The April edition of Building Bridges is now available from the Prison Action Network. (N.B. There will be no May issue of Building Bridges, as the editor is taking a month's sabbatical.)
Items covered in this issue include:
1. Activities for advocates, statewide
2. Coalition ready to move forward
3. Downscaling prisons
4. Drug war analysis is subject of book by Michelle Alexander
5. ICARE column - census issues
6. The Judicial Process Commission
7. Lifers and Longtermers Clearinghouse
8. Milk not Jails
9. NYS Prisoner Justice Conference
10. Parole news
11. Prison media
12. Prisoners of the Census
13. Telephone Justice - new rates
Of particular relevance to parole reform in this issue - Judith Brink's report on the NYS Prisoner Justice Conference:
"The NYS Prisoner Justice Conference was a success! We had a full house, and everyone was energized and willing to work hard to correct the wrongs that we all agreed exist.
I came away from the event with a stronger resolve than ever to answer the mandate of the Family Empowerment Day participants who joined to form the Coalition For Fair Criminal Justice Policies. They voted to work to move the Parole Board away from being able to deny parole based solely on the nature of the crime or criminal history. Out of the Coalition was born a Policy Committee charged with the task of changing the law that sets Parole Board policies. That has been done in the form of a proposal for amending Executive Law § 259-i. Now we need to begin the next stage, moving our proposal into reality as a law of New York State.
The proposed changes would ensure that no one ever again gets denied parole because of the nature of their crime or their criminal history. Instead, parole release would be solely determined by the parole applicant's success at eliminating the conditions, behaviors, and thinking that led to his or her arrest in the first place. Once a parole applicant can produce evidence of rehabilitation and readiness for a return to society without posing a threat, they should be released. And then it becomes the community's responsibility, with the assistance of the division of parole, to help them with their reintegration.
The first step in making our proposal a law is to find a sponsor in both houses of our legislature. The legislators in turn need to convince other legislators to support it. We have to find a sponsor, and we have to convince our own representatives to get on board..."
Showing posts with label NYS Prisoner Justice Conference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NYS Prisoner Justice Conference. Show all posts
April 01, 2010
March 01, 2010
Building Bridges - March 2010 edition
The March edition of Building Bridges is now available from the Prison Action Network.
Items covered in this issue include:
1. Activities for advocates, statewide
2. Coalition initiates campaign for parole reform
3. ICARE on DOH oversight of DOCS HIV/AIDS treatment
4. Job opportunities
5. Know Your Rights Project for immigrant detainees
6. Legislation watch
7. Medicaid and disability program rules
8. Lifers and Longtermers Clearinghouse
9. NYS Prisoner Justice Conference
10.Parole News
11.Prison media: radio, video, print, theater
12.Transportation to prisons
Of particular interest to parole reform:
The Coalition for Fair Criminal Justice Policies are actively pursuing legislative sponsorship of their proposed revisions to Executive Law §259-i, the section of the parole statute which describes the way the NYS Board of Parole must operate. The Coalition will bring their proposed revision of Executive Law §259-i to the New York State Prisoner Justice Conference on March 27th.
Quoting from Building Bridges: "This work is a beginning step toward our larger purpose, which is to move the NYS criminal justice system as a whole toward a reintegrative model. This model engages a person, from the time of their arrest until their reintegration, in the development of a reintegration document which would identify the contributing factors leading up to the arrest, and the strengths and assets they might use, if so motivated, to return quickly to life as a productive citizen. It could be used to inform the bail hearing, the indictment, the attorneys, and the judge who would be guided by it in designing a sentence that provided specific recommendations for this particular person to prepare him or her for reintegration. And if the sentence included incarceration the document would continue to be revised as the person moved through the system, and when they completed the conditions of the sentence they would be released. Our revisions to Executive Law §259-i would enable people who have met specific criteria to be released. In that way, it conforms to this overall reintegrative model as best it can without the rest of the model in place. (In the case of an indeterminate sentence, the release would be to parole supervision and the conditions of parole would again be based on the reintegration document.)"
Building Bridges goes on to describe the steps required for the proposed revisions to Executive Law §259-i to be adopted by the Legislature in bill form.
Items covered in this issue include:
1. Activities for advocates, statewide
2. Coalition initiates campaign for parole reform
3. ICARE on DOH oversight of DOCS HIV/AIDS treatment
4. Job opportunities
5. Know Your Rights Project for immigrant detainees
6. Legislation watch
7. Medicaid and disability program rules
8. Lifers and Longtermers Clearinghouse
9. NYS Prisoner Justice Conference
10.Parole News
11.Prison media: radio, video, print, theater
12.Transportation to prisons
Of particular interest to parole reform:
The Coalition for Fair Criminal Justice Policies are actively pursuing legislative sponsorship of their proposed revisions to Executive Law §259-i, the section of the parole statute which describes the way the NYS Board of Parole must operate. The Coalition will bring their proposed revision of Executive Law §259-i to the New York State Prisoner Justice Conference on March 27th.
Quoting from Building Bridges: "This work is a beginning step toward our larger purpose, which is to move the NYS criminal justice system as a whole toward a reintegrative model. This model engages a person, from the time of their arrest until their reintegration, in the development of a reintegration document which would identify the contributing factors leading up to the arrest, and the strengths and assets they might use, if so motivated, to return quickly to life as a productive citizen. It could be used to inform the bail hearing, the indictment, the attorneys, and the judge who would be guided by it in designing a sentence that provided specific recommendations for this particular person to prepare him or her for reintegration. And if the sentence included incarceration the document would continue to be revised as the person moved through the system, and when they completed the conditions of the sentence they would be released. Our revisions to Executive Law §259-i would enable people who have met specific criteria to be released. In that way, it conforms to this overall reintegrative model as best it can without the rest of the model in place. (In the case of an indeterminate sentence, the release would be to parole supervision and the conditions of parole would again be based on the reintegration document.)"
Building Bridges goes on to describe the steps required for the proposed revisions to Executive Law §259-i to be adopted by the Legislature in bill form.
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