Correctional officers resume picket while prison reform advocates protest at Sing Sing
Prison reform advocates, exonerees and family members of prisoners traveled from Brooklyn to protest poor treatment and conditions for inmates.
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There were dueling protests outside Sing Sing Correctional Facility Saturday morning.
Prison reform advocates, exonerees and family members of prisoners traveled from Brooklyn to protest poor treatment and conditions for inmates.
Many prison reform advocates also questioned what they say is a “high death rate of Black and Latino inmates across the nation” among inmates and called for an internal review. They were also upset about suspended family visits amid ongoing protests from correctional officers.
Correctional officers began picketing at 8 a.m. with some saying the conditions at Sing Sing Correctional Facility have not improved and are still extremely dangerous. One officer who spoke with News 12 said that his biggest issues are safety and staffing, following what he says has been a week of violence inside the prison.
Israel Sanchez, a retired correctional sergeant at Sing Sing, said that a lot of the concerns that are being voiced by officers are related to changes that were mandated under the HALT act.
"An incarcerated individual commits a heinous offence in population – he gets 15 days in a special housing unit, and then he's put in a residential rehabilitation unit where he's entitled to a lot more privileges and programming and out-of-cell time,” he said. “They're basically being rewarded for doing bad things."
Derrick Hamilton, the co-founder of Family and Friends of the Wrongly Convicted said the inmates are in the most danger.
"They got the nerve to walk out and say that their lives are in danger – 150 of them didn't die last year, 150 of us died…let's be clear about that. Who is in danger?"
