JUST is running a social media campaign through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to force the county—namely the Sheriff and the County Executive—to address the emerging public health crisis in the Broome County Jail. Our goal is to save lives by demanding the county release people from the jail and rehouse them in appropriate facilities with access to food, basic hygiene, and the ability to self-isolate NOW!
While you are at home waiting out the virus take a moment to post an image of yourself with the hashtags #LetThemGo #FreeBCJ. (#LetThemGo is part of a larger campaign run organized by the Release Aging Prison Project (RAPP) who has been at the leading edge of prison reform in NYS.) Afterward, post the picture yourself and/orsend it to maiwead@gmail.com, justice.southern.tier@gmail.com, or in reply to this message so JUST can post share it around and collect them. See more instructions below.
Across the country incarcerated people are being released due to the dire risks of incarceration in the current pandemic. In Broome County, however, the Sheriff continues to operate the police and CO academy and is failing to provide incarcerated people and his own workers with appropriate protective measures. Like all local jails, the BC jail holds people with who are, on average, much sicker, having conditions like asthma, diabetes and hypertension at greater rates. This means that incarcerated people people them at higher risk even on the outside.
Bluntly, once coronavirus hits BCJ people will die in large numbers.
JUST—unlike the local political elites—has a plan, and its simple: LET THEM GO! Once released they should be rehoused safely, in now unused motels or hotels are a good place to start (these are much better than homeless shelters where people are often in dormitories). See the full list of demands below.
We are asking everyone who has a Twitter/Instagram account, or has the means to email or text us photos, to do the following:
- Take a picture of yourself holding a sign that says “Harder and Garnar, #LetThemGo #FreeBCJ” on it. Write it big enough to show up well in a picture. Do not use selfie mode as it will turn the words in the picture backward.
- Tweet the picture with the caption: “Sheriff Harder and BC Exec Garnar: Release Incarcerated People in Broome County Jail Vulnerable to COVID-19 NOW @NYGovCuomo @BroomeSheriff @JasonForBroome #ClemencyNow #LetThemGo #FreeBCJail.” Make sure to tag Sheriff Harder @BroomeSheriff and Cuomo @NYGovCuomo in the tweet and the picture.
- If you have a photo of a loved one who is incarcerated, feel free to hold up their photo in the picture as well. We want to humanize the issue and put a face to the people we are asking to be released.
- If you do not have social media accounts but still want to participate, take a photo of yourself holding the sign and send it to Mairead McCarran- email maiwead@gmail.com.
Here’s two examples (theatrics are welcome):
The basic post (sign, hashtags, etc)
A little more eye-catching:
JUST demands to #FreeBCJ:
And here are some sleek instructions for sharing on social media! Support the campaign by blasting this out!
