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Articles

 
 
The Story of H. Bosh Jr.

I never thought in a million years, I would hear a story where a man’s life was ruined because an insurance company did not want to pay out a policy. That’s exactly what happened to H. Bosh Jr. In 2005, Bosh was the owner of the largest minority moving company in upstate NY. He had 12 workers and 3 trucks in service. His company grossed a-half-a-million dollars in sales. He was a successful businessman and a respected man in the community.

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CHERYL Kates
Saving the Wrongfully Convicted

Imagine waking up one day, a convicted felon rotting in a 6 x 9 jail cell, and your whole life flashes before your eyes, because you were just convicted of a crime you did not commit. Your loved ones, your worldly possessions, everything you worked for, your entire life is now a thing of the past. It can happen to you and it has happened to many people. They sit in prison with little or no resources to try to prove their innocence. Basically, once you hit that gate in a NYS prison, life as you knew it, vanishes before your eyes, no one cares, and you will choose to give up or fight for your life. The sad reality is, you will serve most if not all, of your sentence before you even get another shot at freedom. If you even do.

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CHERYL Kates
Men Behind Bars and the Women Who Love Them

Their Quest for Freedom. In NYS, there are currently 52,344 incarcerated individuals housed in NYS facilities (2). There are 10,540 incarcerated individuals who are married (2). This represents 21% of the total incarcerated population (2). 60% of the incarcerated individuals have children (married or not) (2). Maintaining family ties is closely associated with successful re-entry. The family unit is important when looking at how incarcerated people re-enter society Most people at some point do return to our communities.

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CHERYL Kates
Mercedes Phelan

What Is Your Background in Activism. I can’t pinpoint when exactly I really started to consider myself an activist. Honestly I still contemplate if that’s what I would consider myself. I have always had a deep passion for helping others and standing up for what is right.

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CHERYL Kates
Cruel and Unusual: The Plight of Seeking Medical Parole or Medical Care While in New York State Prison

Prisons in New York state are far from a five-star resort. When entering the darkened world of the belly of the beast, not only is an incarcerated individual stripped of their identity where they become a number but basic human rights often are shed by the wayside. Imagine not having the ability to have a warm shower at times, decent food, fresh fruits and vegetables, the right to not be falsely accused of disciplinary infractions, the right to adequate shelter and the right to medical care. Most recently, according to research done by the reporters at the NY Times in December 2016...

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CHERYL Kates
The Prison Rape Elimination Act and NYS Prisons

Directive 4028 A governs the NYS DOCCS policy on sexual abuse prevention and intervention regarding staff-on-incarcerated-individual and was enacted to comply with federal regulations regarding the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 ( see 42 USC 15601). This legislation is intended to safe-guard the victims of illegal behavior of correctional employees and create a safe atmosphere for incarcerated people to report instances of sexual abuse. These protections are not being enforced by NYS correctional officials and the purpose and underlying protections intended for incarcerated individuals reporting correctional staff abuse are NOT being afforded.

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CHERYL Kates
Neuroscience is a mitigating factor: Why doesn’t NYS Parole Board’s recognize this scientific factor?

Neuroscience is a mitigating factor: Why doesn’t NYS Parole Board’s recognize this scientific factor? Neuroscience is advancing rapidly and introducing legal defenses which weren’t available until recently based upon advanced technology (Davis, 2012). Defense attorneys now are able to introduce high technology such as advanced brain imaging at trial to show and explain how advanced technology explains injured defendant’s culpability and competence, (Davis, 2012).

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Tasha Digital
Effect of Risk Assessment Rule on Parole Decisions Is Unclear — By John Caher

A new law requiring the state parole board to consider incarcerated individuals' rehabilitation and use a "risk assessment" procedure to gauge whether parole-eligible incarcerated individuals have reformed appears to be having little effect as release rates are largely unchanged and the board is routinely basing its denials on boilerplate statutory language emphasizing the offense, records suggest.

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Tasha Digital
Ortloff Pleads Guilty in Sex Case — By Andrea Van Valkenburg and Joe Lotemplio

Directive 4028 A governs the NYS DOCCS policy on sexual abuse prevention and intervention regarding staff-on-incarcerated-individual and was enacted to comply with federal regulations regarding the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 ( see 42 USC 15601). This legislation is intended to safe-guard the victims of illegal behavior of correctional employees and create a safe atmosphere for incarcerated people to report instances of sexual abuse. These protections are not being enforced by NYS correctional officials and the purpose and underlying protections intended for incarcerated individuals reporting correctional staff abuse are NOT being afforded.

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CHERYL Kates