We are in the midst of the gravest humanitarian, economic, and social crisis in at least a generation, and one that is disproportionately harming Black and Brown people, poor people, and other marginalized people and communities.

Over 27,600 New Yorkers have died from COVID-19 already and many more are projected to die. Hundreds of thousands of people are out of work. People cannot afford to pay their rent or their medical bills. Many are going hungry.

The police are brutalizing Black and Brown people in the street and forcing people who are homeless out of the subway – a safer place to sleep than many shelters – without anything meaningful being done to address their needs.

People in prison are being tortured in solitary confinement, denied all visits and rehabilitative programming, and dying of COVID-19 when they should have been released to their families.

Where are our elected representatives? The New York State legislature was scheduled to reconvene on April 20. We are now in the middle of May and there are still no concrete plans to legislate, remotely or otherwise.

The New York City Council met remotely on April 22, and has passed important legislation, and regular New Yorkers are conducting all manner of work through videoconferencing apps. Yet the New York State Senate and Assembly still have not reconvened or provided any definitive plans to do so.

For over a month, since early April both Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Heastie have said that they will be returning to session remotely. Where are they?

Many legislators are doing important work in their hard-hit districts, helping to deliver food and medicine to people in need. This is commendable, but the New York State Legislature is elected to legislate.

Their job is to systemically address the issues facing their communities, even as they address the needs of individual constituents. Meanwhile, Andrew Cuomo is governing like a king and many of the normal checks and balances, already fragile in New York, have disintegrated.

There are many initiatives that the legislature could have already passed that would have helped to mitigate the devastating harm of COVID-19, from helping to dismantle mass incarceration to protecting tenants to raising revenue from billionaires and people with a pied-à-terre [an apartment used at the weekends or for short periods as a vacation home or a “non-primary residence”].

The Senate and Assembly must act now to both address the immediate crisis and the longstanding structural injustices made plain and exacerbated by the virus.

The HALT Solitary Confinement Act is the perfect example of why the legislature needs to be back in session remotely now. The fact is that solitary confinement – being entombed in a tiny prison or jail cell for months, years, even decades with no meaningful human contact – is torture.

I know, because I suffered through it. In ordinary times, solitary confinement is a public health crisis that results in self-mutilation, heart disease, psychosis, and death by suicide. Imagine being in solitary in the midst of this pandemic, more susceptible to the virus because of an immune system weakened by constant stress and deteriorated health, with overwhelming anxiety and no visits with family.

The HALT Solitary bill, among other provisions, would end solitary confinement beyond 15 days for all people in line with international standards on torture, while still allowing for true medical isolation. With a majority of state legislators supporting HALT, the legislature had the opportunity to pass the bill last session but failed to act.

Now the prison department is doubling down on the use of solitary – locking people in solitary for absurd reasons like trying to wear a mask or telling an officer to wear a mask, and locking people in solitary who report symptoms instead of providing them with real medical care.

I am a voting, registered Bronx Democrat. I was part of the grassroots effort to bring the Democrats to power and I was thrilled when they came to power. I am writing this from a place of wanting them to not only do the right thing for New Yorkers, but also to continue to be in power after the November elections and expand their majority.

Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Heastie must rise to the occasion, meet the challenge of this moment, demonstrate moral courage and leadership and act to save lives and improve the well-being of all New Yorkers.

Anisah Sabur is the Coordinator for the Coalition for Women Prisoners, a solitary confinement survivor and a Bronx resident.

admin

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.