Reports are emerging of a sizable increase in complaints over NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) staff denying prison visits with little transparency.
The Office of Brooklyn-based State Sen. Julia Salazar, who chairs her chamber’s Crime Victims, Crime and Correction committee, told the Amsterdam News it received around 50 similar reports from New Yorkers across the state over the past four to six months.
Families and friends of incarcerated individuals report correctional facilities turning them away under accusations of smuggling contraband picked up on screening machines but were not criminally investigated further despite the serious allegations. Many were later suspended from returning.
“Contact visits are incredibly important for incarcerated individuals and their loved ones,” said Salazar in a statement emailed to the AmNews. “And so I’m concerned by what appears to be an increasing pattern of facilities denying, and even suspending, people’s ability to visit based on arbitrary body scan analyses. In many cases, the scans show menstrual products, scars from surgery, medical devices, piercings, or natural skin lumps.
“In some instances, radiologists have confirmed there is nothing suspicious on the scans. I strongly urge DOCCS to end this practice of denying what can be life-saving visits for incarcerated people from their family, loved ones, and friends.”
These reports follow DOCCS slashing weekday visits earlier this year as state prisons faced upheaval from an illegal corrections officer strike and Marcy Correctional Facility staff murdering incarcerated individual Robert Brooks on camera.
Almost anyone can visit someone in prison, given their permission. Specific DOCCS programming like the Family Reunion Program allows families to meet in a more private setting with personal contact.
The body-image screenings are somewhat voluntary. But not going through the scanner means non-contact visitation only, banning physical embrace and separating the visitor from the incarcerated with a partition. Most advocates do not believe non-contact visits are an adequate alternative to full-contact visits.
Vanessa Kelder, a government employee, says prison staff turned her away while visiting a long-time friend for the ninth time. She says the process seemed routine until staff asked her to bend over following a scan and informed her she would need a medical note due to metal in her body.
Her family was still allowed to go inside but she waited in the car. Kelder received a letter 11 days later accusing her of smuggling contraband through her private parts. She cannot visit a DOCCS facility again until the end of next January and continues waiting for her appeal to go through.
Service provider Osborne Association, which the state contracts to operate family and hospitality centers in many DOCCS facilities, echoed these concerns.
“Families we work with have consistently reported longer wait times due to the reduced visiting schedule and the use of body scanners,” said Jon Monsalve, President and CEO of Osborne Association. “They have also reported that training and certification on the use of body scanners and consistent protocols and rules for all facilities should be a priority for DOCCS. Visiting is a lifeline for people who are incarcerated and their families.
“It creates a calmer environment inside for everyone, promoting program participation, transformation, and goal-setting for the future. The limited schedule and additional barriers for what is an already difficult and exhausting process are very disheartening.”
Attorney Claudette Spencer, who heads the Coalition for Parole Restoration, says she received phone calls about denied visits recently. The advocate herself frequently visited a loved one incarcerated in New York State prison between 1984 and 2002. Spencer says outside contact played a significant role in his rehabilitation and incentivized good behavior in order to maintain Family Reunion Program participation.
She shared footage of a woman denied a visit at Upstate Correctional Facility last month who recorded herself waiting in a remote parking lot for a bus home. Only 5,400 people live in Malone, N.Y. which houses the maximum security prison located closer to Montreal than New York City. “This is the worst feeling in the world right now,” the visitor said through tears. “But I love you, I don’t know. I guess I’ll try again another day. This sh– hurts so bad. It hurts so bad.”
“This has become a nightmare for these women,” said Spencer. “As somebody who visited prison on a personal basis for 18 years, I can’t even imagine what these women are going through. I drove up most of the time…but most of these women are coming up on the bus or van. They drop them off, and they may move on to the next facility. When they are told they cannot get in, they’re probably [not] even allowed to wait in the waiting room.”
“A lot of these facilities don’t have any place across the street so they are waiting in the road for their ride to come back [for] three [to] five hours.”
To be clear, visitors smuggling contraband into state prisons remains a concern — recently, drug-sniffing dogs caught hundreds of grams of marijuana coming into correctional facilities. DOCCS credits the scanners as a key tool for preventing drugs from getting in.
According to DOCCS, privileges can be suspended for up to a week after a visit is terminated. Subsequently, a superintendent decides whether to reinstate, limit, suspend, or ban the individual’s visitation rights. There is an appeal process that can be heard by a neutral third party.
“The Department’s top priority is the safety and security of staff, visitors, volunteers, and the incarcerated who enter our correctional facilities,” said a DOCCS spokesperson. “All staff and visitors are required to comply with the laws, policies, and procedures of the Department and State to maintain safe conditions for all.
“In accordance with DOCCS Commissioner Martuscello’s guidance, the Department remains committed to our Recover, Recruit, and Rebuild Initiative including reopening additional family reunion programs and expanding visitation days.”
Julia Salazar’s relative is an inmate and she is part of the staffing shortage issue due to the HALT Act which has created a nightmare within the crumbling NYS prison system. And NYS hires ex cons for assemblyman and other positions. It’s all about the inmates. They don’t give a hoot about staff or the victims. Look up we are unchained.org NYS is corrupt as hell. Mainstream media doesn’t tell you the whole story either. Very biased. What a joke!!
I am personally Still waiting for a hearing that I wrote a letter to them in MARCH about. FOR A DENIAL IN FEBRUARY It is now November, no letter stating that they received my letter, hearing date, etc. really unprofessional and sad how they are treating families.
Good morning you should petition the court pro-se via Article 78 and sue them for the failure to respond in a timely manner.