On May 13th Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier and local family members announced their class-action lawsuit to force Broome County Sheriff Harder to permit families to once again visit loved ones in the Broome County jail.
In-person visitation with appropriate safeguards has long been returned in all NYS prisons and many jails across the state—but not in Broome County. This is a denial of basic human rights and destructive to our community well-being.
Many empirical studies have documented that in-person visitation sustains the mental health of the incarcerated and their families, including children, reduces conflict and violence in jails, and reduces recidivism for the few convicted persons held in jails.
JUST and family members gave personal testimonies of the cost and damage caused by being unable, often for years, to visit loved ones.
Press coverage: WIVT/34, WICZ/40, Spectrum
The lawsuit may be found at: https://bit.ly/3L2XXFP
