Upstream. A Mohawk Valley Blogzine.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Coming Soon - Series On NYS Prison System.

You might have wondered what has become of the series I was going to do on the long lunches that some officials at New York State’s Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) take. I have not forgotten it. I deleted the original post in order to get rid of an inappropriate comment. Since that time I have received additional information on these lunches, including detailed notes by an investigator and employee time sheets that were obtained by a FOIL request.

After doing some more research, I have decided that the issue of DOCS officials taking long lunches will be incorporated into a broader series of posts concerning DOCS and our New York State prison system. The photographs that I originally posted will be posted again with detailed information on the above mentioned lunches. The three officials who took these lunches will be named. The information will be presented fairly and in a matter of fact way, and Upstream will let the reader draw his or her own inferences from the information.

One reason for doing a broader series of posts is that the United States now has the largest penal system of any country in the world. At the end of 2004 there were almost 1.5 prisoners held in Federal and State prisons, of which 63,751 were imprisoned in New York State. This number does not include juveniles held in juvenile facilities.

With this in mind, Upstream would like to hear from anyone who is connected to DOCS or any prison in New York State. We would like to hear from current or former DOCS employees, no matter what your position is, prisoners, ex-prisoners, relatives and friends of prisoners, prison volunteers, etc. We would like information on any and all aspects of prison life and employment with DOCS. You may e-mail the information to upstreamblog@yahoo.com. Knowing that DOCS frowns on employees talking to the media without permission and that prisoners are subject to retaliation, Upstream will respect your privacy and not use your name or any material that might identify you, unless you request that your name be used.

If you know of someone who works for DOCS or is connected to the New York State prison system in any way, Upstream would appreciate it if you would e-mail them this post for their consideration.

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