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Recent events at the Monroe County Jail, the Rochester Police Department response to an ICE emergency request for help in the City, and two violent deaths, Robert Brooks at Marcy and Messiah Natwi at Mid-State at the hands of officers at NYS correctional institutions, have prompted this letter of concern by members of Elders and Allies along with a request for follow-up and substantial systemic change.
Incident 1: Two deputies at the Monroe County jail are facing criminal charges after an investigation into fights there last fall. Enabling an incarcerated person to assault another without intervening and giving advance notice of cell searches by corrections officers compromises the safety of both incarcerated individuals and jail staff. These events were brought to the attention of authorities by incarcerated individuals. It takes considerable courage to alert authorities of deputy wrongdoing. Threats of retaliation, extortion and intimidation are ever present. Investigations into both events are ongoing.
Incident 2: On March 23rd, Rochester police were called by Homeland Security Investigation agents (ICE) to provide emergency backup for a traffic stop in the City. Rochester has been a sanctuary city since 1986. RPD Order 502 prohibits officers from removing suspected illegal immigrants from a vehicle or handcuffing them. Officers are allowed to provide backup to ensure safety of law enforcement partners, but should not participate in immigration activities. Although the supervising RPD officer on the scene canceled the response, officers still seemed to take the lead in removing some occupants from the van and handcuffed at least one individual. Mayor Evans called the incident a violation of City policy.
The dozen or so officers involved are to receive a two-hour training currently being scheduled due to different work hours and shifts. This response points to a break down in police training. Were the officers not already trained in proper response to ICE interactions? The topic is one of much local and national attention. A two-hour training seems of little consequence compared to the violation of a City ordinance and the trauma experienced by those in the van and the local immigrant community. Actions like these only serve to exacerbate fear and distrust among communities of color.
The response of the Rochester Police Union (The Locust Club) was to unequivocally support the RPD actions and issue an invitation to the administration’s Border Czar to visit Rochester. Such a visit can only further serve to divide this community. They also suggest doing away with sanctuary policies altogether. These actions reveal a total lack of concern for the legality of RPD actions, lack of interest in fair and just treatment of anyone appearing to be an immigrant, lack of interest in the welfare of those arrested and detained, and indeed lack of interest for upholding the values that the citizens of Rochester and City council have a commitment to uphold.
Incidents 3 and 4: Making the national news was the repeated beating and murder December 9th of Robert Brooks, a Monroe County resident; 14 corrections officers at Marcy Correctional Facility face charges in the case. While this story unfolded, the public learned of another tragic death in early March at Mid-State Correctional Facility. Twenty-two-year-old Messiah Natwi was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Nine inmates at Mid-state, seven of whom have given their names, said that Messiah Natwi had been brutally beaten by corrections officers. The Attorney General’s Office is conducting an investigation because his death appears to be from other than natural causes; 15 corrections officers have been placed on administrative leave while the investigation continues.
Incident 5: At the same time, corrections officers staged an unauthorized walk out at almost all of the state’s 42 prisons that lasted several weeks and necessitated the Governor’s calling in the National Guard to maintain the safety of inmates and staff. The walkout was staged by corrections officers to protest what they say are dangerous working conditions, severe staffing shortages and forced overtime. While such concerns are real, so too, are the concerns of those held within the system officers are obliged to uphold. Solutions must address both sets of issues.
Such fallout reflectsan unnecessary contest of wills between prison reform advocates and law enforcement officers while final passage of this year’s budget is still being negotiated.
Incident 6: In the meantime, Rochester is still suffering from the death of Daniel Prude, ruled a homicide in the fall of 2020, 6 months after it was revealed that he had experienced a mental health crisis. His family called 911 for assistance the early morning hours of March 23rd after Prude ran out of the house and was naked in the street when police arrived. Prude was handcuffed while sitting in the street in light snow and near freezing temperatures. A spit hood was placed on his head because he was agitated and spitting. Video cameras showed officers holding him down, with one pressing his head onto the pavement for 3 minutes. Prude stopped breathing and was taken to Strong Hospital by ambulance 11 minutes after police arrived. He died early the following morning. The medical examiner’s report ruled his death a homicide as a result of “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint.”
The fact that 6 months passed before the public learned what had happened produced an outcry of anger directed at both Rochester’s then mayor and police chief, with both accusing the other of a cover-up. None of the officers involved was convicted of a criminal offense after a grand jury failed to indict them.
Summary: The criminal justice system in Rochester and across the state has been under fire for decades. Events highlighted in this letter are symptomatic of a system that continues to fail the people it is designed to protect and those charged with protecting them. Either/or solutions serve no one. Our purpose in writing is to hold us all accountable. May these few recommendations move us toward that goal.
1. Enact provisions of Daniel’s Law currently in the proposed budget. This law would transform mental health crisis response by shifting from a police-led to a health-led approach and prioritize de-escalation, trauma informed care and community focused solutions.
2. Support the Department of Corrections’ Director recommendations for early release of some 700 inmates based upon extraordinary or compelling circumstances such as severe medical conditions, old age, or family emergencies where continuing incarceration is deemed unnecessary or harmful.
3. Oppose the expansion of involuntary mental health arrests currently being discussed in this year’s budget process. We cite concerns about civil liberties, the potential for abuse and their inability to address the underlying issues of mental illness which stigmatize individuals and lead to negative outcomes.
These extensive and ongoing human and communal tragedies reflect a dysfunctional incarceration system. Other models which use healing and reformation rather than punishment and retribution have proved beneficial to the entire society, as well as those charged and law enforcement officers.
In the short term, we need to enact the recommendations above. Effective communications between police and the communities they serve requires commitment, persistence and a willingness to listen to the valid perspectives of all parties. Long term, we need a broad statewide coalition to enact a safe, humane, healing and cost-effective new approach to the entire criminal justice system. If our words don’t match our actions, distrust is only magnified.
Elders and Allies is a group of mainly older racial and social justice activists whose mission is to dismantle structural racism in all its forms in the Greater Rochester community.
Barbara Staropoli, Rochester
Barbara van Kirkhove, Rochester
Beverly Brown, Rochester
Bill Wynne, Perinton
Carmel Merrill, Rochester
James Thompson, Rochester
Jane Ballard, Rochester
Janet Chaise, Henrietta
Joyce Herman, Rochester
Linda Fidele, Perinton
Loret Steinberg, Rochester
Madeline Schmitt, Rochester
Nancy L. Brown, Rochester
Padme Livingstone, Rochester
Rebecca Johnson, Rochester
Shirley Thompson, Rochester
Steven Jarose, Pittsford
Susan Hellman, Rochester
Tracey Farmer, Rochester
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