“The high rates of health issues mentioned in carceral settings are a health equity issue likely resulting, at least in part, from the low accessibility of fresh produce and poor access to quality and trusted medical care in NYS correctional facilities.”
“We witness firsthand the challenges that our older participants face when they come to us, usually because they no longer have family to turn to after such long periods of incarceration: physical health issues that might be less severe if treated properly sooner; unaddressed trauma, greatly exacerbated by incarceration; lack of financial resources; and homelessness.”
“Beyond the emotional toll, I have learned firsthand what people mean when they say, ‘justice delayed is justice denied.’ As time goes on, witnesses move and their memories fade; every day the case is dragged out by motions like qualified immunity, justice becomes more fleeting.”
“Gov. Hochul’s plan will not end our abusive prison labor system. New York must end the practice of forced labor and extend worker protections to all New Yorkers for the sake of our communities and families before we consider bringing private companies into the fold.”
‘I’m telling my story in the hope that fewer people like me, struggling with drug use and mental health issues, end up in here. I am writing to ask the New York State government to pass the Treatment Not Jail Act, which would mean people who get arrested because they really need help actually get treatment, and not jail.’
Earlier this month, the state began vaccinating incarcerated people 65 and older. But advocates, as well as local officials who run the city’s jails, want eligibility expanded to include all inmates, citing the extra risks posed by correctional facilities.
So far, New York State has allowed the city to administer the vaccine only to the highest-risk patients behind bars, only about 100 people as of last week, according to one Correctional Health Services’ official.
Criminal justice advocates slammed the mix messages for leaving thousands of families “wondering when their loved ones will gain access to vaccines.”
Cuomo has failed to implement widely accepted sound public health practices by refusing to release any meaningful number of the state’s COVID-vulnerable imprisoned human beings, and now by failing to put them in the first categories for access to the new vaccines.
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