WE DEMAND THAT CUOMO AND THE NYS LEGISLATURE TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT ALL PEOPLE IN PRISONS AND JAILS FROM COVID-19.

Vaccine access with informed consent, clemency and reforms are among the demands.

What: COVID in Cages: Decarcerate and Vaccinate for Public Health

Who: Center for Community Alternatives, COVID-19 Working Group — New York, New York Doctors Coalition, RAPP, Rise and Resist, VOCAL-NY

When: Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. EST

Where: Governor Cuomo’s office, 633 Third Ave. (at 41st St), New York, NY 10017

New York, NY—A delegation of New Yorkers who are formerly incarcerated, public health professionals, members of the COVID-19 New York Working Group, community advocates and concerned New Yorkers will rally in front of Governor Cuomo’s office to deliver a letter demanding that Cuomo expand access to COVID-19 vaccines to all people who are incarcerated in New York State, not just those over the age of 65. Citing the lack of ability to physically distance, lack of PPE, substandard medical care, and the prevalence of comorbidities, activists are deeply alarmed at the public health implications of the State’s inaction in this area.

Along with access, the group is asking that the plan include meaningful education and informed consent about the vaccine. Additionally, as decarceration is the most effective and just solution to protecting people in prisons and jails from COVID-19, the NYS legislature needs to move forward on the HALT Solitary Confinement Act, Elder Parole bill, Fair and Timely Parole bill, and Less is More NY; and Governor Cuomo needs to approve the vast number of clemency requests that have languished on his desk during this pandemic.

Speakers will include people who have been incarcerated, family members of people currently detained in New York State, public health experts and New York State legislators.

Advocates state that time is of the essence in addressing the public health emergency that exists in jails and prisons and that Governor Cuomo and the state legislature have been far too slow to act.