A community discussion on mass incarceration was recently held at the Yonkers Riverfront Library, hosted by the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign, along with the HALTsolitary Campaign and VOCAL New York.
Panelists included: Jose Saldana, director of the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign and a Bronx resident who spent 38 years in prison and 18 months in solitary confinement; Laura Whitehorn, co-founder and organizer of the campaign who was born and raised in Westchester County and spent 14 years in prison and several months in solitary; Roger Clark, community organizer with VOCAL NY and a Brooklyn resident who spent 15 years in prison and five years in solitary; Ken Bright, director of the Life Progressive Services Group and a Westchester resident who served 20 years in prison, including months in solitary; Martin Gromulat, an attorney and community organizer with the campaign and a Westchester resident who served jail time, including time in solitary; and Anisah Sabur of Steps to End Family Violence, a Bronx resident who served time in prison, including time in solitary.
The six speakers presented on issues associated with long-term incarceration, long prison sentences, aging in prison, and solitary confinement, and shared their personal experiences during their combined 100 years spent in prison and jail. Some previously served life sentences.
In addition, the group promoted three legislative initiatives currently pending in Albany that seek to address the issues they faced, including: 1) the Fair and Timely Parole Act, a bill that would ensure the parole release process in New York State is primarily based on who people are today, and that their rehabilitation and transformation guides the Parole Board’s release decision; 2) Elder Parole, a bill that would allow an individualized consideration of release to people in prison age 55 and older who have served 15 or more years in prison and would offer hope and a chance at release to people otherwise sentenced to die in prison without any chance at redemption; and 3) the HALT Solitary Confinement Act, a bill that would end long-term solitary confinement in NYS prisons and jails, capping the number of days incarcerated people can spend in solitary confinement to 15 consecutive days, and providing meaningful, rehabilitative alternatives to isolating people in solitary cells.
About 50 people attended the meeting including Assemblyman Steve Otis and representatives from State Sen. Allesandra Biaggi and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
One in four people convicted in Westchester County and currently serving time in the NYS prison system is serving a life sentence; 78 percent of them are people of color.
There are more than 1,000 people from Westchester currently incarcerated in NYS prisons; roughly 25 percent are serving life sentences – 307 total people – and 78 percent are people of color and 14 are women.
Twenty-three percent of people from Westchester currently incarcerated in NYS prisons are 50 or older – 282 total people; 72 percent are people of color and 15 are women. Without reforms to the Parole Board and parole release process, many from Westchester will grow older, sick and die in prison regardless of their transformation and potential benefits to the outside world.
People in solitary confinement in NYS spend 22 to 24 hours a day locked in a cell the size of an elevator, alone or with one other person. They may have one to two hours to exercise alone in a cage; they do not receive any meaningful programs or therapy. Roughly a third of all suicides take place in solitary in NYS.
Most people sent to isolation in state prisons spend months or years there; some have been in solitary confinement for more than two decades. Colorado has implemented a 15-day limit on solitary and reduced the number of people in solitary from 1,500 to 18. NYS currently places no limit on the total time a person can spend in isolated confinement.
The majority of sentences that result in isolated confinement in NYS are for non-violent conduct. Black people represent about 18 percent of all people in NYS, but nearly 50 percent of those incarcerated in NYS and nearly 60 percent of people held in long-term solitary confinement units in NYS. Young people and people with mental illness are disproportionately likely to be put in isolation.
Visit rappcampaign.com and nycaic.org for more information.
