Nick Hillary's Civil Rights Case, Amidst a Broader Moment of Reckoning
https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/42057/20200805/nick-hillary-s-civil-rights-case-and-how-it-links-to-a-broader-moment-of-reckoning
It’s been nearly four years since Nick Hillary was found not guilty in the murder of 12 year-old Garrett Phillips in Potsdam. The trial gripped the region. Now, Hillary is pursuing a lawsuit of his own, against the law enforcement officials who charged him with Garrett’s death.
Why New York is Releasing So Few Inmates During the Pandemic
Since the coronavirus pandemic began, New York State has granted early release to 1400 inmates, all of them non-violent offenders. But thousands of elderly prisoners aren’t being considered for release, because they are in for violent crimes - even if they’ve served decades of their sentence and studies show that they are unlikely to re-offend. For now, it appears that advocating for the early release of these inmates is a stance even liberal politicians like Governor Andrew Cuomo are reluctant to take.
Since the coronavirus pandemic began, New York State has released 1400 inmates, all of them non-violent offenders. But thousands of elderly people aren’t being considered for release, despite having served decades of their sentences, because they are in for violent crimes. Studies show that these inmates are unlikely to re-offend, but granting them early release is a step even liberal politicians like Governor Andrew Cuomo are reluctant to take.
Questions Arise Over 13-Year Old in Custody for Homicide
18 year-old Treyanna Summerville was found dead in her home in Gouverneur a few weeks ago. The St. Lawrence district attorney says the investigation is ongoing. They’ve released very few details regarding the case, in part because a minor, a 13-year-old, is facing charges of second degree homicide.
18-year-old Treyanna Summerville was found dead in her home in Gouverneur a few weeks ago. The St. Lawrence district attorney says the investigation is ongoing. They’ve released very few details regarding the case, in part because a minor, a 13-year-old, is facing charges of second degree homicide.
Transfer of Elderly Inmates to Adirondack Correctional Ignites Fear, Outrage Amongst Their Families
New York's Department of Corrections and Community Supervision outlined what it calls its "reopening" plans for the state prison system at the end of May. In four pages, it goes into the process for phasing staff in, and how visits are still suspended. But one little bullet point in those four pages has become a flashpoint: the announcement that it would transfer around one hundred elderly inmates out of other prisons and up to a prison in the Adirondacks.
New York's Department of Corrections and Community Supervision outlined what it calls its "reopening" plans for the state prison system at the end of May. In four pages, it goes into the process for phasing staff in, and how visits are still suspended. But one little bullet point in those four pages has become a flashpoint: the announcement that it would transfer around one hundred elderly inmates out of other prisons and up to a prison in the Adirondacks.
How the Pandemic is Playing Out in NY Prisons, Through One Man’s Eyes
While the number of people testing positive or being hospitalized for COVID-19 continues to fall around the state, those numbers are going up inside New York prisons, where nearly two thousand staff and inmates have gotten sick. Inmate Stanley Jamel Bellamy describes his experience of the crisis thus far.
While the number of people testing positive or being hospitalized for COVID-19 continues to fall around the state, those numbers are going up inside New York prisons, where nearly two thousand staff and inmates have gotten sick. Inmate Stanley Jamel Bellamy described his experience of the crisis thus far.
Social Distancing Is The Law, But How Do Police Enforce It?
Since New York’s North Country began to reopen, one big question is what if people don’t follow the rules? And what exactly even are the rules? On the front lines of these questions are local police, but how to enforce public health is something officers are figuring out as they go.
Since New York’s North Country began to reopen, one big question is what if people don’t follow the rules? And what exactly even are the rules? On the front lines of these questions are local police, but how to enforce public health is something officers are figuring out as they go.
Why is Justice for Garrett Phillips So Complicated?
People in St. Lawrence County know his face: the smiling, golden-haired 12-year-old boy, Garrett Phillips. It’s going on four years since his murder, and the posters demanding "Justice for Garrett" are still in the hardware store and the laundromat windows, on bumper stickers and front lawns.
People in St. Lawrence County know his face: the smiling, golden-haired 12-year-old boy, Garrett Phillips. It’s been almost four years since his murder, and the posters demanding "Justice for Garrett" are still in the hardware store and laundromat windows, on bumper stickers and front lawns.
This Must Be The Place (Series)
“This Must Be the Place” is a multi-media story series exploring off-the-beaten-path people and places across the North Country.
The word “remote” gets tossed around a lot in the North Country, but the Tug Hill region truly fits the bill. Lots of land, not a lot of roads, fewer than 50 people per square mile and most of them concentrated in the villages. Long, rolling stretches of fields and forest. Driving around the first night, I felt like I was on the open ocean.
“This Must Be the Place” is a multi-media story series exploring off-the-beaten-path people and places across the North Country:
Campus Rape in the North Country (3-Part Series)
One in four female college students will be raped or sexually assaulted before they graduate. Students are more likely to report when they see their school is willing to act aggressively, but in practice, only about 10 percent of perpetrators face expulsion, much less criminal prosecution. What laws and policies are supposed to protect women at college? And why aren't they working?
https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/26936/20141217/campus-rape-in-the-north-country
Grappling with 40 Years of the Drug War In Brownsville, Brooklyn
Aaron Hinton says the 40-year drug war in Brownsville has almost made spending time behind bars normal. “It’s subliminally attacking out minds and making us believe that socially this is acceptable.” One out of every 50 men in New York’s prisons comes from Brownsville. The state of New York spends $40 million a year – and this has been going on for generations — locking up black and Hispanic men from this one neighborhood. What does that do to a community?
Brownsville 1972, photo by Winston Vargas
Aaron Hinton says the 40-year drug war in Brownsville has almost made spending time behind bars normal. “It’s subliminally attacking out minds and making us believe that socially this is acceptable.” One out of every 50 men in New York’s prisons comes from Brownsville. The state of New York spends $40 million a year – and this has been going on for generations — locking up black and Hispanic men from this one neighborhood. What does that do to a community?
Goodbye, Hometown
It's travel time for a lot of people this week. But one family from the North Country recently made a bigger journey than most—all the way to sunny California, and they did the whole trip by train. The family had a one way ticket, taking them out to a new life on the west coast.
It's travel time for a lot of people this week. But one family from the North Country recently made a bigger journey than most—all the way to sunny California, and they did the whole trip by train. The family had a one way ticket, taking them out to a new life on the west coast.
Dying Inmates in New York Struggle to Get Home
Over the last four decades, New York’s prison population has soared, with many people serving long mandatory sentences for low-level crimes. As a result, the number of elderly inmates is surging—growing by almost eighty percent from 2000 through 2009.
Coxsackie Correctional Facility - Greene County, NY
Many terminally ill inmates are forced to remain behind bars even when they no longer appear to be a threat to society. This is the story of Daryl Bidding’s long struggle to get home before he dies.
When Should Infants Stay with Their Mothers in Prison?
The number of women in American prisons has gone up by 800 percent over the past thirty years, according to the Federal Bureau of Justice. Most of these women are mothers, and about one in twenty of them are pregnant. In New York State, a woman who gives birth while serving time has the chance to stay with her baby in a prison nursery for up to one year, or eighteen months if the mother is eligible for parole by then.
In New York State, a woman who gives birth while serving time has the chance to stay with her baby in a prison nursery, for up to one year, or eighteen months if the mother is eligible for parole by then. A Department of Corrections study found that participating in prison nurseries lowers recidivism rates dramatically—cutting the chances of a woman coming back to prison in half. Researchers say these programs also help the babies, giving them a chance to form secure attachments to their moms. But in recent years, the state’s prison nursery is slowing its admission rate.
A Look Inside Moriah Shock Prison
Two years ago, Moriah Shock Prison near Port Henry was next on the list of correctional facilities New York State wanted to close. Camp Gabriels near Saranac Lake and the Summit Shock Prison near Albany had already been shut down, and the prisons in Lyon Mountain and Ogdensburg were also on the chopping block. But the local community and Essex County officials rallied enough support to keep Moriah open. Today, 188 men live on the spartan campus, set in a former mining facility at the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains.
It’s lunchtime in the chow hall at Moriah Shock Prison. The room looks like a high school cafeteria. There are fifty men sitting in their seats, eyes straight ahead or locked on their trays of food. When the prison captain Boyce Rawson walks in, one inmate breaks discipline: he turns his head to look, and gets dressed down.
Looking for the Heart of Saturday Night
On some Saturday nights, when no one's watching, one young man comes up to the top floor of the St. Lawrence University student center and plays the piano.
On some Saturday nights, when no one's watching, one young man comes up to the top floor of the St. Lawrence University student center and plays the piano.
Earthlings Watch the Venus Transit
Yesterday evening Venus made its last journey across the face of the sun, as seen from Earth, until the year 2117. People of all ages covered the southeast corner of the St. Lawrence University practice fields to get their look at earth’s closest neighboring planet, peering through one of the big telescopes or a pair of safe solar glasses.
Photo by Melissa Burchard
Yesterday evening Venus made its last journey across the face of the sun, as seen from Earth, until the year 2117. People of all ages covered the southeast corner of the St. Lawrence University practice fields to get their look at earth’s closest neighboring planet, peering through one of the big telescopes or a pair of safe solar glasses.
Planting Vegetables by the Moon
Weaver and gardener Isis Melhado lives outside Canton along the Little River, and times her planting by the phases of the Moon.
Weaver and gardener Isis Melhado lives outside Canton along the Little River, and times her planting by the phases of the Moon.