prison

The director of Cornell University’s prison education program is leading a campaign to provide more face masks to inmates across New York state.

Rob Scott with Cornell said 225 inmates in the Finger Lakes region were enrolled in the school's prison education program for the spring semester. 

However, because of the pandemic, classes have ended. Scott said online instruction is not available for incarcerated students.

Prison reform advocates have been calling for an end to solitary confinement. They cite mental health experts who argue that solitary confinement is a form of torture. Defenders of the practice say that it has its place, particularly to protect the population of inmates and staff from the most dangerous incarcerated people.

Our guests debate it:

• Todd Baxter, Monroe County Sheriff
• Michael Tomb, prison reform advocate

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear about cities like Attica, Auburn, or Albion? For some people, it's the prisons located in those towns.

Researchers at the University of Rochester are studying perspectives of prison towns, and how the presence of correctional facilities shapes socio-cultural, political, and economic life in the area. We hear about their work and what they've learned. In studio:

• Joshua Dubler, assistant professor of religion at the University of Rochester
• Kristin Doughty, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Rochester
  

Advocates for ending solitary confinement say long-term confinement is a form of torture, and they are pushing for legislative reform. Some correctional officers say that recent reforms in the system are to blame for an increased number of assaults on officers by inmates because inmates don't feel the threat of solitary confinement.

We examine both sides of the issue with our guests: 

• Jerome Wright, activist and solitary confinement survivor
• Pastor Matthew Martin Nickoloff, South Wedge Mission
• Pastor Scott Austin, Artisan Church 
  

Every day, thousands of New York residents stay in jail because they don't have the money for bail. Critics have railed against the system on numerous levels. First, they claim it's classist and racist. Second, they point to abuses that happen in jail. Third, they call for better rehabilitation as opposed to a purely punitive system.

The League of Women Voters is hosting a public forum on the issue, and we preview it with some of their panelists:

• Precious Bedell, founder and director of Turning Points Resource Center
• Tim Donaher, Monroe County Public Defender
• Gary Pudup, former leader with the New York Civil Liberties Union
• Dylan Hayre, senior policy analyst for JustLeadership USA
  

"When I was in Prison…Restoring Dignity and Justice." That's the theme of the upcoming Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School lecture series. It includes the highly acclaimed film "13th," exploring the history of racial inequality, both in the country at large and in the U.S. prison system. Our guests will include the speakers who will address how to build social movements in a time of polarization, and on the state of LGBT laws (anti-gay laws, as they're often known) in other countries. Our guests:

• Dr. Marvin McMickle, president of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School
• Maurice Tomlinson, attorney and LGBTI human rights advocate and a senior policy analyst with the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
• Daniel Hunter, organizer with Training for Change and author of Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow
  

The University at Buffalo has launched an Innocence and Justice Project, devoted to helping inmates who were wrongfully convicted have their convictions reversed. The project brings eight students into contact with the 440 motions from inmates; those inmates might be innocent, or they might have suffered a miscarriage of justice in some way.

We talk about the effort to bring more resources to inmates who don't have the means to fight their convictions. Our guests:

• Kim Diana Connolly, director of the University at Buffalo School of Law's Advocacy Institute
• Jon Getz '92, co-director of the University at Buffalo’s Innocence and Justice Project
• Farina Mendelson '17, third year law student and participant in the University at Buffalo’s Innocence and Justice Project
  

The Obama Administration announced last week that for the first time in more than 20 years, prison inmates will be able to receive financial aid for college. The "Second Chance Pell" pilot program will enable prisoners to take college courses using Pell Grants paid for by taxpayers. About 12,000 inmates are expected to participate.

The news re-ignites debate over funding for prison to college programs: supporters say the programs reduce recidivism, but opponents say they are a waste of taxpayer money and are unfair to college students who have not committed crimes.

We explore the impact of prison to college programs, including those in the Rochester area. Our guests:

• Joshua Dubler, associate professor of religion at the University of Rochester, and head of the University of Rochester's prison education program
• Edward Wiltse, professor of English and communication at Nazareth College head of Nazareth College's "Jail Program"
  

In the United States, more than two million Americans are in prison, and 50 percent of those inmates have children under the age of 18. That means more than 1 in 28 children have a parent in prison, up from 1 in 125 children 25 years ago.

In Ontario County, volunteers have teamed up to help re-connect families through literacy: the Storybook Program offers imprisoned parents the opportunity to record audiocassettes or CDs of themselves reading to their children. The program is the subject of a new documentary called Turn the Page, which has been submitted for the Unite Rochester Challenge. It will be screened at The Little Theatre on February 11.

We discuss the Storybook Program, the documentary, and the prison system in America. Our guests:

• Linda Moroney, filmmaker and director of Turn the Page
• Claire Kremer, founder of the Storybook Project