MEDIA ADVISORY

TODAY, 1/21, 11 am, NYS Capitol, Million Dollar Staircase

Contact: Jerome Wright, jwright@nycaic.org, 716.909.2425

LEGISLATORS & OVER 800 PEOPLE FROM ACROSS NY STATE TO RALLY IN THE CAPITOL DEMANDING NEW YORK COMPLETE UNFINISHED BUSINESS BY PASSING HALT SOLITARY CONFINEMENT ACT IMMEDIATELY

On day after Rev. Dr. MLK Jr. Day, Survivors of Solitary, Other Advocates, & Legislators Will Call for End to the Racist Torture of Solitary

WHAT: Survivors of solitary confinement, family members of people in solitary, and other advocates -- totaling over 800 people -- will hold a rally and press conference to demand that New York complete the unfinished business from last session, follow the will of a majority of state legislators, vote to pass the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act (S.1623/A.2500), and end the racist torture of prolonged solitary confinement. While human rights standards adopted by the United Nations state that solitary beyond 15 days is torture for all people in all circumstances, New York State regularly holds people in solitary for months, years, and decades.

On the day after Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, advocates will invoke the Reverend Doctor and his time in solitary to call out the ongoing racist infliction of solitary in New York. Despite the fact that Black people represent only 18% of the state’s total population, Black people are 48% of people in New York State prisons, and 57% of people in solitary confinement. A 2016 New York Times investigation documented what people who have been most harmed by the prison system have known for decades, that there is a “scourge of racial bias” in New York’s imposition of solitary confinement and parole release denials. Yet over three years after that investigation, Governor Cuomo has still done nothing to address this urgent crisis. Use of solitary confinement has actually increased since Governor Cuomo claimed to have implemented reforms in 2015. Last year, Gov. Cuomo proposed new regulations on solitary confinement, but an analysis showed they would fail to impose any meaningful time restrictions. Advocates are calling for lawmakers to enact HALT -- which has majority support in both the Senate and Assembly -- to end this racist torture and replace it with more humane and effective alternatives.

WHO: +800 advocates led by survivors of solitary confinement and impacted families, HALT Sponsors NYS Senator Luis Sepulveda and NYS Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Jeffrion Aubry, as well as NYS Assembly Correction Committee Chair David Weprin, NYS Senator Biaggi, NYS Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon, NYS Assembly Member Félix Ortiz, NYS Assembly Member Harvey Epstein, and other NYS Legislators.

WHEN & WHERE: TODAY, Jan. 21 @ 11 am in the NYS Capitol, Million Dollar Staircase

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