SOLUTIONS

All of the prisons in NYS where I have been housed, I have experienced being referred to as a nigger (N-word) by a CO(s) for unprovoked reasons. The dangerous part to the matter is that if I file a complaint about malfeasance by CO's, then I will be retaliated against by CO's and other staff.

So I am forced to chose to between being disrespected, or face the racial profiling head-on, which will end in my being sent to the Solitary Housing Unit, written a false Misbehavior Report, and possibly loss of good time.

I believe that Department of Corrections and Community Supervision New York has a very rotten systemic racist problem within it's institution, which must be investigated by outside agencies for change in the environment and culture of corrections. Prisoners are not advancing as much a they could due to the bias behavior of CO's and counselors mistreatment of prisoners of color and certain religious backgrounds.

My current counselor has lied to me on several occasions, for example, I recently requested a transfer closer to my county so I could be near my family. Initially my counselor told me I wasn't eligible, but after my persistence my counselor reviewed the computer data and discovered that I was in fact eligible for a transfer.

In conclusion I have a PART II for this essay to paint a clearer picture of the systemic racism, racial/religious profiling, and discrimination within DOCCS-NY. It is impossible for me to narrate all of my experiences in one part. Like it or not, people in NYS, taxpayers, DOCCS-NY staff, mostly white staff, are racist towards Black prisoners, and treat Blacks and Latinos similar to how white police officers treat both races in society. Corrections brutality is the same as police brutality, but the public is not truly aware of the prison abuses or racial/physical assaults carried out by CO's against Blacks and Latinos. Why?

Every prison I ever stepped foot in, I saw mostly white prisoners having the best program (s) ; 1) Driving the bus 2) Outside clearance 3) Computer programming 4) Administrative Clerk(s)

5) Facilitating programs such as ART, ASAT and Religious affiliations

Blacks and Latinos are not considered for the above positions unless there is a facility need, or some other rare cause.

I believe there are SOLUTIONS:

#1- DOCCS-NYS must bring in specialists from outside their agency who know how to teach CO's and counselors sensitivity training towards people of color, especially Black prisoners (men & women) who make up 52% of the DOCCS-NYS prison population; more than the white and Latino prison population combined. PURPOSE: To prevent verbal and physical bias attacks and abuses against Black and Latino prisoners, and to prevent CO's and counselors from making unjust decisions based on skin tone and religious beliefs.

#2- Albany's administration must consider submitting a bill to the legislature regarding body-cams for all CO's , and in the areas of certain prisons, which do not have cameras, but have many complaints from Black & Latino prisoners , who were physically and verbally assaulted in 'blind areas'

#3- The Department of Justice (DOJ) must consider implementing an all-out investigation about how DOCCS-NYS issues misbehavior reports against Blacks and Latinos, as well as other prisoners, across NYS. PURPOSE: To discontinue the practice of systemic abuse against Blacks and Latinos, and all other prisoners in NYS by white CO's and counselors and to prevent them from using fabricated misbehavior reports against eligible parole candidates who have served their minimum sentence.