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Join Us on Wednesday, June 11 at the University Club as We Recognize the Hon. Morris E. Lasker and the Hon. Felice K. Shea

The 1844 Medal Dinner provides an opportunity to celebrate the CA's programs and recognize the particular contributions of individuals who have made a significant difference in criminal justice reform and the advancement of social justice.

2008 Honorees:

Hon. Morris E. Lasker
1844 Medal

Hon. Felice K. Shea
Award for Achievement in Public Service

Click here to learn more about the event, read about our honorees and find out how to purchase tickets or a table.

OCFS Pledges Sweeping Reforms for NY’s Juvenile Justice System; Business as Usual in Albany Threatens to Uphold Status Quo

On March 26, the CA's Juvenile Justice Coalition organized an advocacy day in Albany, during which over 50 young people and other advocates urged legislators to support the closings. Watch News Channel 10's coverage of the event. Photo: Kyle Sullivan, graduate of Each One, Teach One.

The good news: in January, the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) announced plans to close six juvenile facilities in New York. The decision makes sound fiscal sense: the facilities slated for closure are under-populated, with each empty bed costing taxpayers up to $200,000 per year.

The great news: OCFS has made it explicit that this step is part of a broader transformation. Promising to redirect funds toward more effective (and less costly) alternative-to-incarceration programs, this new direction reflects reforms for which the CA’s Juvenile Justice Project and others have long advocated.

The troubling news: the State Senate, nervous about upstate job losses, has proposed restoring funding for three of the facilities in the state budget.

The CA strongly supports OCFS’ plan to close all the facilities, and is working to ensure this opportunity to begin fixing New York’s broken juvenile system is not thwarted. In the words of OCFS Commissioner Gladys Carrión, “For most of the kids, we don’t need these facilities, and we don’t need to be shipping them hundreds of miles away from their families. That money can be reinvested in programs that work better for these young people.”

• Read JJP Director Mishi Faruqee’s recent op-ed in the Buffalo News
• Read the New York Times' editorial, New Day, Line by Budget Line, and Albany Times Union's Justice and Juveniles, both written with input from the CA, about how the closings will help New York narrow its budget deficit
• Read City Limits’ detailed discussion of efforts to redirect funds to community programs

Drop the Rock Campaign in High Gear

After lively public forums in New York and Hempstead (covered by Village Voice and Newsday, respectively) and with newly published fact sheets at our disposal, the CA’s campaign to repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws aims to educate policymakers about the laws and their negative effects. On March 27, Drop the Rock organized an advocacy day in Albany to urge legislators to eliminate New York’s wasteful, ineffective, racially-biased mandatory sentencing statutes.

The campaign also launched the 35th Year Petition. Seeking to collect 35,000 names by May 8, 2008, the laws’ 35th anniversary, the petition will send an emphatic message to state legislators: the time for repeal is now.

• Sign the 35th Year Petition on the Drop the Rock website
• Read CA Executive Director Bob Gangi’s recent op-eds: Undo the Rockfeller drug laws (Newsday, 2/8/08) and Drug treatment can fight prison bias (Albany Times Union, 3/14/08)
• Read AlterNet's article about of the reinvigorated Drop the Rock campaign and what David Paterson's ascent may mean for mandatory sentencing reform
• Click here to watch Capital News 9's coverage of Drop the Rock's March 27th advocacy day

SHU Bill Passes Legislature

In November, we reported on our website and in our print newsletter about proposed legislation designed to protect inmates with mental illness. After years of in-depth reporting and advocacy work on the part of the CA and others, the bill became law on January 29. Read then Governor Spitzer’s press release and see our previous article for information about this law and and the protections and services it provides for mentally ill prisoners.

Coalition for Women Prisoners Holds 14th Annual Advocacy Day

With over 275 formerly incarcerated women and other advocates in attendance, the Coalition’s 14th Annual Advocacy Day on March 4 marked another successful effort to raise awareness about criminal justice issues affecting women and their families.

Assemblymember Jeffrion Aubry, Chair of the Committee on Correction and sponsor of the Advocacy Day, welcomed participants and reiterated the importance of sharing with policymakers the experiences of women who have been directly affected by incarceration. During the day’s meetings, the Coalition’s 38 lobby teams met with approximately 180 legislators and staff, urging them to support key policy reforms. Each legislator received the Coalition’s 2008 Proposals for Reform brochure which summarizes the Coalition's top five legislative priorities.

Selected Advocacy Day press coverage:

• Coalition fights for the rights of women behind bars, Legislative Gazette
• Advocates pushing for legislative reforms for women, Associated Press / Albany Times Union

Join us on Thursday, April 17 for a Panel Discussion: Prisons, Police, Race, and the War on Drugs

Leading academicians, activists, political figures, and lawyers will discuss a critical, oft-neglected, public policy issue: how police, prosecutorial, and prison-related practices lead to the dramatically disproportionate confinement of poor people of color.

Panelists include Jeffrion Aubry, Assemblymember and Chair of the Assembly Committee on Correction; Kamau Karl Franklin, Radical Justice Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights and co-chair of the National Conference of Black Lawyers; Robert Gangi, Executive Director of the Correctional Association of New York; and Dennis Smith, Associate Professor of Public Policy at NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Thursday, April 17, 6:30 p.m.
NYU Wagner, Rudin Family Forum for Civic Dialogue
The Puck Building, 2nd Floor
295 Lafayette Street (at Houston St.)
Click here to RSVP

Presented by: NYU Wagner Criminal Justice Student Group, Wagner Students of African Descent Alliance, and the Correctional Association of New York.

The CA Moves to Harlem

The Correctional Association of New York’s offices are now located in the historic Theresa Towers at the corner of Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. and West 125th Street in Harlem. We look forward to seeing you at our new location!

Our new address is as follows:

Correctional Association of New York
2090 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd., Suite 200
New York, NY 10027

Note: Phone/fax numbers, extensions, and staff email addresses remain the same.

Women’s Prison Library Project Featured in DOCS Today

The Women in Prison Project's year-long initiative to bring accessible, up-to-date women's health literature to the State's seven prisons that house women received a write-up in the winter edition of DOCS Today, the quarterly newsletter published by the New York State Department of Correctional Services.

As recently featured in our own CA Bulletin, the CA worked to get more than 200 books, guides, and brochures donated—materials which will help ensure that women have the resources they need make informed decisions about their health. The CA would like to thank all the generous donors who made it possible for WIPP to supply the needed documents.

• Read the article in DOCS Today (page 7)