Activists from three community organizations rallied in public on April 14th to demand that local officials release as many persons as possible from the Broome County jail. Filling the parking lot outside the Taste New York store where County Executive Jason Garnar was holding a press conference, members from Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier, Citizen Action, and Truth Pharm called on the County Executive Jason Garnar, Sheriff David Harder, and District Attorney Michael Korchak to prevent further COVID infection and death in the jail and across the county.
The county Sheriff responded by deploying a phalanx of officers and patrol cars, with multiple officers demanding protestors leave the site as it was “private property.” Protestors stood their ground, pointing out that this was state property, with the store still open to the public, and the parking lot and sidewalks unimpeded. The protest proceeded surrounded by officers and their vehicles.
The groups’ demands are straightforward, and have been repeated for months:
Provide daily counts of tests, positives, quarantine and deaths in the jail
Immediately release anyone at high risk for infection
Release anyone held on non-violent charges
Provide testing, sanitation supplies, medical treatment, and adequate nutrition
Make phone/video calls free and end predatory commissary pricing
Ensure those coming home have a discharge and treatment plan, including medical and housing resources that enable self-isolation
In reply County Executive Garnar stated, in a line taken from his Sheriff’s public statements: “I don’t have anything to do with it…. I can’t let people out of jail.” The county DA Korchak says the same. As one reporter pointed out at Garnar’s press conference, this is not the case in other counties where Sheriffs, DAs, and County Executives have all acted, individually and often together, to release persons with short sentences, those at high risk for infection and death due to medical conditions, and those incarcerated on technical parole violations like smoking weed or missing a parole meeting. Cases of these conditions were all recounted by family members at the rally.
When pressed on this at the press conference, Garnar said he couldn’t agree with the groups’ demand to “release all prisoners.” This too was a blatant fabrication, as the longstanding list of demands shows –and as a reporter quickly pointed out.
Meanwhile COVID-19 continues its march through the jail, with the Sheriff recently reporting 11 officers and 11 incarcerated persons testing positive. This would be over 20% of existing cases in the county, where little testing has been done.
No one has been able to confirm these numbers, much less answer questions on how many tests in the jail have been done, how many persons have been discharged or hospitalized with the virus, and how many current or recently released persons have died (the Sheriff and local judges have the habit of releasing persons from the jail just prior to hospitalization and death as in the case of Rob Card). When asked for this information by reporters, Garnar said, as he has when asked for information other county COVID “hotspots” like local nursing homes: “I don’t know.”
The car rally is just one of recent protests pressing the County Executive, the District Attorney (who suffered a phone zap/call in on Monday) and the Sheriff, and the organizations promise to continue their work in the coming weeks.
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A sample of local media coverage may be found here, here, and here.
This week, County Executive Jason Garner announced that the Broome County Jail is a county “hot spot” for the spread of coronavirus. Weeks earlier, on March 14, 2020, JUST called for measures to protect incarcerated people, county employees, and the public through releases and other necessary measures. The unfolding tragedy was foreseeable, but county officials refused to listen. Instead, officials have offered ad hoc solutions, many listed below. Even today, officials are fingering-pointing, like newly elected District Attorney Korchak putting the onerous for releases on judges and defendants, instead of offering solutions. Sheriff Harder reports his inability to release people, yet he has the power to furlough incarcerated people. No furloughs of incarcerated people are known. Rather, he erroneously stated that jails were “safer”in jail even after the CDC issued guidelines to correctional facilities noting, in part, that “Incarcerated/detained persons live, work, eat, study, and recreate within congregate environments, heightening the potential for COVID-19 to spread once introduced.” Today, 21% of all cases are directly linked to the Broome County jail.
The BC jail is, in fact, one of the two most dangerous places the county at present, the other a nursing home.
While JUST and other organizations have been working to have as many incarcerated people release as feasible and offering solutions to protect our community going back to the beginning of the pandemic, elected officials dither.
The only solution to the this public health emergency for incarcerated people, corrections officers, and the community at is decarceration and rehousing in clean facilities outside the jail. Pods need to be closed so more staff can stay home, away from danger and reducing spread to their families and everyone else.
BC Jail News Roundup. These data are taken from various reliable contacts whose identities will be kept anonymous out of fear of retribution. Information is also taken and supported/verified by online informational sources. News agencies that wish to use this information but require confirmation or people who have more information about jail conditions and releases should contact justice.southern.tier@gmail.com. We encourage the dissemination of the information listed below.
1. According to Sherriff Harder, 21 people directly related to the Broome County Jail have tested positive for the novel coronavirus(as of April 9th2020). This means at least one fifth (21%) of all positive cases in Broome County are centered on the Broome County Jail. The Press and Sun Bulletin reports100 people in Broome County have tested positive for the novel coronavirus as of April 9th. All cases in the Town of Dickinson are of people incarcerated in the Broome County Jail (10). On April 7thBroome County Executive Jason Garner referred to the BCJ as a “hot spot”even prior to the sheriff’s April 9thannouncement that an addition 6 incarcerated people and 5 corrections officers positive for the novel coronavirus.
2. All incarcerated people who have tested positive so far are from a single pod. This pod contains a high number of people with chronic conditions that make them more vulnerable to the novel coronavirus, including diabetes, respiratory problems, and heart conditions.
3. These additional cases were known to JUST and reported to the press on Monday April 6th.
4. Several of those people diagnosed with COVID-19 have aliments that make them more susceptible to the disease.
5. It is likely—given publicly available information supported by other information—that the first CO who tested positive directly spread the virus to the incarcerated population via a medical transportation in early March.
6. As of April 6th, incarcerated people have very limited access to the law library. Requested legal materials are only being delivered once weekly.
7. We have reports of incarcerated people denied communication access while in quarantine and during medical evaluation. This has the effect of preventing loved ones and the community from knowing the extent of medical care provided for incarcerated people and hiding the number of cases in the jail.
8. Incarcerated people are only being provided 2 weekly free calls of no more than 5 minutes a piece.
9. Reports note that access to messaging and tablets have been greatly restricted or stopped in some units.
10. Reports note denial of free phone calls and envelopes to incarcerated people.
11. At least some incarcerated people are being kept in lockdown conditions, only allowed out daily for brief periods (10-20 minutes) to make a phone call or shower (they often have to choose one or the other given the limited time).
12. Incarcerated people are effectively being held in conditions of solitary confinement, typically used for disciplinary infractions.
13. Reports of bugs and worms crawling out of incarcerated people’s sinks (these have been constant complaints made to JUST over the last several years).
14. Incarcerated people are denied access to individual soaps or sanitizer.
15. Testing is only being provided to people with known symptoms.
16. The jail has initiated widespread use of negative pressure cells, a common technique used to limit reduce air-born containment in institutional settings.
17. There were 290 people incarcerated in the Broome County Jail as of April 8th2020
18. 65 employees enter the jail daily during just one shift.
19. Only on April 3rddid BCJ begin taking temperatures of incarcerated people.
20. 33 incarcerated people (approx.. 11% of incarcerated people) are held in dormitory settings.
When visitation to those inside the jail was closed off on March 30, 2020, JUST’s extensive visiting program was curtailed. Relations to those inside shifted to thinner telephone and video links. Family desperate to organize became to write JUST in larger numbers, leading to the creation of Broome Inside/Out, a support, discussion, and information group of family members and friends of those inside that meets and shares information, suggestions, problems. If you have family or friends inside and want to join, email justice.southern.tier@gmail.edu with the subject line ‘Broome Inside/Out request’
BCJ Pandemic Update: A Periodic News Round-up on the Broome County Jail during the COVID-19 Crisis
From Andy Pragacz, for JUST
Early this morning Legal Services of Central New York (LSCNY) attorney Josh Cotter filed a writ of habeas corpus in an effort to have five people incarcerated in the Broome County released due to elevated risk of death from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Two are over 60 years old. Three others have serious respiratory, pulmonary, heart, and/or liver problems. The five men are either pretrial detainees held for minor offense charges and/or parole violations or sentenced on similarly minor offense. Justice and Unity in the Southern Tier and other organizations worked with LSCNY to identity at risk people incarcerated, seeking to realize our collective demand to release vulnerable people from inherently dangerous jails. The motion is supported by declarations of three doctors with specifies in correctional health, internal medicine, and infectious diseases. See attached legal filings for more information. Josh Cotter is available to talk with the press my emailing jcotter@lscny.org.
As the virus spreads rapidly throughout jails and prisons across the state prison and jails have instituted lockdowns and restricted movement to uncleaned showers and one daily phone call only. While these seem like commonsense precautions, longtime prisoners note that social distancing in carceral facilities is “impossible” due to poor ventilation or cells connected through the ventilation system, sharing of facilities, common kitchens, and generally tight quarters. Terrified prisoners have reported abuse at the hands of security staff facilitated by decreased communication access to the outside, in addition to poor health precautions.
The only solution to the this public health emergency for incarcerated people, corrections officers, and the community at large is decarceration and rehousing in clean facilities outside the jail.
BC Jail News Roundup. These data are taken from various reliable contacts whose identities will be kept anonymous out of fear of retribution. Information is also taken and supported/verified by online informational sources. News agencies that wish to use this information but require confirmation or people who have more information about jail conditions and releases should contact justice.southern.tier@gmail.com. We encourage the dissemination of the information listed below.
At least one more identifiable person was removed from general population housing units over the weekend, with some reports that as many as eight were removed to medical quarantine.
The first person moved to quarantine has a medical condition that puts him at greater risk to death due to COVID-19. He as reportedly tested positive for COVID-19.
Reports have not indicated that no incarcerated has been removed to local hospitals.
At least one general housing unit is on full lockdown as of Friday, with incarcerated people only able to exit their cells to for daily shower and phone call. They are not allowed outside the facility for fresh air nor to use video calls.
Showers are not being cleaned after each use.
Incarcerated people are not being notified by jail staff if they were in contact with infected corrections officer after he test positive and before the Friday lockdown. This is one way that virus could have spread to the incarcerated population.
Prior to the lockdown it was reported that social distancing directives were not being enforced in the jail amongst the staff or incarcerated populations.
US Attorney General Barr: Prisons = “petri dishes” for the virus, releases at risk prisoners
NY Governor Cuomo: Silence
NY Attorney General James: Silence
Broome County Executive Jason Garnar: Never!
Broome County Sheriff Harder: Got virus? Jails are the safest place!
We’ve been down this road before. Amidst an explosion of AIDS deaths we had a president who could not say the word “HIV”. When the opioid crisis hit, it took local Truth Pharm activists months and months to get county officials to recognize we had an opioid crisis, and then many more months to force the county government to record and release the number of deaths locally.
History repeats itself with the coronavirus. As reports around only the second death in the county reveal, the county government can’t seem to track the number of persons with covid-19, tell families of a death, or follow up and track those in contact with the person that died. Writing on county facebook pages, local residents are puzzled why so little information, by comparison to other counties and even the federal government, is forthcoming. What is there to hide?
And the deaths are coming. As JUST and other activists have continuously warned, the virus will predictably blow through the unclean and overcrowded dorms, double-bunked closed cells, and kitchen of the jail, felling the incarcerated and their keepers alike.
Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier is running a social media campaign to force elected officials, the District Attorney, and local judges to release as many persons as soon as possible–and provide the resources for them to self-isolate in the community. Link to the campaign here, #FreeBCJ and #Letthemgo. And for more news, head to the JUST webpage.
On March 26th at 2:30 pm community organizations in Broome County had a car protest rally outside the grounds of the shared county jail and emergency service facility. A press conference was held on site, and a speaker shouted out to a rousing crowd in their cars, one person to a car. A media video report is here.
The pressing demand: “Release Them Now”
Confronted by the coronavirous, community organizations, sheriffs, and public prosecutors across the state and country are calling for jails to release and safely rehouse as many persons as possible. They know that jails are deadly incubators of the virus, and that it always spreads out into the community. Individuals from Citizen Action, Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier, and Truth Pharm called on the county to:
Immediately release anyone at high risk for infection
Release anyone held on non-violent charges
Provide testing, sanitation supplies, medical treatment, and adequate nutrition
Make phone/video calls free and end predatory commissary pricing
Ensure those coming home have a discharge and treatment plan, including medical and housing resources
Implement fully bail reforms, no roll back
Provide transparent, public dissemination of these measures
We want to have a big crowd so we can demonstrate that we support the new Reforms! We will begin our Court Watch that day to assure that Broome County courts are implementing the new reforms ! (see info attached)
Kick-Off is Wed, 1/15/20 @ 8:30a – BROOME COUNTY COURT
New York State implemented sweeping reforms eliminating cash bail in majority of non violent offenses. We need to be in the courts to hold all accountable to assure the new laws are being implemented fully.
The groups’ demands are straightforward, and have been repeated for months:
On March 26th at 2:30 pm community organizations in Broome County had a car protest rally outside the grounds of the shared county jail and emergency service facility. A press conference was held on site, and a speaker shouted out to a rousing crowd in their cars, one person to a car. A media video report is here.