Prisoners' Legal Services of New York Needs Your Help Now
- by: www.plsny.org
- recipient: Governor Andrew Cuomo
TELL GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO HOW IMPORTANT PRISONERS' LEGAL SERVICES IS TO THE STATE OF NEW YORK
We are strongly urging Governor Cuomo to include funding for Prisoners' Legal Services ("PLS") in his Executive Budget for the coming fiscal year. PLS has been a critically important organization in the State for more than thirty years. Without your support and the Governor's action, it is likely that PLS will close its doors.
For over 17 years PLS was funded through the Executive Budget. When Pataki became Governor he removed PLS from the Executive Budget. Since 1995, PLS has been funded as a legislative member item. As there was no member item funding from the State Legislature for programs of any kind in the 2010-2011 State budget, PLS is left without the adequate funding needed to continue operating.
As a result, as of January 3, 2011, PLS cannot open any new cases except for emergencies. Because of this lack of funding, and if Governor Cuomo does not include PLS in his Executive Budget, PLS will be forced to close its doors and lay off all 28 of its dedicated employees.
PRISONERS' LEGAL SERVICES IS A NECESSARY AND IMPORTANT INVESTMENT FOR THE STATE OF NEW YORK
The State has a legal responsibility to provide meaningful access to the courts for inmates confined in state prisons. Prisoners' Legal Services of New York (PLS) is a not-for-profit legal services organization that was founded in 1976 to fulfill that legal responsibility. PLS provides civil legal services to indigent inmates in New York State correctional facilities in cases where no other counsel is available.
Each year, PLS receives and responds to more than 16,000 inmate requests for assistance. PLS advocates for prisoners on issues surrounding their conditions of confinement, thus preparing them for release and successful readjustment to their communities. PLS also provides client educational materials that advise prisoners of changes in the law and works with the Department of Correctional Services in preparing inmates for release.
PLS IS VITAL TO PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY
PLS provides inmates with an important non-violent way to resolve disputes. PLS' availability to inmates in New York's state prisons, reduces tensions and hostility by helping to resolve disputes quickly and helps create a safer environment for prisoners and correctional staff alike. Most prisoners will eventually be released. PLS promotes public health and safety, by ensuring that prisoners returning to their communities having been treated humanely and having had access to adequate medical and mental health care and other programs while in prison.
PLS SAVES NEW YORK STATE MONEY
PLS is a state-funded organization that received $4,600,000 in 2009 but no State funding in 2010 and yet, PLS pays for itself in the money it saves the State by securing the release of inmates unlawfully confined in solitary confinement, restoring unlawfully withheld good time and correcting jail time and sentencing errors. In 2009, PLS saved the State over 4.3 million dollars. In 2010, PLS saved the state over 3.5 million.
PLS - PUBLIC HEALTH - PUBLIC SAFETY - A FISCALLY SOUND INVESTMENT
www.plsny.org
Governor Cuomo:
We the undersigned are writing to strongly urge you to include funding for Prisoners' Legal Services ("PLS") in your Executive Budget for the coming fiscal year. PLS has been a critically important organization in the State for more than thirty years. Without your action, it is likely that PLS will have to close its doors.
PLS is the sole organization that serves the entire population of incarcerated individuals throughout the State of New York. The work of the dedicated and highly qualified staff, PLS helps to create a more humane and cost effective correctional system, by alleviating unfair prison conditions, regressing wrongful disciplinary dispositions, correcting jail and sentencing errors, educating incarcerated individuals as to their legal rights and remedies and ensuring that prisoners receive the services to which they are entitled. These efforts not only assist PLS' clients, but also serve the correctional system itself, as well as the people of the State of New York, by reducing tensions in the prisons, saving the State millions of dollars annually due to corrected jail and sentencing terms, discouraging unnecessary litigation by pro se litigants, and contributing to the successful re-entry and reintegration of incarcerated individuals upon their release.
In addition to its direct client representation, PLS serves as a vital resource to other legal service providers in the State, as well as families of incarcerated persons. Attorneys often call upon our PLS colleagues for advice on handling certain matters within their expertise.
PLS, created as a result of the Attica revolt and its devastating consequences, has been serving the State of New York since its inception in 1976. PLS was created to help prevent the buildup of the kinds of conditions that lead to the Attica conflict. PLS has indeed lived up to its mandate - there has not been another serious prison incident since its creation.
As a matter of fairness and decency, and as a matter of public safety, PLS must not be permitted to close. We respectfully urge you to include adequate funding for PLS in your budget and to take all steps to maintain the fiscal stability of this critically important organization.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
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