State Lawmakers Oppose In Person Prison Visitation

In-person visitations are slated to resume for inmates soon, and some leaders are appalled. Maximum security prisons have already begun welcoming visitors yesterday, and the remainder are slated to resume visitations on Saturday.

According to WYNTV, Senator Patty Richie is not pleased with this at all, and she sent a letter asking Governor Cuomo to halt prison visitations citing unsafe conditions. Richie is worried that visitors could inadvertently take COVID-19 into the prisons, and infect inmates, correctional officers, and the staff at large.

Ms. Richie also talked about the inconsistencies in Cuomo‘s reopening plans. She said, “They haven’t been able to visit their loved ones in nursing homes and had to make a lot of sacrifices over the last couple of months, so I think many were taken aback a little bit when they saw that visitation was going to resume at the correctional facilities.“

Ms. Richie‘s letter was also endorsed by assemblymen Mark Walczyk and Ken Blankenbush. Both assemblymen are concerned about where the visitors are coming since they know that all areas of New York are not in the same phase of recovery. They worry that people coming from one of New York’s hot spots could inadvertently infect people inside prisons.

Mr. Walczyk complained that the government is saying we are not out of the woods yet. He says that the government has not opened the bowling alleys, and churches are only open at 50%, but they are encouraging visitation inside prison walls. He feels that the government is putting convicted felons over the elderly in nursing homes.

All in all, I think that everyone is trying to open the state back up safely. Everyone wants to keep the elderly safe, so maybe reopening nursing homes should be driven by science, not emotions.

Mispronounced Capital Region Towns