Don’t Delay on Closing Rikers The city says COVID-19 budget constraints will set back its plans to close the jail but people incarcerated there are suffering from the disease right now. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
People Held in New York Prison Say They Face Abuse After Guard In Their Unit Tested Positive For COVID-19 Men in Unit B-2 at the Shawangunk Correctional Facility say staff members have harassed and abused them since they possibly came into contact with an infected officer. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
Pressure Builds on New York Governor To Address Coronavirus Impact on Prisoners Andrew Cuomo, who recently announced the state would employ prisoners to make hand sanitizer, must prepare for the particular vulnerabilities of the state’s prison population to COVID-19, advocates say. Bryce Covert
New York Prisons Offer ‘Tough Love’ Boot Camp Programs. But Prisoners Say They’re ‘Torture’ And ‘Hell.’ Prisoners can shave time off their sentences by participating in shock incarceration programs. More than a dozen former shock prisoners say that comes at a steep cost. Keri Blakinger
