CA Press Release
HUNDREDS OF ADVOCATES FROM ACROSS NY STATE UNITE IN ALBANY TO CALL FOR PRISON CLOSURES AND COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT
DROP THE ROCK’S GRASSROOTS COALITION WELCOMES SENATOR TOM DUANE, ALBANY COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY DAVID SOARES, AND OASAS COMMISSIONER KAREN CARPENTER-PALUMBO, WHO WILL ADDRESS AUDIENCE ON NEED FOR CHANGE
FIFTY YOUTH FROM THE BRONX PERFORM “EMPIRE STATE OF MIND”, CALLING ON STATE LEADERS TO EDUCATE, NOT INCARCERATE
| For Immediate Release | March 15, 2010 | |
Contact: |
Robert Gangi |
Caitlin Dunklee |
Drop the Rock Campaign Day of Action and Education :
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Albany, New York, March 16, 2010: Hundreds of people from across the state will assemble in Albany on Tuesday, March 16 for the DROP THE ROCK Day of Action and Education. They will gather in the sanctuary of Emmanuel Baptist Church (275 State Street) at 10 A.M. From 10 A.M. to 12:30 A.M. speakers including Senator Tom Duane, Albany County District Attorney David Soares, and Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services Commissioner Karen Carpenter-Palumbo, and community advocates who have been affected by incarceration will address the statewide coalition. Fifty students from Mott Hall Middle School in the Bronx will perform “Empire State of Mind” and call on state leaders to invest in education, not incarceration.
During the morning session coalition members will break up into small lobby groups and receive training on the policy proposals of Drop the Rock’s Prison Downsizing Campaign. In the afternoon, beginning at 1:15 P.M., forty lobby teams will meet with over one hundred and forty legislators.
According to Robert Gangi, Executive Director of the Correctional Association of NY: “In the past 10 years New York’s prison population has dropped by over 13,000 people and the crime rate has dropped by 28%. The state prison system now has over 6,300 empty prison beds. Closing underutilized prisons can save our fiscally strapped state over $140 million over the next two years.”
Caitlin Dunklee, Associate Director of the Public Policy Project for the Correctional Association states: “New York can no longer use prisons as an economic stimulus plan. Warehousing low-income people of color to create jobs in upstate communities is unconscionable. State leaders must develop alternative and sustainable economic development in communities which have grown dependent on incarceration.”
Drop the Rock proposes these measures aimed at downsizing the New York State prison system:
- Close Underutilized Prisons
New York’s prison population has decreased by over 13,000 people in the past ten years. Even after recent prison closures, there are still over 6,300 empty beds funded by taxpayers. Closing these beds could save NY millions of dollars this year.
- Decrease Rate of Reincarceration for Technical Parole Violations
In 2009, over 8,200 people were sent to prison because they violated parole, not for committing a new crime. This figure equals over 30% of commitments to prison in 2009.
- Fully Repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws
Though the reforms we helped to win last year are significant, thousands of people will still go to prison for minor drug offenses every year.
- Increase Use of Work Release
In 1994, over 27,000 people in prison participated in work release programs. Today, fewer than 2,500 are enrolled.
- Increase Parole Release Rate
Parole Board policy often denies individuals parole release due to the nature of their crime, no matter how positive their institutional record. This practice delays the release of thousands of people every year.
- Expand Merit Time Eligibility
Merit time, which allows a person in prison to earn time off of their sentence for completing programs, is not available to people convicted of violent offenses. This policy delays release for thousands of people every year.
- Reinvest Savings in Alternative, Reentry, Prevention and In-Prison Programs
Investment in communities is much more effective in improving public safety and the quality of people’s lives than incarceration.
Download Drop the Rock Campaign’s Prison Downsizing Brochure
Drop the Rock is coordinated by the Correctional Association of NY’s Public Policy Project.
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