NEW  YORK STATE PRISONER JUSTICE NETWORK PRESENTS:

LEGISLATIVE AWARENESS DAY

MAY 3rd, 2011

New York State Prisoner Justice Network hosted a Legislative
Awareness Day for Prisoner Justice in Albany on May 3, 2011. The
purpose was to bring prisoner justice activists together from around
the state to talk with legislators and their staffs about issues
including parole reform, the implementation of the SHU bill (barring
prisons from placing prisoners with psychiatric diagnoses in
isolation), prison closures, and others.

The  day  included an opportunity for participants to network with
each  other,  be  briefed  on  the  issues,  and  go in delegations to
pre-arranged meetings with legislators.

Legislative Awareness Day was  a chance to show legislators and all
New Yorkers that there is an alternative to the current culture of
punishment and vengeance which keeps more than 57,000 people behind
bars. It demonstrated that there is a statewide constituency to
change New York’s harsh and unjust criminal justice policies. It
strengthened the statewide movement for prisoner justice by giving
participants information about each others’ issues and a chance to
learn about and support each others’ campaigns.

For  more  information,  call  the  Albany  Social  Justice  Center at

518-434-4037, e-mail nysprisonerjustice@gmail.com, or write to NYSPJN,
33 Central Avenue, Albany NY 12210.