People’s Victory! A broad and vibrant effort by New Yorkers defeated Governor Cuomo’s plans to reduce visiting hours at New York’s maximum security prisons.
Together we won.
This spring Gov. Cuomo proposed to cut back visiting days at New York State maximum security prisons to three days a week instead of the current seven. A broad and vibrant front of organizations and community members, listed below sprang into action to fight, knowing this measure would cause suffering and separation for the 20,000 people imprisoned in max prisons and their loved ones. Imprisoned people, loved ones, community organizers, lawyers, and advocates highlighted the ways that visiting is vital and essential for people’s wellbeing and stability inside and outside.
Critical Resistance-New York City bolstered this effort by discussing with people who are currently imprisoned in New YorkState maximum facility prisons about the visiting cuts, producing a report that highlights people’s opposition and analysis. solicited testimony and analysis from. To protect against potential retaliation, we have only included respondent’s first name and location, when preferred, or their otherwise requested title.We hope this collection of testimony will be used as a tool in the fight against limitations and cuts to visitation today and beyond. You can check out the report here.
Through powerful testimony and pressure on decision makers, we forced the Governor to remove this cut from his proposed 2017-18 budget.
We’re humbled to be part of the powerful movement of dozens of organizations and hundreds of community members across the state that demanded that the Governor cancel his proposal. We hope that together we will continue to fight strongly and powerfully against the restrictions that the prison industrial complex attempts to impose.
Here are some excerpts:
(You can check out the full report here)
