By:Leslie Gonzalez
Inmates' families argue for expanded visitation
Corrections officers working without a contract are not the only ones upset at the Nassau County Correctional Facility in East Meadow. Inmates and their families continue to fight for weekend visiting hours, and a peaceful protest is planned for Saturday morning, April 28.
Visiting hours at the jail are noon to 3 p.m. and 4 to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and families and activists have met with county jail officials for more than a decade in an effort to get weekends and holidays added.
By comparison, New York City jails allow visits Wednesday through Sunday, and in Suffolk County, visiting is done Tuesday through Saturday.
The protest is being sponsored by United People for Social, Economic and Racial Justice, a large coalition of groups that target racism and poverty on Long Island. Robert Lepley, a coalition spokesman and member of the Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives, said that because there are no visits on weekends and only limited hours during the week, it is nearly impossible for working people to visit family members imprisoned in the Nassau jail.
"This creates hardship for anyone, particularly people of color and the poor who work, and these groups are disproportionately a large part of the jail's population," said Lepley. The solution, he said, is to expand visiting days at the jail to include weekends and holidays.
On Saturday, each protester will be given the name of a prisoner and will ask at the jail entrance to see that prisoner. It is expected that each protester will be told there are no weekend visits, and after being turned away will then sit in a row on the grass in front of the jail. Many will hold signs promoting weekend visiting hours and pro-family behavior.
Local residents aren't happy.
"This is an outrage. People who don't live here are trying to tell us how to run our community," said Mary Ellen Goebel, who was notified by mail of the protest. Goebel is one of many who have repeatedly complained about the close proximity of the jail's grounds to community playing fields. Residents say the fields are used more on weekends and that weekend visiting hours at the jail would promote heavier traffic.
"What is more disturbing on the weekends that does not already exist during the week?" Barbara Bernstein, New York Civil Liberties Union executive director, asked in an April 4 letter to Sheriff Edward Reilly.
In lobbying for weekend visits, Bernstein argues that because the average stay of an inmate at the jail is 45 days, sustaining emotional ties to relatives is necessary for successful integration of the inmate back into the community. "It is to the community's benefit that inmates become useful, contributing members of society upon release, and keeping strong family ties is one of the routes to that goal," she said.
Local residents say their objections to expanded visitation were acknowledged by the county in a concession made to them about 13 years ago for not opposing the jail's expansion. "We did oppose the expansion and this was a give-back to us," Goebel said. "Nassau County officials promised weekend hours would be prohibited."
The concession was said to be made during the term of Sheriff Joseph Jablonski, when county officials agreed not to establish a round-the-clock arraignment court, Goebel said, and local residents agreed to the extension of visiting hours beyond 5 p.m.
Although various community groups also acknowledge the existence of such a concession, legislative officials found "nothing definitive" as to whether such an agreement had actually been made, whether verbal or in writing.
Lepley believes that many residents' fears may actually stem from discrimination, what he calls a "guilt by association" feeling that inmates' families may pose a threat to children playing. He called these fears irrational and unfounded. "I question where these fears are based. It's 'not in my back yard.'"
Roughly 250 people are expected to participate in the protest, which coincides with Little League opening day at the community's playing fields. Initially, protesters planned to use the parking lot of Salisbury Park Drive Park, which is Town of Hempstead property. Goebel argued that the Handy Lane section where protesters were told to park is "too small for all those cars, which will obviously overflow into other areas."
Lepley plans to finalize the protest's logistics with jail and local officials. "I'm a soccer dad myself," Lepley said. "We do not wish to rile parents over this, although I'm sure some residents will be riled."
