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March 3 2025 JUST Rallies for HALT, Live Report from BC Jail


WIVT report here

On March 3, 2025 activists and formerly incarcerated persons rallied on the steps of the Broome County Building in protest against the murders of incarcerated persons in our state prisons, from the on-camera deathly beating of Robert Brooks on December 9th in the Marcy prison, and the beating to death by COs on March 1st of Messiah Nantwi in the Mid-state prison–as well as a continuing series of deaths in the local Broome County jail.

A series of speakers from Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier, Citizen Action, and the NAACP among others spoke against attempts by striking COs, local sheriffs and elected officials to overturn HALT, the law that limited the use of solitary prions in state prisons and jails. Most powerful and compelling was the last, live by phone testimony from Joshu Vaughn, currently incarcerated in the Broome County Jail, who recounted his personal experience in state prisons including Marchy and Mid-state.

Here is JUST’s press release for the event, the NAACP’s vigorous statement against the murder of Brooks, and Joshua Vaughn’s personal  testimongy, live from inside the BC Jail, of the unchecked brutality and death in state prisons including Marcy and Midstate–and our local county jails.

 

 

https://www.justicest.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=2913&action=edit

Broome County, ICE, and the Carceral Crisis

Bill Martin
May 13, 2025
from justtalk.blog

We Need a New Jail!

Expect that call to come soon, for there is no question about it: the Broome County jail is filling up, steadily reversing declines in the jail’s population in recent years from well over 500 incarcerated to less than 300 local residents. While there is little information from county officials, reports from inside recount persons being haphazardly “double-bunked”, a second shift laundry shift being put in place, and buses arriving and departing with waves of new detainees.

What’s Up?

The most immediate cause behind the rising numbers?  From press reports one suspects the new 287g agreement the Sheriff inked with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), one of just four Sheriffs to do so out of 62 counties statewide.  After a protest out at the jail and a disastrous public townhall, Sheriff Akshar revealed that eighty-eight ICE detainees had in a short period been cycled in and out of the jail.

Who they were, what charges they faced, how long they were in jail, and where they went is unknown. It’s a bit mysterious. While in the jail ICE detainees were housed in locations without visitation. They were not recorded on the Sheriff’s app’s roster, nor the ICE locator, nor the Federal locator. Family and friends didn’t know where they were.  Was this a momentary surge for a few days or a continuingtrend?

A Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to the NY State Department of Criminal Justice (DCJS) for the daily reports points toward an answer (data attached here).  Here is a plot of the occupancy figures for the jail from January 1 to March 31, 2025:

Overall, the jail population has increased by over 27% in the first 4 months of year and over 30% above the average for 2024 (323).

What’s driving the increase?

What stands out first is the abrupt peak in late March at 450 persons housed in the jail—attributable indeed to the quick influx of persons held for ICE who cycled in and out quickly.  Where did they come from? From outside Broome county, following upon  March 24-28th ICE raids in the Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and surrounding areas that led to the capture of 133 people, overwhelmingly persons without any criminal conviction as has been the case for deportations nationally (ICE reports only eight of the 133  had a criminal record in their past—far below the one third of Americans who have a criminal record).  For Broome County this was an unprecedented surge. While the county sheriff has for over two decades had an agreement to house persons on Federal charges, the daily average in the last ten years was eighteen. The FOIL data shows that in late March there were seventy-six people incarcerated for the Federal government.

Why the Broome jail? And where did they go after their short stay?  ICE has only one detention center in New York, in Batavia outside Buffalo. ICE relies on jails to house detainees when Batavia is full up as it has been lately.  Broome apparently offered up spaces in return for payments of about $100/day per person. From the Broome jail we know some individuals went to Boston, some to other jails (e.g. in Delaware county), and many to Texas for immediate deportation.  It’s a common NY pattern as research published by the Deportation Data Project and mapping by Bloomberg reveal:

Bloomberg, May 1, 2025

While the March ICE surge moved in and out quickly, the number of Federal persons has steadily creeped up since them. The Sheriff for his part repeatedly states he will do all ICE asks of him, and he has sent officers off for extensive ICE training and certification. What they will do when their training is complete is unknown.

A second source for accelerating jail numbers is the state prison crisis driven by violence and strikes by correction officers.  Statewide protests against the on-camera murder of Robert Brooks Sr, followed by the murder of Messiah Nantwi, were accompanied by an illegal strike by thousands of correctional officers who demanded more power, money, and the nullification of the HALT law that has limited solitary confinement. Faced with prisons with no officers, the Governor called in national guard troops to help run the prisons. This was costly, running an extra $100 million per month. Sheriff Akshar and Congressional Representative Josh Riley sided with the officers, joining them on picket lines outside prisons. After extended negotiations 2,000 officers decided not return to work and the Governor fired them–creating a continuing carceral crisis.

The state prison crisis dramatically increased persons in county jails as the transfer of convicted persons to state prisons, or “state readies”, was stopped by prison authorities.  At the beginning of 2025 the number of persons waiting transfer to state prisons from the Broome County jail was less than five. Thereafter the numbers rose inexorably and are now ten times that number, adding to increases in Federal detainees. The upward trendlines in both are unmistakable when charted:

It is tempting to assume the rapid rise in ICE detainees and persons awaiting transfer to state prisons will reverse as staff is rebuilt at prisons and new ICE detention centers.  The latest state budget includes at least an additional $500 million however to cover continuing costs to offset the 2,000 missing officers.  Meanwhile current budget proposals in Congress propose an extraordinary 365% increase in ICE’s current $3.4 billion budget, with $12.4 billion for detention alone.  It is unlikely current either of these trends will be reversed in the near future.

The future?  Build more cells—or empty them?

A simple linear projection of current trends estimates the number of persons in the jail will by late summer hit 500, and by late fall the  maximum capacity of 550 persons will be breached.

Barring any offsetting trends, expect the Sheriff and County legislators to launch a campaign for a major new jail expansion, extending efforts to increase jail populations by rolling back recent bail, parole, and earned time reforms.

What might counter such trends? New York State legislators could pass both the New York for All bill that would prevent all local law enforcement officers from collaborating with ICE, and the Earned Time Act that would extend release to more incarcerated men and women. State Senator Lea Webb and State Assemblyperson Donna Lupardo are among the many who support both bills. County legislators might move funding from jails as medical treatment centers to community treatment centers that have public oversight.  And perhaps we might no longer accept that there is a “staff shortage” at state prisons and recognize–as even the Governor and the NYS Department of Corrections do when faced with the prison crisis–that prisons actually have a surplus of people incarcerated for far too long. It’s time to let them return home.

Broome County Jail’s ICE program part of a system

https://www.pressconnects.com/story/opinion/2025/04/25/broome-county-jail-ice-program-criticisms-due-process/83238076007/

OPINION

Broome County Jail’s ICE program part of a system that ignores due process | Opinion

Ruth Blizard, a Binghamton resident, criticizes the Broome County Jail’s ICE program, which she says could have “unintended consequences for all of us.”

Ruth Blizard
Guest Viewpoint
  • Local law enforcement cooperation with ICE is causing fear and uncertainty among immigrants, regardless of legal status.
  • Immigrants in Broome County jail are isolated, potentially without legal representation, and may be transferred to ICE without a hearing.
  • The Laken Riley Act allows indefinite detention of immigrants arrested for minor theft, even before charges or conviction, based on suspected illegal status.

Local law enforcement officials cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement can have an alarming effect on many immigrants, regardless of their legal status, and unintended consequences for all of us. Many thanks to Jillian McCarthy for her reporting on local immigration issues.

The American Civic Association’s Refugee Program Supervisor, Steve Ordoñez, said the community is already dealing with fear and uncertainty, so when they hear the sheriff’s office is participating in anything involving ICE, he believes it makes this division worse.

“The rhetoric has been that we’re getting criminals out of our neighborhoods and that if you haven’t done anything wrong you don’t have to be afraid of deportation proceedings, but the reality is that programs that qualified immigrants as legal permanent residents under the previous administration have been rolled back,” he said.

Once an immigrant is in the Broome County jail, they are placed in isolation, per jail procedure. They may have no access to legal representation, or even family and friends. Thus, they may be turned over to ICE without any hearing as to their immigration status or right to remain in the U.S.

The recently passed Laken Riley Act, supported by U.S. Rep. Josh Riley, permits the immediate and indefinite detention of an immigrant who has been arrested for a minor theft, whether or not they have even been charged, much less convicted, simply because they are suspected of being in the country illegally. This is contrary to the guarantees in the constitution that persons accused of crimes are “innocent until proven guilty.”

Much of the rhetoric coming from White House and Cabinet officials portrays immigrants as violent criminals. They are conflating misdemeanor theft with “crimes that result in death or serious injury.” Persons charged with dangerous crimes may be held without bail, but they are still entitled to legal representation and a speedy trial. What difference does it make that the accused is an immigrant, documented or not? Shouldn’t all persons have the right to a fair trial?

The truth is that undocumented immigrants are statistically less likely to commit crimes than are citizens. Demonizing immigrants in the U.S. is not much different from debasing Jews in Nazi Germany, or placing U.S. citizens of Japanese descent in detention camps during WWII. All of us who are not Native Americans are descended from immigrants. It was not so long ago that businesses warned immigrants, “Irish need not apply.”

What happens if we round up or frighten away large numbers of immigrants? Who will pick our crops, milk our cows, process our meat and poultry? Who will clean our hospitals or offices at night, care for our elderly parents in nursing homes, do dangerous construction jobs like hurricane cleanup or building railroads, or cook our meals at the Chinese restaurant? We all owe a debt to the immigrants who work long hours for low pay so they can live in safety and send their children to school.

Ruth Blizard is a Binghamton resident and board member of Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier.

How Trump’s immigration policy could impact Binghamton, Broome County

Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin Op-Ed, 11/15/2024

How Trump’s immigration policy could impact Binghamton, Broome County

William Martin, Professor Emeritus at Binghamton University, writes about the implications Trump’s deportation policy could have in Broome County.

William Martin
Guest Columnist
 

Anticipating President-elect Trump’s arrival, they are preparing to close the southern border. Not the United States, but Canada, which is expecting a surge of refugees across its border with the U.S. And New York State is again the passageway from south to north. How will local officials and agencies react?

For Broome County, Trump’s policies portend a bonanza or a disaster depending on where you sit, what forces you control, and whose interests you serve.

The financial benefit is already in place: the county now gets $100 to $300 per day for every federal detainee held in the jail. Indeed it’s a way to maximize county profits by using, as explicitly stated in 2024 County Budget objectives (p153), “available cell space to generate revenue” by housing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees.

Meanwhile, the county has forcefully acted to prevent refugees from settling here. In May 2023, Democratic County Executive Jason Garnar was among the first of over 30 upstate counties to declare a state of emergency, which prohibited local hotels from housing refugees and migrants. Republican Broome County Sheriff Frederick Akshar promptly dispatched deputies to enforce the order.

Gov. Hochul has recently contributed to the effort by allocating over $2 million to Broome County and local city governments to vastly expand policing and surveillance devices. More identification, stops, and searches are on the way. The Sheriff alone is putting in 65 more cameras with his $834,000, adding to the City of Binghamton’s existing and expanding system. SUNY Binghamton has its own system, too.

Much more is coming. Trump promises that money is no object in the effort to track, detain and hold migrants and refugees. Funding will be in the billions — some estimates run to $1 trillion — raising new possibilities and dangers. Finding millions of migrants will require the assistance of state and local police departments. Nearby federal detainee centers, as in Batavia, have little or no room — thus the reliance already on county jails. Broome County’s jail, expanded in 2016 to house 600 persons, now regularly has less than half that number. Will refugees and migrants soon fill it? Empty local dormitories and apartments — as in the still-vacant Bible School Park complex in Johnson City — are other possibilities.

Broome County has a mixed historical record here, welcoming at times large inflows of migrants, most notably from southern and eastern Europe. In the 1920s during the last Great Depression and worldwide trade war, Binghamton became the state headquarters of the Klu Klux Klan, hosting Klan meetings, hillside cross burnings and hooded parades on Main Street, including marches against non-Protestant, most prominently Catholic and Italian, immigrants.

Faced with radical new federal policies and billions, what will county, city, and police officials do? What plans are being put in place now? How will local community leaders, including pastors and the Broome County Council of Churches, and social service organizations, respond? We do not know. Let the conversation begin, in public.

William Martin is Professor Emeritus, SUNY-Binghamton.

***

see also www.justtalk.blog

Housing Forum Oct 26th!

Come join the One County Many Faces coalition of community organizations, and local church leaders, to discuss solutions to the local housing crisis. The forum will be held on Saturday, October 26th at the United Presbyterian Church at 42 Chenango St. from Noon to 3 pm. where local and regional leaders will be leading a wide-ranging discussion including speakers from

  • BC Urban League
  • Family Enrichment Network
  • CNY Fair Housing

And more!

We hope to revive a public voice on housing needs and develop long-term programs.

The forum is open to the public and food will be provided. 

Those of us in Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier (JUST) bring to the discussion extensive experience with the needs and stigma of the formerly incarcerated, particularly around coming home and establishing a long-term transition to family and community life.

Please inform and invite your friends and congregants to attend. A flyer is attached below.

Questions? Write to us at justice.southern.tier@gmail.com or call Rozann at 607 348 3868

FINAL BC Housing Justice Flyer

 

Forum on Racial Justice & Social Justice: Aug 24 2024


One County Many Faces coalition invites you to a forum on Embracing Racial Justice and Diversity in Broome County. Hear from people building equitable communities. Connect to resources. Strategize for an inclusive future. 

When: Saturday August 24. Music starts at 11, with the forum going from 11:30-1pm. 

Where: Cheri Lindsay Park

Over 10 organizations and programs will do short presentations on the impact of exclusionary policies in our community and strategies for overcoming it together. The forum will examine the impact of structural inequalities in different areas, including education, voting, economic development, mental health, housing, and the criminal justice system  Each organization will discuss the ways they are working to combat racism and inequality in Broome County and will be present after the event to connect and strategize with attendees. 

Oh, and don’t miss the kids empowerment, T-Shirt decorating activity with the Astor D. Rice Foundation following the Forum! 

One County, Many Faces highlights and addresses the ways community members are systematically excluded from full participation in our civic, social, and economic life. As a collection of groups representing different parts of Broome County we advocate for an inclusive county, free of racism and other forms of discrimination. Our goal is to build community, get to know one another, and share our stories and knowledges to ensure every person in Broome is respected and has access to the resources they need to thrive.