New York: Just published, a blockbuster report about conditions at Central New York Psychiatric Center near Syracuse. The center is a special locked facility where New York State keeps individuals who have already paid a price for sex offenses and served prison time. After incarceration, indefinite confinement is the next stop–not for anything they have done but for what the state believes they might do. In a constitutional twilight liberty vanishes on a hunch. New York’s facility is more commonly known as Marcy; for all practical purposes it is a prison with precious little hope for those inside. In addition to the horrid conditions, the larger human rights and constitutional concern is laws in New York and about 20 other states permitting such dubious confinement. New York’s responsible parties? Lawmakers and Governor Andrew Cuomo. Kudos to David Robinson and The Journal News for a year-long dig that produced this stunning expose. Check out the article and the letters from those inside! –Bill Dobbs, The Dobbs Wire
The Journal News (White Plains, NY) via LoHud.com | Feb. 7, 2018
Death, assaults and sex offenses: Life behind Central New York Psychiatric Center’s walls
By David Robinson
A New York State psychiatric center operated illegally with impunity while two dead bodies, 40 assaults and 25 sex offenses triggered police responses behind its walls from 2012 to 2016, The Journal News/lohud has found. The newly obtained tally of violence, roughly one attack per month, is part of 210 criminal incidents at Central New York Psychiatric Center.
Much of the violence involved the mentally ill men locked up there, and it unfolded without the independent monitor required by law. From rapes and beatings to illicit drug use and falsified treatment records, the incidents offered a rare look into problems inside the closely guarded psychiatric center, according to records obtained by The Journal News/lohud through Freedom of Information Law requests. MORE:
Our vision for a just future
1. Abolish pre-crime preventative detention laws
2. Free our friends and loved ones from dehumanizing labels
3. Realign our justice system with the values of restoration and reintegration
Just Future Project is a new initiative focused on challenging pre-crime preventative detention laws. We are a people-driven grassroots advocacy campaign dedicated to building a movement of community members demanding an end to indefinite detention regimes.
Why Is This Important?
Pre-crime preventative detention systems are a dangerous departure from the traditional values of our legal system.
We believe in justice, that persons who have caused harm may be held accountable for their actions. But justice also demands proportionality and due process, elements essential to distinguish justice from mere vengeance. The goal of any true system of justice must be restoration and re-integration, not the perpetual containment and incapacitation that have come to define the U.S. criminal legal system.