To: Broome County Executive, Broome County Sheriff, and State Commission of Correction
When someone is arrested, they can spend years in isolation in the Broome County jail awaiting trial. Both those inside and outside desperately want to maintain family ties. Having face-to-face conversations with loved ones is especially critical for those who require mental health services, have medical concerns, or have disabilities. Visitation has long been in high demand.
When COVID hit, visitation to county Jail was closed. Hundreds of persons locked down in the Broome County Jail have now been denied personal contact with family and friends for over two years. All desperately want visitors. Video and telephone calls are no substitute for personal visits, and few families can afford the extraordinarily high calling costs (at least $3/15 mins, due in large part to the profits reaped by private companies and the county itself).
In-person visitation with social distancing has long ago returned to all NY state prisons and many jails. Visitation has also returned to the county nursing home and local hospitals. There is no shortage of county jail staff to oversee distanced visitation: built and staffed for 600, the jail currently holds barely 300 local persons.
As friends and family of the hundreds of persons incarcerated in the Broome County Jail our demand is simple: reopen in-person visitation with appropriate social distancing safeguards in place.
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