Maybe it's time we started talking about prisons, corrections department
National Parks, judges under attack by Trump administration
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Prisons are not only a big business in upstate New York but they often provide lucrative careers with a valuable state pension for local workers who might not have better options.
When the closing of Comstock was announced last year, community leaders, politicians and local workers demanded it remain open.
It closed anyway.
New York as too many cells and not enough prisoners.
That should be a good thing.
Even those of us who live near prisons don't have an interest in the subject.
It is a business - let's be honest warehousing people is a business - that is not covered very well and lacks transparency.
We don't want to know what goes on inside the prison walls and how that sometimes traumatizes Corrections Department employees.
And we should.
Most of all we don't ask the most important question: Is the Corrections Department "correcting?"
Newspapers and the news media have generally failed in their coverage of prisons, especially small community newspapers who don't have a prison beat because of limited resources.
When stories are attempted, the Corrections Department and unions often balked at being cooperative. The lack of coverage about problems inside the prisons and the challenges workers face may partially be behind the current strike.
The prison guard union came to an agreement with the state on Saturday, but union members rejected the deal. On Monday, with the state out of options, it started firing and fining employees.
For you consideration, North Country Public Radio's Amy Feiereisel has provided some insightful coverage over the past week in her story, "Here's what conditions inside New York's prisons have been like during the strikes."
Feiereisel wrote this last week about the extended lockdowns in prisons with only 10 percent of guards showing up for work:
Inmates are confined to their cells or dorms pretty much 24/7 during lockdowns. That means they’re reliant on staff to bring them food, medicine, and medical attention.
But for the first few days of the strike, there were very few people to provide those essential services.
"It was rough, because there was no one there," said a woman named Angela, whose husband is in a maximum security prison in New York. Most people in this story will be identified by their first names or with basic information because of security concerns or fear of retaliation.
"Like no one, he said everyone was gone," Angela said. "He said they weren’t giving them food or water.
There are many who have little sympathy for the incarcerated. They are there for a reason, but failure to provide essentials such as food and water is inhuman.
Feiereisel went on:
Reported conditions vary between prisons, as some had more COs strike than others. Some inmates reported reduced meals of cold food. Others, like Angela’s husband, say they weren’t fed at all.
"And they were coming in to pass only meds to people with mental health issues," Angela said. "Like, people that had diabetes and stuff just weren’t getting it."
Access to healthcare and mental health resources are a big concern of inmate advocates and their loved ones.
Since the strike began, the Legal Aid Society says it’s gotten dozens of reports of incarcerated people unable to access medical care and medication, including heart pressure medicine and insulin shots.
Striking corrections officers received noticed Saturday that their health insurance would be terminated if they did not return to work.
Feiereisel reported the strike has affected 38 of the 42 state facilities.
I suspect that the corrections employees have lots of legitimate beefs. This is an opportunity to fix a system that is clearly broken, but there doesn't appear to be anything positive coming out of this right now.
At the Ball
On Sunday night, I watched the Oscars. On Monday night, I felt like I was at the Oscars.
My son and I attended the Orpheus Ball at the cavernous convention center in downtown New Orleans where the Mardi Gras parade comes to you right through the middle of the building.
The only thing it lacked was a red carpet.
The floats were a dazzling display that reminded me of the Rose Bowl floats I have only seen on television.
It was an evening unlike any I have ever experienced.
Canadian history
My long-time colleague and successor as sports editor at The Post-Star, Greg Brownell, retired a couple years ago.
In addition to his passion for anything to do with subways, trains and mass transit, I recently learned Greg has a passion for following Canadian politics.
That has manifested itself into a presentation "Canada's colorful political history" Greg will give at Crandall Public Library on Wednesday, March 12 at 7 p.m.
This hour-long program will focus on the development of Canada’s political history, some of the nation’s unusual elections outcomes and the federal election that’s expected in the spring and Greg promised to address President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Canada become the “51st state.”
Chilling journalism
CNN's media reporter Brian Stelter recently pointed out some interesting coverage of the fallout from the mass cuts in the federal government.
Stelter wrote:
Locally and regionally, print front pages are capturing the impacts of Trump's shock-and-awe strategy. Atop the Anchorage Daily News this morning: "Murkowski raises concern over impacts of federal workforce cuts." Atop the San Antonio Express-News: "Cuts by DOGE hitting S.A. hard." Elsewhere in Texas, the headlines are about government inaction as it relates to the worst measles outbreak in decades. The Houston Chronicle's lead this morning: "Officials slow to push measles shots."
All that news came from red states that supported Donald Trump.
National Parks
The one area of the federal government that is not bloated and inefficient is the National Park Service.
Americans love their National Parks and our history.
NPS officials have testified the agency's work force has dropped 15 percent between 2011 and 2022 while attendance rises.
The National Park Serviced laid off 1,000 employees on Feb. 14 just as the busy tourist season was kicking off.
The Trump administration finally relented and approved hiring nearly 8,000 seasonal employees last week. The only problem is that good news came after many of the employees in charge of hiring were already let go.
Last week, there were protests in National Parks like Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Acadia, Maine, Yellowstone and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
Tensions were particularly high at Yosemite where employees unfurled an upside-down American flags in protests on the face of El Capitan.
Another 100 people protested at the Grand Canyon.
Attacking judges
With our judicial system already fraying around the edges, the last thing our country needed was Elon Musk to weigh in, but that is what he did by writing on X, "The only way to restore rule of the people in America is to impeach judges.”
Musk was upset at a federal judge's ruling that the firings he was instigating were illegal.
“We must impeach to save democracy,” Musk wrote in another post.
Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.
Spot on, Ken about our horrific prison/corrections system. It has long needed reform, but the law-and-order types will never allow rational discussion of reforms.
And agreed: The NPS is one of our nation’s greatest achievements. A crown jewel.
The only thing I know about prisons I learned watching prison movies and I really hope that remains true the rest of my life. I wonder though, if we spent more money paying guards and improving the conditions in the jails for the prisoners, would there be less violence? I think so. Are we rehabbing prisoners or just housing them? I don't understand the system, and I don't think there is an easy answer. I feel for all those involved.