Public Policy Work Party
Circle the
dates on your calendar. The annual Public Policy Work Party
(September 22nd and 23rd) returns to Stony Point Conference
Center in Rockland County. The event will begin on Friday
afternoon and finish at noon on Saturday. More details on
keynote speaker and agenda in the near future.
Have
Education Justice Presentation, Will Travel
All God's children have potential, but all too
many cannot reach that potential because of inadequately funded
public schools. New York's highest court mandated that New York
State must provide adequate funding so that every student has
the opportunity for a sound basic education, yet the Governor
and Legislature have been slow to meet the mandate. Want to
learn more about New York's education crisis, and what you can
do? Contact the Council of Churches to arrange a presentation (nyscoc@nycap.rr.com).
Lobby Day Gets
Results
In a first for the New York State Council of
Churches, prison chaplains from around New York State joined the
Public Policy Commission in its 2006 Legislative Advocacy Day in
Albany in May. The agenda centered on the re-entry of inmates
into society. It focused on legislation designed to ease the
transition and make successful re-entry more likely. Rima
Vesely-Flad, Director of ICARE (Interfaith Coalition of
Advocates for Re-entry and Employment), briefed the attendees on
these issues. As the session drew to a close, the following is
the latest status of these issues:
S7588 (Volker)/A10832 (Aubry) which would amend the penal law to
promote reintegration at the time of sentencing and also ensure
reports would be available PASSED.
S2207 (Nozzolio) A3926 (Aubry) which would provide residential
mental health treatment programs for inmates in a manner
consistent with both their mental health treatment needs and the
safety and security of the facility. In addition, the
legislation would provide for the assessment of inmates
subjected to confinement for a period in excess of twenty-four
hours and establish the New York State Commission on Quality
Care for the mentally disabled PASSED.
S7730 (Volker) which would extend the protections for job
applicants with criminal records to those already employed
PASSED ASSEMBLY, PENDING IN SENATE.
S5299-C (Nozzolio)/A07231-C (Aubry) which would subject
facilities to emphasize cost to the telephone user when
procuring telephone service, offer inmates either a "debit" or
"collect call" system, or a combination for telephone service,
prohibit the Corrections Department’s accepting or receiving
revenue in excess of its reasonable operating cost for
establishing and administering telephone system services, and
direct the Corrections Department to establish rules and
regulations to ensure that any inmate phone call system provides
reasonable security measures to safeguard the security and
privacy of correctional facility staff and persons outside a
facility who may receive inmate phone calls. PENDING.
The chaplains were extremely effective advocates. The Senate
offices we visited were open and receptive. Senator Nozzolio in
particular met with us personally in the Senate lobby for more
than thirty minutes.will go here.
Death Penalty
Down this Year
The death penalty came back again this year at
the end of the legislative session. The Senate,for a variety of
reasons, decided to bring forward two bills dealing with the
death penalty. One bill would reinstate the death penalty for
the murder of law enforcement officers and the second made
changes in New York's present death penalty law (which had been
declared unconstitutional by the Court of Appeals). In the weeks
preceding the vote in the Senate, the New York State Council of
Churches, in alliance with New Yorkers Against the Death
Penalty, met with over two dozen legislators in both the Senate
and Assembly. The Senate passed both bills. In the Assembly both
bills were killed in the Codes Committee.
Chaplaincy
Update
Clergy Training Seminar
Because the NYSCOC believes that ministry in prisons is part
of our mission, a series of seminars for local clergy have been
instituted. The purpose of these seminars is to bring clergy
into the prison setting, have them meet inmates and to sensitize
the clergy to prison ministry. With the cooperation of the
Department of Corrections, seminars were held on April 28 at
Eastern Correctional Facility and on May 19 at Sing Sing
Correctional Facility. Further seminars are planned. Clergy
unfamiliar with prison ministry are especially urged to consider
participating. If you are interested, please contact Demi
McGuire at
nyseppn@aol.com. Department of Corrections
Annual Chaplains' Conference
On April 25, Mary Lu Bowen, Ed Muller (Chair of NYSCOC
Chaplains' Commission) and Demi McGuire (NYSCOC Coordinator of
Chaplains) attended a conference organized by the Office of
Ministerial Service of the NYS Department of Corrections. They
spoke about initiatives being pursued to make the chaplaincy
ministry more effective. They also had a discussion with the
chaplains about the problems they face as they try to remain
faithful to their mission as clergy. The NYSCOC has scheduled
discussions with the Department of Corrections to discuss these
concerns and to develop protocols for NYSCOC to become a partner
in successfully dealing with these situations.
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