New York

News Article Queens Daily Eagle April 6, 2020

Illness spreads with little scrutiny in Queens' private jail

Judith Greene is quoted in this article about the lack of COVID testing in the, private for-profit, eight-unit dormitory-style prison warehouse facility located in Springfield Gardens, Queens run by GEO under contract with the US Marshalls Service where inmates are getting sick, and an entire unit refused food provided them by unmasked, ungloved staff.  Inmates also report Warden William Zerrillo has told them they could not be tested for COVID-19 and would have to "let the virus take its course."

News Article Politico March 3, 2020

Bloomberg's record on Rikers complicates prison reform rhetoric

Justice Strategies' Executive Director, Judith Greene and others, discuss conditions at Rikers during former mayor and presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg's tenure, and his claim that it was his policies that reduced the number of those incarcerated in the notoriously violent island prison complex.

JS Blog Post September 14, 2019

A "Vision for Justice 2020 and Beyond: A New Paradigm for Public Safety" Released

R.B.H.

“It is time for bold ideas. It is time to achieve the change we desperately need: a fundamental transformation and reorientation of the criminal-legal system” –The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

This September, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Civil Rights Corps. Put out a new platform paper “Vision for Justice 2020 and Beyond: A New Paradigm for Public Safety.” The platform calls upon us to address the root causes leading to our high rates of incarceration and the denial of equal rights to millions. By recognizing that the history of our criminal justice system is rooted in racial and economic oppression from slavery, the black codes, convict leasing, Jim Crow laws to the war on drugs, the platform lays out a vision for public safety that is grounded in human rights and upholds the humanity and dignity of all people. The platform is divided into three parts with 14 “planks” calling for change: Read more »

JS Blog Post July 31, 2019

Join Justice Strategies August 6th, 2019 at the National Association of Sentencing Commissions’ Conference

R.B.H.

Join Justice Strategies at the National Association of Sentencing Commissions (NASC) on August 6th, 2019 in Virginia to discuss alternatives to sentencing programs for parents and the efficacy of Family Responsibility Statements.

JS Blog Post April 26, 2019

CNN Reports on Parenting From Prison: "Raising kids in the system"

R.B.H.

 

 

A recent CNN video "Raising Kids in the System" (27:18 min) reports on the experience of mothers raising kids while navigating the criminal justice system. The short video follows three mothers, one in St. Paul Minnesota involved in the jail doula project at Ramsey County Correctional Facility, a mother involved with "Hour Children" in Queens New York that runs a prison nursery to transitional community housing program, and the third in the Bronx in a diversion program with "JusticeHome” of the Women's Prison Association, a trauma informed alternative to incarceration program.  Read more »

JS Blog Post October 27, 2017

Don't Miss the Final See Us Support Us Event for October!

Lill M. Hewko

The Osborne Association’s See Us Support Us campaign has one more event this month, don’t miss it if you are in the New York Area!

October 27, 9:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Location: Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon St., Community Room 

See Us, Support Us Closing Event: From Little Ones to Leaders: What We Can All Do to Nurture the Potential of Children with Incarcerated Parents. Learn about the unique needs of young children of incarcerated parents, strategies for supporting parents and caregivers, and innovative initiatives- including through film, books, and journalism- to increase supports for all children affected by parental incarceration. Award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson is the closing keynote speaker. RSVP here Read more »

JS Blog Post October 3, 2017

Join the October "See Us, Support Us" Campaign to Support Incarcerated Children and Their Parents

Lill M. Hewko

 

 

 

The month of October is the See Us, Support Us, a month-long, national campaign to increase supports for children with incarcerated parents by The New York Initiative for Children of Incarcerated Parents. During October, you can support children and families separated by incarceration by learning more and sharing what you learn. Read more »

JS Blog Post June 16, 2017

A Father's Day of Action: Join Just Leadership USA and New York Immigration Coalition for a Father's Day Action Monday June 19th

Lillian M. Hewko, J.D.

On Father's Day many of us will be busy making phone calls to loved ones across the country, stopping across town, or gathering in the memory of a father or parent to honor and show our love. But you don't have to stop showing your love this Sunday! Take action this Monday to "Free the Dads!" and parents who are unecessarily separated from their children as they serve time behind bars in state, federal and immigration facilities! Our communities need support and resources, not prisons!

 

Below is a call to action by Just Leadership USA's Communty Organizer Brittany Williams with easy steps for folks to take action in New York and across the nation!

  Read more »

JS Blog Post April 21, 2017

No Way Out for Parents Charged with Violent Crimes

Riley Hewko, J.D.

“Now that I have a child of my own, I want to be in her life and show her that I have changed into a responsible adult.” –Daniel Loera, 21 years old, Monroe Correctional Facility

Daniel is one of the 45 percent of men in prison under 24 years old who are fathers. Daniel, featured in our last fatherhood blog, wants nothing more than a second chance so that he can help parent his 4-year old daughter, but Daniel has no no way out anytime soon. He is serving a 7.75-year sentence for an assault he committed when he was 16. With no options for an early release and with his daughter in foster care, he may permanently lose his parental rights. Read more »

News Article PBS NewsHour November 4, 2016

New York City defied national trends, cut incarceration rate in half, study finds

In this story by PBS NewsHour's The Rundown, Ryan Connelly Holmes quotes Better By Half  co-authors Judith Greene and Vincent Schiraldi, as they question the efficacy of mass incarceration as a crime control strategy, and point to how community activism for diversion and sentencing alternatives, changes in police enforcement and District Attorney charging practices, as well as the 2009 Rockefeller Drug Law reforms, have led to a reduction of better than 50 percent in NYC's jail and prison populations, over two decades.  The study points the way for other jurisdictions to follow, the authors state.

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