous application. Jemal declined to say what the conviction was for, or whether
Guilty might have had other convictions, as Zelman said in court. "This was a provisional appointment. [Guilty] was hired
through the civil service process properly, and we followed all the civil service guidelines," Jemal said. The
hearing is set to resume Friday. ***************************************************************************
Nassau jail needs a hard look Originally published: January 14, 2011 7:29 PM
Updated: January 16, 2011 8:00 PM
Photo
credit: Ed Betz, 2008 | Nassau County Jail in East Meadow It's
time to put the Nassau County Correctional Center under a microscope. Four Nassau County inmates have committed suicide over
the past 12 months, and the facility and its procedures need a speedy, comprehensive review. Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice last week joined state officials, inmate advocates and the New York Civil Liberties Union in calling for such a study, to be conducted by independent experts, and those calls should be heeded by the federal government.
Earlier this month, inmate Darryl Woody,
arrested on domestic violence charges, hanged himself at the Nassau University Medical Center, which provides medical care for inmates of the Nassau County jail. Woody, who reportedly suffered from depression and schizophrenia,
was placed in the hospital after he slit his wrists in the jail's mental health tier. The suicide of a man who had just
tried to slit his wrists is particularly troubling; Woody, clearly willing to do himself great harm, should have been under
closer watch by corrections staffers, even while getting medical care. The jail had significant problems from 1999 until 2005 - so much so that it was
placed under federal oversight, as was the NUMC inmate unit. Federal officials began monitoring the jail because of overcrowding
and in response to the 1999 beating death of an inmate. Insufficient inmate medical care was also cited. That consent decree was lifted in 2006, and between 2006 and
2009 the facility didn't have a single inmate suicide. But Herve Jeannot and Gasparino Godino hanged themselves in the jail
in October, as did Eamon McGinn a year ago this month. The jail houses 1,500 inmates, or 1.7 percent of the state's incarcerated population, but was the scene of 10 percent
of the state's suicides by prisoners over the past year. These deaths aren't the only signs of problems. Former prison grievance officer Mark Barber, a corrections worker
at the jail for 22 years whose responsibility was handling complaints from female inmates, was indicted last year on 80
charges that include rape, sexual abuse and forcible touching involving seven women. Barber, accused of using his position
to manipulate jailed women into sex acts, pleaded not guilty in September. So the county needs answers. Each of the suicides created a mandatory probe by
the state Commission of Correction, but they normally take 13 months to complete. That's too long. An immediate, comprehensive
and professional evaluation of the jail's practices by outside experts is what's needed. Once the review is done, the county must respond to its
findings and recommendations quickly and thoroughly. It's not time yet to cast blame. But it's past time to assess where
it might fall and to find and implement solutions to protect Nassau's inmates. hN
Mentoring Former Prisoners: A Guide for
Reentry Programs
by Renata Cobbs Fletcher and Jerry Sherk with Linda Jucovy
November 2009,
90 pages
Few social programs have attempted
to provide high-risk adults—and, particularly, former prisoners—with mentors. And thus there are few resources
that offer practical advice and recommendations for mentoring this population, given its distinct needs, assets and challenges.
While much remains to be tested and learned, this manual draws on the experience of the 11 sites involved in P/PV's Ready4Work prisoner reentry demonstration, as well as established
best practices in the mentoring field, to provide guidelines for practitioners who are interested in developing a mentoring
program to support former prisoners and enhance the effectiveness of other reentry services, such as employment and case
management services.
The guide was
originally published by the US Department of Labor in November 2007 under the title Mentoring Ex-Prisoners: A Guide for Prisoner Reentry Programs. However, because of growing interest in establishing mentoring programs as part
of larger reentry efforts around the country, P/PV decided to reissue the guide, along with updated information related
to P/PV's evaluation of Ready4Work (particularly findings published in Mentoring Formerly Incarcerated Adults, 2009.)
Fortune Society Rehab
Hidden Truth Re-Entry
Pew REport
Prison Health Report-Correctional Association
Prison-Menal Health Hearing
Saturday Prison Visits Cancelled
After three decades of explosive growth, the nation's prison
population has reached some grim milestones: More than 1 in 100 American adults are behind bars. One in nine black men, ages
20 to 34, are serving time, as are 1 in 36 adult Hispanic men. Nationwide, the prison population hovers at almost 1.6 million,
which surpasses all other countries for which there are reliable figures. The 50 states last year spent about $44 billion
in tax dollars on corrections, up from nearly $11 billion in 1987
*************************************************************
Building Bridges, May 2009 Dear
Reader, Prison Action Network has been working
with the Coalition For Fair Criminal Justice Policies to develop a strategy for changing parole laws so people can no longer
be denied parole solely because of the type of crime they committed. We feel there are other much more important criteria
to be considered. In our discussions with experienced policy makers, we've become familiar with the Reintegrative Sentencing Model developed by the Center for Community Alternatives (CCA) and championed by ICARE. We recognize
that the foundation for this concept was laid when Penal Law 1.05(6) was amended in 2006 to add a new goal, "the promotion
of their (convicted person's) successful and productive reentry and reintegration into society.." to the four
traditional sentencing goals of deterrence, rehabilitation, retribution and incapacitation. We envision this model being applied to create a documented Reintegration Plan upon arrest, which would
subsequently be used at every step of the process through which the accused person passes, including the bail hearing, the
court's sentencing decisions, and leading to a new role for the parole board. The Reintegration Plan would be designed
in partnership with the arrested person in analyzing the person's strengths and deficits to determine whether incarceration
or an alternative would be most appropriate, and if incarceration, the programs deemed necessary for the person to earn release
and eventual full reintegration into the community to which he or she is returned. That of course, would require a radical restructuring of our current criminal justice process. To encourage this shift we are suggesting that all of our proposals for improving the criminal justice
system, including new Merit Time statutes and Parole Board policies be consistent with this model. In the new paradigm, we visualize Merit Time becoming a tool to demonstrate the positive growth of a person
throughout incarceration and during the reintegration process. Revisions to 259-i, governing the Parole Board's
authority, would be focused on reducing the Board's sanctioning role and expanding its role in monitoring and evaluating
the person's behaviors and activities during incarceration. Upon release their role would be solely to monitor and provide
support until such time as the person is fully reintegrated into all aspects of the community to which he or she returned. Be well, have hope, and please, get involved!
 | | Dear Coalition members,With the recent successful reform of the Rockefeller Drug Laws, we are more excited than ever to travel to Albany to
fight for more critical changes to the criminal justice system for women and their families. We hope you will be there
for the Coalition for Women Prisoners 15th Annual Advocacy Day on Tuesday, May 5th. Last year, our
Coalition was represented by almost 300 members and we now have a terrific opportunity to once again make our presence known
and bring the issues we care so deeply about to the top of our legislature's list of priorities. If you are interested in attending Advocacy Day, you must attend
an Advocacy Day training. There are two ways for you to do this:·
Attend any of our April meetings which will serve as Advocacy Day Trainings.(If you are from upstate or out of the area, please contact Serena Alfieri at salfieri@correctionalassociation.org or 212-254-5700 x.311 to find out how you can participate in a training.) ·
Contact Stacey Thompson, our Community Outreach Coordinator, who will hold training workshops
throughout the month and can come to your organization if you have a large group of members who would like to attend.
She can be contacted at: sthompson@correctionalassociation.org or 212-254-5700 x.333. Participating in a training will
provide you with an overview of each of the three bills we are advocating for: the DV Merit Time Bill, Department of Health HIV/HepC Oversight Bill, and the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) Expanded Discretion Bill.A huge congratulations to all those who
fought so hard for so long to enact meaningful change to the Rockefeller Drug Laws. As Caitlin Dunklee, Drop The Rock Coordinator, recently wrote in a message to DTR members: "It may not be the end of the laws, but, if we have anything
to do with it, these reforms will be the beginning of the end." Our deepest respect and hats off to everyone who made this tremendous achievement possible.Looking forward to seeing you on May 5th,Tamar, Serena, Stacey & AndreaWomen in Prison Project Staff | 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. |
|
|
Click here to unsubscribe from the Coalition for Women Prisoners email list. 
--
Barbara
Allan
Prison Families Anonymous
P.O. Box 343
Central Islip, NY 11722
www.hiddentruthtv.net
link to Prison Families Anonymous
631-943-0441
| | | center | for | constitutional | rights | | |
| | | Dear CCR Supporter,
In October 2008, U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ruled that the imprisonment of 17 Uighur men at Guantánamo
was illegal and that they should be released into the United States. The Uighurs, members of a persecuted Muslim minority in Western China, were sold to U.S.
forces by bounty hunters. Most of them were cleared by the military of any offense in 2003, and in 2008, the U.S. government
formally acknowledged that none of them is an enemy combatant. All 17 have been exonerated by both military and habeas courts,
and all three branches of the government have acknowledged that the Uighurs should be released. After 7 years of illegal
detention, the only safe place these men can go is the United States. Join the Center for Constitutional Rights, Witness Against Torture and other human rights groups in supporting their freedom.
The Bush administration
appealed Judge Urbina's ruling to prevent the Uighurs' release into the U.S. But there has never been and never will
be any legal basis or security condition that should extend the imprisonment of these innocent men a single day more. Call
President Obama (202.456.1111) and Attorney General Eric Holder (202.353.1555) today to ask for the immediate release of the
Uighurs in accord with Judge Urbina's ruling. Ask them to dismiss the Bush Administration's appeal of Judge
Urbina's order and vacate the stay preventing the settlement of these innocent men. For more information, click here.
Stand with us against illegal detention and in support of the safe placement of the Uighurs.
Yours truly,
Annette Warren Dickerson
Director of Education and
Outreach
| | | | |
| | This
email was sent to the address: peacelongbeach@optonline.net.
Click here to unsubscribe from CCR Emails. | | | | Center for Constitutional
Rights ll 666 Broadway 7th floor NY, NY 10012 ll 212-614-6464 ll www.ccrjustice.org | | | | | |
New York Times, February 1, 2009 Examining Human Error in Wrongful Convictions By MANNY FERNANDEZ A new examination of wrongful convictions
in New York City and around the state found that a number of them stemmed not from DNA evidence being used to prove someone's innocence, but from a far
older phenomenon: human
error.
The report, released on Friday by the New York State Bar Association, studied the cases of 53 men and women whose convictions were overturned, often after
spending years, sometimes decades, in prison for murders, rapes and other crimes they did not commit. It determined that the root causes of the convictions
included errors by a prosecutor, judge or member of law enforcement, as well as the misidentification of the accused by victims or witnesses. The mishandling
of forensic evidence
and a reliance on false confessions from the accused or false testimony from jailhouse informants were also to blame. Fewer than half the cases involved new DNA evidence.
Even with the DNA cases, elements of human error were found. In many of the 53 cases, several factors, not just one, played a role in the wrongful convictions, the
report found. Thirty-six
cases involved a misidentification by a witness or a victim, and 31 involved errors by prosecutors, judges or law enforcement, it said. "If you were manufacturing widgets,
and 53 widgets were defective, it would be acceptable," said Barry M. Kamins, a Criminal Court judge in Manhattan who was the chair of the state
bar association task force that prepared the report. "If you're dealing in human lives, and 53 people are innocent and serving time for crimes
they didn't commit, that is unacceptable. One is too many, and 53 in New York is unacceptable." The 53 cases in the report read like a litany of legal
missteps.
Betty Tyson spent 25 years in prison before her murder conviction was overturned in 1998. She was convicted of strangling a Philadelphia businessman in Rochester
in 1973, largely as a result of the testimony of two teenagers who said they had seen her with the victim. One of the teenagers later recanted his account, and
a police report of an interview with the other teenager, in which the witness said he did not see Ms. Tyson with the victim, was suppressed by the
police and never given to her lawyers at the time of the trial, according to the report and news accounts. James Walker was convicted in 1971 of murdering an armored car driver
in Brooklyn, based on the testimony of an informant. But the report stated that the prosecutor and the lead detective in the case suppressed the
fact that the informant
had actually implicated a second man and that a surviving victim had seen Mr. Walker in a lineup but selected another person. Mr. Walker served 19 years in prison
and was freed in 1990.
Bernice K. Leber, the president of the bar association, said the wrongful convictions have not only eroded public confidence
in the criminal justice
system but have also had a significant, often-overlooked economic impact. A 1984 state law permits lawsuits and damage awards for unjust conviction
and imprisonment.
Anthony Faison and Charles Shepherd, two men whose cases were examined, were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for 14 years in the 1987 shooting death of a livery
cab driver in Brooklyn. Their conviction relied on the testimony of a witness who later admitted she had lied to collect a $1,000 reward. In
a settlement with the state, Mr. Faison and Mr. Shepherd each received $1.65 million. "These are huge numbers of dollars we're talking about," Ms. Leber said.
"What kind of toll is that taking on the state? I really do think that this report will be a seismic step and a wake-up call for our legislators and
the governor to take a hard look at where these dollars are going." The report comes amid criticism that New York has failed to do enough to prevent wrongful
convictions. Several states have established innocence commissions to review cases and propose legislative and procedural changes, but New York has
not. The state also
does not require law enforcement agencies to record interrogations, as some other states do. In a statement, Ann Pfau, the state's
chief administrative judge, said, "We look forward to studying the report and working with the bar, legislative leaders, the executive branch
and criminal justice professionals on this critical issue." Paul J. Browne, the New York Police Department's chief spokesman,
said police officials had not had a chance to review the report. "The N.Y.P.D., as much as anyone -- in fact, more than most -- is committed to convicting the guilty
and exonerating the innocent,
and reasonable measures to accomplish both are welcome," he said in a statement. The task force that prepared the report makes a number
of recommendations, including additional training for the police, prosecutors, defense lawyers and judges, as well as changes in how police lineups
are conducted. It also calls for interrogations of all felony-level suspects to be electronically recorded, and urges the state to provide financial
aid and re-entry services
to those exonerated, which Mr. Kamins said is not provided currently. The bar association will hold two public hearings on the report's
findings -- one in Manhattan on Feb. 13 and the other in Albany
on Feb. 24. The report will then be presented on April 4 to the bar association's House of Delegates, which will vote
on whether to formally adopt it.
**************************************************************************************
Date: Thu,
29 Jan 2009 08:41:10 -0500
Subject: [NYAPRS Enews] MHASC Alert: Call Albany Today to Preserve the Promise of Prison
MH Reform! NYAPRS Note: The Governor's budget proposal threatens to erode major elements of the SHU law
(the law ending the practice of solitary confinement for prisoners with severe psychiatric disabilities), by delaying its
implementation, eliminating its application in half of the state's prisons, and reducing mental health training for correctional
officers.NYAPRS joins advocates from Mental Health Alternatives to Solitary Confinement in urging legislators at today's
Mental Hygiene budget hearing to restore these provisions, you can do your part by making calls to the key legislative officials
mentioned below. Help us 'boot the SHU' (inhumane solitary confinement settings called Special Housing Units) by calling
today!
|  | | Featured News - January 2009CA Report Calls for Renewed Public Funding for
Higher Education in Prison Education from the Inside, Out recommends reversing federal and state budget cuts from the 1990s that have virtually eliminated in-prison college programs
in New York and across the country. The report includes a survey of relevant research and a review of six model in-prison
college programs. The report also contains first-hand testimony from program directors and formerly incarcerated program participants. Read the press release | Download the full report Featured press coverage: Watchdog group wants inmate college grants back, Associated Press/Newsday, (January 29, 2009)
MEET THE CA:
Laura Davidson wins Phyllis McCarthy Public Interest Service Award  For 20 years, through successes, political challenges, fiscal difficulties,
periods of rapid expansion, and, literally, a fire, Laura Davidson has been both a pillar and driving force for the Correctional
Association. She is the heart and soul of our organization—and everyday she exemplifies the CA’s mission to ensure
that all members of our society are treated justly and with dignity and respect. [read more]
Get Ready: CA's Prison Downsizing Campaign It is not hyperbole
to say that we now have a historic opportunity to win significant criminal justice reforms. New York’s budget crisis,
combined with a more receptive legislature in Albany and a governor with a history of supporting drug law overhaul, creates
a virtually perfect storm where far-reaching change is possible. The CA is moving swiftly to take advantage of this moment.
[read more] | Upcoming Events | Crime, Justice and the Economic Crisis
February 10, 2009
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Theresa Lang Community & Student Center More info | | |
Take
Action! | Already signed it? Get your friends, families, and colleagues
to sign and possibly win a prize! [read more] |
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 *****************************************************
| | The Correctional Association of
New York
in collaboration with
The Center for New York City Affairs / The New School
and
The Nation magazine 
CRIME, JUSTICE AND THE ECONOMIC CRISIS Tuesday, February 10, 2009, 6 pm to 8 pm
Theresa Lang Community & Student
Center
55 West 13th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues), 2nd Floor Like
New York, most states face deepening budget gaps and are slashing education and human services. Nationwide, states pour $50
billion a year into incarceration. New York led the way in expanding its prison system more than 25 years ago; should it lead
the way in the other direction today? Will the federal government take a new approach to criminal justice in an Obama administration?
And with at least 25,000 ex-offenders returning home each year from NY state prisons, what kind of support can communities
expect? MODERATED BY:
Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor,
The Nation WITH FEATURED PANELISTS:
Robert Gangi,
Executive Director, Correctional Association of New York
Glenn Martin, V.P. of Development and Public
Affairs, The Fortune Society
Marc Mauer, Executive Director, The Sentencing Project
Denise
O'Donnell, Commissioner, NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services
Anne Swern, First Assistant
District Attorney, Kings County Admission is free, but you must
reserve a seat. Call 212.229.5418 or email centernyc@newschool.edu.
Supported by the Sirus Fund and the Milano Foundation
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Our postal address is
2090 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd.
Suite 200
New York, New York 10027
United
States
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