Two inmates at Coxsackie Maximum Security Prison in Greene County died in the last week of December from COVID-19, making them the fifth and sixth among those incarcerated in New State prisons York to death. virus in the past three weeks.
Information on the deaths has been released by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS).
“People in prison and their families start the New Year with a COVID-19 nightmare. Six incarcerated New Yorkers died of the virus during the last three weeks of 2020, ”denounced the organizations Aging People in Prison Campaign, Liberation Preparation Project and HALTsolitary Campaign.
According to activists, despite these tragedies and repeated calls from attorneys and prison attorneys, district attorneys, medical experts, state and federal lawmakers, philanthropists and even celebrities for the governor, calling for saving clemency, Cuomo These are not real actions, they denounced.
Therefore, advocacy organizations are demanding that state lawmakers step up and adopt reforms related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the Elder Probation Act, the Fair and Timely Parole Act, and the law on humanitarian alternatives. Long-term solitary confinement (HALT), to prevent further unnecessary deaths behind bars.
Bills in the Legislative Assembly
Elderly Parole Act: would allow the State Parole Board to provide an assessment for the eventual parole of incarcerated persons 55 years of age and over who have already served 15 years or more, including including some of the oldest and sickest incarcerated people in the state. The Fair and Timely Parole Act: Would provide more meaningful parole reviews for incarcerated people who are already eligible for parole. The law on humanitarian alternatives to long-term solitary confinement (HALT) would end the torture of prolonged solitary confinement and replace it with more humane and effective alternatives, while allowing true medical isolation if necessary.
According to figures maintained by these organizations, 24 people have died so far in the New York State prison system. This time two people at Coxsackie Correctional Center on December 31, 2020. Previously, DOCCS reported that one incarcerated person died of COVID-19 on December 30, another in Auburn on December 29, another in the center Clinton Correctional Facility. on December 22 and another at Woodbourne Correctional Center on December 17.
They also revealed that, since December 1, 1,310 people in prison have tested positive for COVID-19. There are currently outbreaks of the virus in correctional facilities in Attica, Bedford Hills, Bare Hill, Clinton, Woodbourne, Groveland, Cayuga and Walsh.
In the nearly nine months of the pandemic so far, Governor Andrew Cuomo has granted a total of ten pardons to New Yorkers in prison, less than President Donald Trump and the governors of California, Illinois, from Oklahoma, Kentucky and other states. from the country. Campaigners insist that instead of granting clemency, Governor Cuomo sentenced thousands to solitary confinement, only making the damage and spread of COVID-19 worse.
Who could be released
There are thousands of people in New York State prisons who are parole eligible, aged 50 or older, or incarcerated for a non-criminal technical offense and who may be released on parole or who are in the year. your release date.
4,022 people already eligible for parole
3,305 people arrested for technical violation of probation
8,291 people aged 50 and over
6,524 people within a year of release (including women with babies in the Bedford Hills child care program and those who are pregnant)
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