PREP’s inaugural annual “Beyond the Bars” ceremony

PREP’s inaugural annual “Beyond the Bars” ceremony

PREP’s first annual Beyond the Bars ceremony was held on June 15, 2023  at The Armory in New York City. This annual event honors  PREP participants and provides the opportunity for them to share their personal stories of the positive impact PREP has had on their re-entry journey.  PREP participants Manny Figueroa, Abdul Harley and Rafael Rivera were featured speakers. Incarcerated participants were able to share their PREP stories through writing letters and poems to that were read by their  PREP social workers. 

Among our guests were DOCCS Acting Commissioner, Daniel Martuscello III and Associate Commissioner, Melissa Coolidge. PLS Executive Director, Karen Murtagh, was presented with an award to honor her creation of PREP, which was born from a “lightbulb moment,” she had many years ago. Through PREP, PLS has now expanded its scope of services to include helping individuals receive the necessary tools and support to avoid returning to prison. 

 

Beyond the Bars 2023 was an inspirational and uplifting testament to the powerful impact of  PLS’  PREP. We are extremely proud of our PREP program and our extremely dedicated social workers and program participants. 

CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT: NEW YORK PRISONS VIOLATE RESTRICTIONS ON PROLONGED SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT: NEW YORK PRISONS VIOLATE RESTRICTIONS ON PROLONGED SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

The New York Civil Liberties Union and Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York today filed a class action lawsuit in state supreme court against New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) for illegally subjecting people to prolonged solitary confinement in violation of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act (HALT), passed in 2021. Solitary confinement is the most extreme form of punishment used in the United States outside of the death penalty and causes severe trauma, while also being linked to higher rates of recidivism and a reduction in public safety. Following decades of advocacy from the NYCLU, partner organizations, survivors of solitary confinement and their families, New York was the first state to codify the United Nations Mandela Rules into law, which restrict the use of solitary confinement to exceptional circumstances.  

 

HALT prohibits segregated confinement—solitary confinement in excess of 17 hours per day—exceeding 15 days under any circumstances, and places strict limits on solitary confinement exceeding three consecutive days, or six days in any 30-day period. Yet DOCCS is holding individuals in segregation beyond the fifteen-day maximum for a wide range of behavior that does not pose imminent risk to the facility’s security. A recent study by the Correctional Association of New York, an independent organization that monitors prison conditions, found “numerous departures from basic adherence” to HALT, in some cases resulting in individuals being placed in solitary confinement for up to six times longer than the law allows. 

 

The lawsuit names plaintiffs Fuquan Fields and Luis Garcia, representing a class of individuals currently incarcerated in New York who have been illegally subjected to solitary confinement. Fields and Garcia also represent an untold number of class members who will be placed in extended segregation in the future and be subject to the same illegal treatment.  

 

“I’ve been held in solitary confinement before, and it took a very negative toll on my mental health. It’s overwhelming,” said plaintiff Fuquan Fields. “I don’t meet the HALT criteria to be sent back there, yet DOCCS has sentenced me to another 120 days in the box.” 

 

“I was sentenced to 730 days in solitary confinement. I have so much time in there that sometimes it feels like I’m never going to get out,” said plaintiff Luis Garcia. “Under the HALT Act, DOCCS shouldn’t be treating me this way. I want DOCCS to stop acting like it is above the law.” 

 

Solitary confinement that lasts more than 15 consecutive days is recognized by the United Nations and various human rights organizations as torture. In 2016, the National Commission on Correctional Health Care issued guidance to correctional health officials explaining that long-term solitary is “inhumane, degrading treatment, and harmful to an individual’s health.” Even short-term stays can lead to permanent psychological damage and suicidal ideation. While prolonged solitary is harmful to everyone who experiences it, it is especially dangerous for certain groups, including those 21 or younger and 55 or older, pregnant people, people with disabilities, and people with mental illness. 

 

“Solitary confinement has inflicted enduring harm on generations of incarcerated New Yorkers and remains the gravest humanitarian crisis in our state’s prisons today,” said Antony Gemmell, Director of Detention Litigation at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “In enacting HALT, the Legislature took decisive steps to confront that harmful legacy, speaking with unmistakable clarity about the importance of curbing solitary confinement in New York prisons. It’s time for DOCCS to listen.” 

 

For decades, advocates have fought New York state’s reliance on the harsh punishment of solitary confinement. In 2015, the NYCLU secured a landmark settlement to overhaul solitary confinement in New York, resulting from a 2012 class-action lawsuit, Peoples v. Annucci, which challenged the policies and practices governing solitary confinement in New York State prisons. In 2014, PLS reached a ground-breaking settlement in Cookhorne v. Fischer mandating, among other things, that a juvenile’s age must be considered when imposing solitary on 16- and 17-year-olds and requiring written justification of any solitary confinement imposition for juveniles. The NYCLU’s 2012 report Boxed In: The True Cost of Extreme Isolation in New York’s Prisons, showed that state prisons doled out thousands of sentences of extreme isolation every year, with some serving terms of years or even decades in solitary. And in 2007, PLS and its partners settled Disability Advocates, Inc. v. New York State Office of Mental Health and Department of Correctional Services, which provided relief to all incarcerated people with serious mental illness who were subjected to any form of isolated confinement. 

 

“The enactment of legislation to curb the overuse of solitary confinement, known as the HALT Act, was the result of a decades-long effort by human rights advocates and reformers. It is now the law, but honoring its letter and spirit awaits action by those charged with its implementation,” said Karen Murtagh, Executive Director of Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York. “The law left in place the administrative tools needed to protect both the ‘keepers and kept’ behind prison walls. An inept and porous rollout of these reform measures certainly does not justify a rollback of these hard-fought reforms. This litigation seeks one thing and one thing only: enactment of the HALT law as written.” 

 

“The New York Legislature spoke loudly and clearly about the harms of solitary and disciplinary confinement when it passed the HALT Act. DOCCS must comply with the HALT Act. It must follow the law,” said of-counsel Alexis Karteron, Director, Rutgers Constitutional Rights Clinic. 

 

In addition to Gemmell, NYCLU counsel on the case includes deputy legal director Molly Biklen, legal fellows Ify Chikezie and Courtney Colwell, as well as paralegal Alanis McAlmont. PLSNY counsel includes special litigation attorney Andrew Stecker, senior supervising attorney Jim Bogin, senior staff attorney Matt McGowan, and staff attorneys Hallie Mitnick and Elise Czuchna.   

 

You can find materials on the case here: https://www.nyclu.org/en/cases/nyclu-plsny-v-doccs

THE NEW YORK BAR FOUNDATION PRESENTS GRANT TO PRISONERS’ LEGAL SERVICES OF NEW YORK

THE NEW YORK BAR FOUNDATION PRESENTS GRANT TO PRISONERS’ LEGAL SERVICES OF NEW YORK

The New York Bar Foundation (NYBF) recently presented agrant to  Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York (PLS) for a project entitled The John R. Dunne NYBF Pre-Release and Re-Entry Program (PREP) Fellowship.  The grant will be used to support  PLS’ PREP in preparing a “Know Your Rights” Guidebook for formerly incarcerated individuals reentering society.

 

“This funding will support a  part-time law student working  under PLS attorney and PREP supervision to compile a comprehensive guidebook that will be instrumental in helping formerly incarcerated individuals successfully navigate the multiple hurdles they face when trying to reintegrate into society,” said Karen Murtagh, Executive Director of PLS. “We thank the NYBF for its generous grant to help inform and educate  individuals reentering society regarding their legal rights. Being able to provide this information to our clients will go a long way in helping to ensure successful reintegration and reduce the chances of recidivism.”   

 

NYBF grants assist non-profit organizations with essentials-of-life issues such as child support, consumer debt, housing, access to health care and education, and family matters such as domestic violence and family stability. 

 

“The  New York Bar Foundation is dedicated to supporting charitable projects aimed at meeting the law-related needs of the public and the profession. Helping people and highlighting the good works of the legal profession is at the heart of what we do,” said President of the Foundation, Carla M. Palumbo.

 

The Foundation recently allocated more than $600,000 in grants to ninety-five programs across New York.  Lucia Whisenand, chair of the Grants Review Committee, noted “There is a tremendous need for vulnerable people to be able to access legal services.  By allocating funds for these grants,  the Foundation helps make justice a realty for millions of people throughout New York State.”

 

“The Foundation’s grant program served more than 1.2 million people throughout New York State in 2022 alone,” adds June Castellano, Vice-chair of the Grant Review Committee.  “The programs that we fund have life-changing impacts on the people who receive assistance.  Together with our donors and  legal services organizations, we are making a difference throughout New York State.”

 

The New York Bar Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, is the charitable arm of the New York State Bar Association.  To learn more about the Foundation visit www.tnybf.org

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“A Woman on the Outside” workshop, exhibition, film screening and panel

“A Woman on the Outside” workshop, exhibition, film screening and panel

Growing up, Kristal watched nearly every man in her life disappear to prison. She channeled that struggle into keeping families connected, both as a social worker and with her van service that drives families to visit loved ones in far-off prisons. But when Kristal’s dad and brother return to Philly, her happiness meets the realization that release doesn’t always mean freedom.

Join us on April 1 for a film screening of “A Woman on the Outside,” a tender portrait of one family striving to love in the face of a system built to break them.

Directors Zara Katz and Lisa Riordan Seville and protagonist Kristal Bush will begin at 5pm with a Be The Media! workshop on “Participatory Design in Journalistic Process.” At 6:30pm there will be a brief opening reception for the exhibition “Women on the Outside.” Then at 7pm will be the film screening of “A Woman on the Outside” followed by a panel discussion that includes Jose Di Lenola and TeAna Taylor of RAPP.

More info at: https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/a-woman-on-the-outside/

Sponsored by: The Sanctuary for Independent Media
Co-sponsored by: The Chris Wilson Foundation, Realeas Aging People from Prison Campaign, and Prisoners’ Legal Services.

Washburn Martin – Assistant Controller

Washburn Martin

Assistant Controller

(518) 445-6052 ext. 1119

wmartin@plsny.org

Washburn Martin is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in New York and a member of American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He received a BBA in Accounting from Siena College. He joined PLS in 2021 as the Assistant Controller. Prior to joining PLS, he worked as a Business Manager and his responsibilities included strategic financial and operational planning, budgeting, and the overall management of financial resources. Earlier in his career, he managed and performed financial and tax audits for several organizations, including The New York Times Company and Buchbinder Tunick & Company. He is an experienced tax preparer of individual and business tax returns. For several years, he provided oversight services as the Treasurer of a Charter School Board of Trustees, and he also provided financial services as a volunteer at a local church.

Gina Andrade – Immigration Paralegal

Gina Andrade

Immigration Paralegal

(518) 694-8699 ext. 2112

gandrade@plsny.org

Gina is currently a graduate student at UAlbany and she will be completing her Master’s in May. She received her bachelor’s degree from UAlbany as well.  This fall Gina will be pursuing her PhD in the Latin American, Caribbean and U.S. Latino Department at UAlbany. She is currently doing research on the femicide cases in Mexico and the connection to protest songs.  She was raised in New York City but has now made Albany her new home. Gina likes to spend her summers in Mexico.

PLS CHALLENGES WITHHOLDING OF EVIDENCE REQUESTED THROUGH FOIL

PLS CHALLENGES WITHHOLDING OF EVIDENCE REQUESTED THROUGH FOIL

Timely access to prison records is critical to PLS’s ability to provide effective representation to our clients. Our primary means of obtaining records for initial investigations and advocacy is New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). We recently argued an appeal before the Appellate Division, Third Department challenging DOCCS’ withholding of videos and narrative incident reports requested through FOIL. DOCCS relied on several FOIL exemptions to justify withholding these records, including the “law enforcement,” “safety,” and “intra-agency materials” exemptions (Public Officers Law § 89[2][e], [f], and [g]).

 

 

The law requires that an agency articulate a “particularized and specific justification” when exempting records from disclosure, and our position was that DOCCS did not meet this standard. For example, some of the video at issue depicted a prison yard incident. DOCCS asserted that disclosure would create a risk of retaliation against individuals who could be identified from the video. We argued that DOCCS’ speculative concern about retaliation did not justify the safety exemption, in part because the video showed nothing more than what was readily observable to dozens of people present during the incident—a factor that weighs against withholding under the safety exemption (see Matter of Buffalo Broadcasting. Co. v. New York State Dep’t of Corr. Servs., 174 A.D.2d 212 [3d Dep’t 1992]). We also argued that DOCCS’ alleged safety concerns were undermined by the fact that prison officials had already shown the video to several incarcerated people in the context of disciplinary hearings to allow them to identify others, which was one of the very risks that DOCCS later claimed to justify withholding under FOIL.  

 

 

In addition to the videos withheld under the safety exemption, PLS challenged DOCCS’ denial of records that the agency eventually produced after litigation was pending. Ordinarily, production of records will make any challenge to their withholding moot. We asked the Court to grant an exception to the mootness doctrine and rule on the issues presented in order to address DOCCS’ misapplication of the law enforcement and intra-agency materials exemptions to surveillance videos and unusual incident reports. We argued that DOCCS’ withholding of those records presented novel and important questions about how the agency interprets the relevant FOIL exemptions, and that their misinterpretation of the exemptions is likely to continue in ways that will escape the Court’s review.

  

 

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP provided pro bono representation to PLS in this matter before both Albany Supreme Court and the Appellate Division. 

 

Jonathan Feldman – General Counsel

Jonathan Feldman

General Counsel

(518) 445-6052

jfeldman@plsny.org

Jonathan Feldman is General Counsel for PLS.  He worked for the Empire Justice Center for 24 years – as a Senior Attorney from 1997-2018, and as Legal Director from 2019-2022.  His primary focus has been civil rights, especially education law.  He has litigated impact cases in the areas of special education, bilingual education, school desegregation, and equitable school funding.  He has taught education law at Seton Hall Law School and the University of Rochester, and has co-authored two editions of the textbook, Education Law (Routledge: 2014 and 2021).

He has also taught legal ethics, legal writing, and clinical courses at Cornell Law School and Syracuse University College of Law.  During the 1990s, he worked for the Education Law Center in Newark, NJ, and the Community Service Society in New York City.  A graduate of Oberlin College and NYU Law School, he clerked for the Hon. James T. Giles, a federal district judge, and the first African American to be named partner at a major Philadelphia law firm (1975).

On the side, he plays in blues and jazz groups (piano and vocals).  Jonathan Feldman Trio on Spotify; Jonathan Feldman channel on YouTube.

Elementor #8883

Gina Andrade

Paralegal/Legal Secretary
(518) 694-8699 ext. 2112
gandrade@plsny.org

Gina was born in Brooklyn, New York. Gina graduated from the University at Albany, SUNY with a bachelor’s degree in Latin American, Caribbean and U.S. Latino studies. She is currently in the master’s program there and is set to graduate with her Master’s in May 2022. Starting in the fall she will be pursuing her Ph.D. Her research interests are in Mexico specifically transnational families, and femicide. She intends to stay in academia being a college professor and at some point, having the opportunity to teach in Mexico. She has gotten the opportunity to travel to Japan, Ecuador and Puerto Rico, and hopes to continue traveling to many other places. In her free time, Gina likes to read, try different boba places and dog-sit.