Navigating the Broome County Jail for family and visitors is very difficult. Here are some guidelines we hope will help. If you have comments or suggestions on what should be added here for family and visitors please send an email to justice.southern.tier@gmail.com . Information and a handout on grievance, solitary, and voting laws/rights is below.
Mail: send mail to
Persons name
Broome County Sheriff’s Public Safety Facility
P.O. Box 2047
Binghamton, NY 13902-2047
Visiting: It is now possible to visit loved ones again after over two years of isolation, solely due the successful lawsuit by JUST, families, and Legal Services of Central NY. Visiting resumed on 9/29/22 by court order. Hours and days are severly cut back however, making it difficult or impossible for many persons to visit especially those who have family elsehwere in the state. The terms of revisiting were posted on 9/29 and we provide them here, although persons have since been told they don’t need to call and pre-register. Official procedures for visiting from the past are listed here: BC Visitation Admittance Procedures. Visitors need to know which “pod” or unit the person is in (you may need to call the jail to find out (607 778 2105) , as this will determine what days and times one can visit. If you are making a first visit to a person, you need to fill out a Visitor Registration Form which is available in the visiting room as well. As new day/times/conditions emerge they will be posted here, but calling the jail for information is advised given their changing regulations/dates/times.
Public Bus to the jail: limited hours, esp at night on BC Transit route 8. When reading the schedule, note carefully that only those 8 buses marked “J” go to the jail, and require you to be 5 minutes before the listed SUNY Broome departures times. Thus on Mon-Fri according to the schedule the only buses leaving the downtown BC Junction departure site are at 8:30am 10:30am, 12:30pm, 2:30pm, and 5:10pm. Returning the buses are only usually from the jail at 10:35am, 11:55am, 2:35pm, 5:15pm, 7:35pm, and 8:45pm.
Official Handbook: more information for the incarcerated and “official” rules is in the jail’s Handbook as of 5/23/2022
Commissary and Food Packages: For commissary deposit go to https://www.accesscorrections.com/#/send-money , type in the person’s name, and you can charge it to a debit or credit card. There is a fee, e.g. $5 for a $20 deposit, yes that’s a 25% surcharge. Use a debit card if at all possible, since most credit card companies add on an additional $10 fee for a “cash advance”. And here is the jail commissary list from June 2020 (they removed care pak listings later) Commissary list june 2020 . Some items available in previous years have been removed (bras, underwear, thermal Ts (yes, the cells are cold in the winter and use of a blanket after 8pm is forbidden). Some items are often out of stock inside. Sending in care/food packages from the outside vendor was terminated for unknown reasons and has not been renewed. Excess profits on everything from Ramen to Bibles are extraordinary as documented here.
Telephone calls Broome County Jail has an expensive calling system monopolized by GTL Corp and their “GTL ConnectNetwork”. You put money on your phone number, and when the person inside calls that number you are charged (paying with a credit card for a single call is very expensive). You may put funds on a telephone number through their online page or by phone (866) 230-
Video calls and messaging: cheaper than phone, e.g. $3.25 for 15 minutes, and managed through getting out. see https://www.gettingout.com for setting up an account.
Note all phone and video conversations from jails are recorded. Whatever you talk about, can and will be used against your incarcerated friend or family member in court; conversations on the phone between fathers and son have been played in court for example by the district attorney pressing his case. Never discuss their pending criminal case matters. Also, be warned that some phone providers are collecting voice prints for a database which law enforcement agencies are building.See this justtalk.blog entry for more detailed info on the gross profits the jail makes off calls
Know Your Rights
JUST has a handout on voting, grievance, and solitary rights suitable for mailing to a loved one inside. Download it here.
Have a family member in solitary? The new HALT bill limits solitary. You can pass on this information to persons inside and press local authories to follow it. HALT specifically changes solitary by legislating the following (a fuller explanation is at: http://nycaic.org/legislation/ ):
- No person can be held for more than 15 consecutive days or 20 days in any 60 day period
- A person can only be placed in solitary for more than 3 days, up to 15, or in a RRU if they have engaged in serious physical injury, forced sexual acts, extortion, coercion, inciting serious disturbance, procuring deadly weapons or dangerous contraband, or escape.
- No person younger can be placed in isolated confinement if younger than 21, 55 or older, or with a physical, mental, or medical disability; or who is pregnant or a new mother caring for a child
- Any persons separated from general population for more than 15 days must, if they are in jail with a capacity of 500 persons or more, be in a secure Residential Rehabilitation Unit (RRU) – a rehabilitative & therapeutic unit providing programs, therapy, and support
Grievances: many persons inside find it very difficult to get and submit grievance forms, and very very few are believed by the State Commission on Correction to which they are forwarded by the jail as shown in a NYS comptroller report on scoc. An updated article by on denial of grievances is here. Lawyers will advise incarcerated should nevertheless file a grievance(s) and keep copies of them. Family members often have pushed the jail for better care, medications, safety by continued calls to the jail office, medical office, and sometimes chaplain; calls are most often directed to voicemail or dropped so persistence is required. Retaliation against persons who have vocal grievances has often been reported. Consult a lawyer when possible. Here are a few numbers and contact information:
- The jail directly, then ask for medical, chaplain, etc.: 607 778 1911
- Sheriff David E. Harder
Phone: 607-778-2492
Email: david.harder@broomecounty.us - Undersheriff Eric C. Janis
Phone: 607-778-2492
Fax: 607-778-2920
Email: eric.janis@broomecounty.us
Family and persons inside may want to go further and call and write elected representatives and state agencies that are supposed to provide oversight, including:
- New York State Commission of Correction
Alfred E. Smith State Office Building
80 South Swan Street, 12th Floor
Albany, New York 12210
Phone: (518) 485-2346
Fax: (518) 485-246 - Mary McFadden, Director
Broome County Department of Health
225 Front Street
Binghamton, NY 13905
PHONE: 607.778.2811
FAX: 607.778.2838
EMAIL: BCHealth@broomecounty.us - Broome County Executive Jason Garnar
60 Hawley Street
PO Box 1766
Binghamton, NY 13902
PHONE: 607.778.2109
FAX: 607.778.2044
EMAIL: CountyExecutive@BroomeCounty.US - NYS Attorney General Letitia James
Binghamton Regional Office
State Office Building, 17th Floor
44 Hawley Street
Binghamton, NY 13901
(607) 251-2770
(607) 338-1021 (fax) - You may file an official complaint with the NY State Dept of Health as well. This is the form here: NYS Dept Health Complaint Form2
Voting Rights: Persons in jail do not lose their human and civil rights: almost all have voting rights that are denied by county and state practice. Most in the county jail, awaiting trial can vote: you can vote if you are a US citizen, 18 or older, and aren’t in jail because you are curently convicted for a felony or on parole for a felony. See our page on how to contact JUST and get the materials people need to register and/or get an absentee ballot.