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  Rapper Under Fire After Death of Homeless Man

  07 Sep 2018 by journalism / No Comments

  Photo: Grandmaster Flash and its crew, from back in the day. Created by Sugar Hill Records to promote the rap group.

  By Marcus Ayala and Benjamin Rubin

  The case of the rapper who allegedly killed a homeless man was adjourned until October 24.

   

  On Aug. 1 of last year, a homeless man was allegedly stabbed to death by rapper Nathaniel Glover “aka” Kidd Creole of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Glover believed the homeless man was hitting on him and was attempting to rob him when things became bloody on that day, it is alleged.

   

  On August 23, 2017 Glover pled not guilty to second degree murder at Manhattan Supreme Court.

   

  Then, two weeks later, Glover told the court that he had a mental illness. He was held without bail.

   

  According to reports, Glover believed that the homeless man named John Jolly was making a pass at him after the two had walked by each other near E. 43 St. and Lexington Ave. The two men got in each other’s faces after Glover turned around to confront him, police say.

   

  Glover allegedly pulled out a steak knife and stabbed Jolly twice in the chest with a steak knife that was secured to his forearm by rubber bands. It is believed, based on a surveillance video, that Jolly was intoxicated.   

   

  Jolly refused to tell detectives who attacked him or even that he was attacked, police say. He was taken to Bellevue hospital where he was pronounced dead.

   

  Glover threw the knife used in the stabbing down a sewage drain near his Mount Hope home in the Bronx, according to police.

   

  Glover’s court appointed attorney Eric M. Sears told Brooklyn News Service, “The court has the video of the interaction but not the homicide.”

   

  Glover’s attorney said he believes there’s only one video, though some reports have said there are a number of videos from that night. Glover has lately worked at various service jobs, a change from his glory days. For a time, Glover worked for Trans Perfect, doing maintenance. He was working as a midnight security guard in a building close to where the stabbing took place.

   

  Having once made the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, Glover had of late been living in a rundown Bronx rooming house.

   

  Both men had prior arrests. Glover had three prior arrests for criminal possession of a weapon and Jolly had 17 priors dating back to 1983, including for rape. He spent five years in prison for beating and raping a 42-year-old woman in 1997 and did three years on a weapons charge.

   

  Jolly lived in a homeless shelter by the Bowery.

  Grand Master Flash’s most memorable lines from the group’s glory days of rapping were these:

  “It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
  “How I keep from going under.”

  And having gone under, the question now for Glover is whether, and how quickly, he will rise up.

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  ‘Bad Apples’ Won’t Stop City from Having a Good J’Ouvert, de Blasio Says

  03 Sep 2018 by journalism / No Comments

  Photo: Left is Brie Etienne, whose family is from Haiti, and with her, Chauncey Adams, whose family is from Trinidad. They are friends and attended the 2018 J’Ouvert festivities together. Ron Howell took the picture.

  By Hannah Grossman, Dev Nelson and Marcus Ayala

  At a press conference Thursday, Mayor de Blasio said “bad apples” won’t ruin this year’s J’Ouvert Celebration, as he and other city officials announced how they would keep this year’s event free of violence.

  J’Ouvert, a Caribbean celebration, which in the past has been marked by murders and shootings, will take place on September 3. City officials on Thursday said that this year will feature the same stringent security as last year. The J’Ouvert march, which is followed by a larger parade on Monday afternoon, will begin at Grand Army Plaza and will end two miles south down Nostrand Avenue.

  In 2015 Cuomo aide Corey Gabay was killed when he found himself amidst in the middle of a gun fight between rival gang members, the Crips and Folk Nation. Despite heightened police presence and security measures the J’Ouvert celebration in 2016 also featured violence. Four people were shot and two were killed. Last year was a breath of fresh air, police said, as there was relatively little violence in comparison to other years at the J’Ouvert festivities.

  This was largely a result of increases in police, an alcohol ban, checkpoints with metal detectors, and hundreds of light towers. This year police will continue the 2017 model with minor expansions.

  As a result of last year’s stringencies, one of the biggest complaints were that the spirit of J’Ouvert was missing. In fact J’Ouvert means “day break” or “morning,” and is supposed to be celebrated before sunrise. For security purposes, the city moved the time of the parade to 6 a.m.

  In addition, some locals complained that they are unhappy with the increased police presence. Tianoa Toures, a local resident who works for a Caribbean installation outside of the J’Ouvert parade said that the police presence doesn’t make her feel more comfortable. “It’s kinda sad that it has to get to that point,” she said.

  In prior years residents and officials have considered ending the celebrations because of the violence. Jumaane Williams,  a Brooklyn councilmember and gun violence activist, said, “There were calls to shut down the parade, and people would think that we don’t care about the violence. We absolutely do. We want people to celebrate culture. While everybody was focused on this day, there was violence in the other 365 days a year.”

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  Changes to NYC’s Marijuana Laws Are ‘Smoke and Mirrors’

  31 Aug 2018 by journalism / No Comments

  Photo: Second from left is Councilmember Rory Lancman; third from left Councilmember Donovan Richards; speaking Jillian Modzeleski of Brooklyn Defender Services; next to Modzeleski is Councilmember Antonio Reynoso. [by Benjamin Rubin]

  By Oscar Montenegro, Ben Rubin and Dakota O’Brien

  Ten thousand.

  This is how many fewer arrests could occur with enforcement changes coming to the current marijuana laws in New York City which take effect on Sept. 1. Some have seen this as a step in the right direction in police relations and towards the legalization of marijuana.

  But not everyone feels this way.

  During a rally Thursday morning, New York City Councilmembers Donovan Richards and Rory Lancman, both Democrats and both from Queens, along with Chris Alexander of the Drug Policy Alliance and others spoke about the flaws these changes have. They said that the city’s marijuana policies will continue to disproportionately affect people of color, notably immigrants and those with a criminal history hoping to have a fresh start.

  Councilmember Antonio Reynoso, a Democrat representing parts of Brooklyn and Queens, was also at the protest held outside City Hall.

  Lancman described the old and new policies as “fundamentally discriminatory and rooted in racism.” He spoke about how this new policy will continue making lifetime criminals out of people whose only offense is smoking or possessing marijuana.

  “For all practical purposes, marijuana possession and smoking is legal in New York City, if you are white,” Lancman said. “But if you are a person of color, then you are going to be arrested, summonsed, prosecuted at rates that would make the Jim Crow South blush.”

  Richards and Lancman have been vocal critics of Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD’s changes to the current marijuana police policies. According to city police, 16,925 people were arrested in 2017 for low-level marijuana possession or smoking in public. This is a one-percent drop from 2016.

  Eighty-six percent of those arrested were black or Latino. The New York State Health Department released a study saying that communities of color do not use marijuana more than other groups do.

  The new policy, in general, will have police officers issue summonses instead of making arrests for marijuana possession or use. However, an arrest will be issued if the suspect doesn’t have identification, if there is an outstanding warrant, a criminal history, or if the suspect is on parole or probation. Smoking while driving or sitting in a car will also lead to arrest, as will the selling of the drug.

  Lancman said, “This is an intolerable situation in 2018 in NYC.”

  According to Lancman, the new policy, just like the old one, endangers undocumented immigrants and “puts a target on their back,” because they will face deportation if they are arrested and must go to court to defend themselves.

  Richards stressed the need to “change the code,” and make marijuana summonses civil and not criminal. “Just like drinking in public, these summonses should not result in an arrest warrant, not immediately and not ever,” Richards said. He also said he hopes for the support on the state level from individuals like State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.

  Alexander of the Policy Alliance was present and spoke about how the main issue with the policy is that “prior involvement in the criminal justice system determines future involvement.” Also, he criticized de Blasio’s sincerity in saying he wants to end racial disparities in the city. He said the mayor is “sharpening the tool they already had to target communities of color.”

  Lancman urged constituents to stay cautious after the change goes into effect. He suggested that people contact his or Richards’ office if a police officer isn’t following protocol on this issue. He urged citizens also to stay engaged with advocacy groups. He called on the public to demand that de Blasio and Police Commissioner James O’Neal revisit this issue, since racial disparities continue.

  As for any future legislation, 2019 looks like the earliest time that the state could put this matter to a vote. Governor Andrew Cuomo and de Blasio have both been critical of marijuana policies, as applied on both state and city levels. But they have recently warmed to the idea of legalizing marijuana. During his Wednesday debate with challenger Cynthia Nixon, Cuomo said “the benefits (of legalization) outweigh the risks.” Cuomo said mass incarceration has worsened because of unfair marijuana laws.

  How bad have these unfair marijuana policies been? According to Lancman, they have been “just like Stop and Frisk.”

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• Cold Case Killer Faces Mother at Sentencing

  01 Mar 2018 by journalism / No Comments

  By ALAIN GAILLARD

  The defendant who pleaded guilty two days ago to the horrifying 2008 murder of a 14-year-old girl was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison in Queens Supreme Court Thursday, concluding a difficult case that had baffled detectives for almost a decade.

  Rashon Venable, 25, was escorted into the Queens courtroom by two policemen, his hands cuffed behind his back and holding a manila envelope containing a sheet of paper with a few words of apology he would later read to victim Sabrina Matthews’s family members and friends present in the courtroom.

  “Why did you do that to me? You took away my baby. I miss my baby, I miss her voice,” said the victim’s mother, Sherida Matthews with tears in her eyes, as she was given permission to say a few words to her daughter’s killer. “Do you know what she could have accomplished? She wanted to be a teacher and a doctor.”

  On Nov. 9, 2008, Sabrina’s father found the lifeless body of his half-naked daughter in a pool of blood with her throat slashed in the bedroom of her Cambria Heights home. It took investigators eight years to finally match the DNA from Sabrina’s crime scene to Venable’s DNA on file from a sexual assault he committed in Pennsylvania in 2009, on his 17th birthday. Venable was arrested on Nov. 7, 2016.

  “All I can say, I have regrets and remorse for my action eight years ago,” said Venable. “An innocent life has been lost because of my action. I am sorry for your loss. I will try to be a better person than I was in 2008.”

  Judge Kenneth Holder spurned the killer’s apology, saying that he was one of the most violent people to ever stand in his courtroom. “What is stunning,” the judge continued, “is that you say she was your friend. She made you angry and that is why you killed her.”

  Speaking to journalists after the sentencing, the mother also rejected out of hand the killer’s apology. “This guy was born criminal,” she said. “It is a good thing he is behind bars, so he won’t be able to kill other young girls,” she said.

   

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• BC Vending Machines Still Sell Unhealthy Snacks

  22 May 2017 by journalism / No Comments

  Student Nikki Orozova relies on vending machines at Brooklyn College for afternoon snacks. (Michelle Cummings)

  By MICHELLE CUMMINGS

  It’s noon and you’ve been on campus for an hour. You didn’t eat lunch because you woke up late and did not have time to stop on the way.  Now, you’re trapped in class on an empty stomach until the 2:15 p.m. break. There is a vending machine just down the hall, fully stocked with goodies to tide you over. When the break finally arrives you make your selection and then horror of horrors, it gets stuck. The little spiral holding your item didn’t turn enough for the product to drop.

  Alas, another student faces up to the afternoon rush for sugar.

  For all the discussion on campus about good health and nutrition, colleges continue to sell snacks to students that are too high in sugar and salt, and don’t seem especially eager to provide healthy alternatives. Larger sizes for soda allow for higher prices, of course, and although bottled water is also offered, its price is similarly high.  Options matter.

  Researchers at Boston University recently published a study that shows excess sugar, especially from sugary drinks, can cause brain damage.  According to the study, titled “Sugary Beverage Intake and Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease in the Community,” soda is linked to brain shrinkage.

  The most recent research from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) suggests that people who drink sugary beverages frequently are more likely to have poorer memory, smaller overall brain volume and a significantly smaller hippocampus, an area of the brain linked to learning and memory.

  According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average American consumes 39 teaspoons of sugar per day, three pounds per week and up to 13 pounds in one month.  That’s 155 pounds per year, much of it in the form of sugar-sweetened beverages such as soda, sports drinks, iced tea and energy drinks.  The American Heart Association recommends no more than nine teaspoons of sugar for men and six teaspoons for women per day.

  On third floor of Boylan Hall, the Georgian-style building that houses Brooklyn College’s administration and many classrooms, the Pepsi vending machine is filled with 20-ounce bottles of sugary drinks.  The Grape Crush has 71 grams of sugar, or about twice what experts say should be the maximum daily intake for men, and three times that for women. The Mountain Dew has 77 grams. Further down in the display, there are iced teas and juices that have less sugar – 33 grams for Brisk – but still well beyond anything that can be called healthy.

  Sugar makes life sweeter.  However, added sugar provides essentially no nutritional value.  So, what is the difference between good and bad sugar?  The American Heart Association defines healthy as naturally occurring “good sugar found in fruits and veggies.”  When coupled with fiber, phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals, sugar is a great source of energy.  Bad sugar is characterized by empty calories.

  The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines healthy:

  • Fewer calories (less than 40 for snacks and cereals, less than 150 for candy)
  • Limited added sugar (less than 5 grams)
  • Lower fat (less than 3 grams per serving)
  • Healthier fats
  • No trans fats
  • No artificial colors or flavors
  • Lower sodium (less than 140 milligrams per serving)

  Empty calories in beverages and highly processed, packaged products is what you’ll find hiding in vending machines on most college campuses.  The lack of healthy snacks is cause for concerns for some.

  “Sugary snacks are not conducive to a learning environment,” said Maxinee Black-Arias, dean of nursing at the Manhattan-based Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences.

  Offering convenient and nutritious options is no small task.  Students have very little time between classes to stop by a cafeteria. Since hunger interferes with concentration, vending machines often save the day.

  Some students would like more culturally relevant choices. Amber Ferrin, a junior at Brooklyn College, prefers plantain chips to potato chips.  Ferrin is also concerned about price.  Ferrin said, “75 cents for a tiny bag with like five chips in it versus a $2 larger bag with mostly air.  Really?  We need a happy medium.”

  “There are no real choices in the vending machines, just junk,” said Black-Arias.  “As leaders and proponents of health we must model better eating habits.  Providing students with convenient, healthier food options shows we value nutrition and student’s overall health.”

  But some options are available, said Joe Gallopini, director of food service at Metropolitan Food Services at Brooklyn College. “We offer healthy items like nuts, but they don’t sell nearly as well as candy and chips,” he said. Gallopini says that for some, vending machines often become the go-to snack source and that the choices made are not always the healthiest.  “People who rely on vending machines are not the same people concerned about healthy snacks,” he said. “These are two very different consumers.”

  Excess sugar consumption is linked to higher risk of heart disease.  As national intake has increased, so have obesity levels.  The Centers for Disease Control reportsthere are 86 million pre-diabetics in America and 29 million living with Type 2 diabetes.  “The biggest problem we face today is overweight people. It is especially true for young adults. Gen X and Gen Y are the unhealthiest generations of young people and will likely tax the healthcare system with future obesity-related illness,” Black-Arias says.

  According to the Healthy CUNY 2011 report, the consensus was that all would like to see healthier options in campus vending machines.  Improvement such as snacks and chips that had been reformulated to have fewer calories, less saturated and trans fat, and/or salt were made. “In the past we have tried carrying healthier snacks like pop-corn, nuts, Nature Valley granola bars and Wheat Thins after the students complained, but then the product didn’t move,” said Gallopini.

  About two years ago, students started a petition calling for healthier options in the vending machines at Brooklyn College.  “Students need to know the power they have when they voice their frustrations collectively,” Diedra Brisco, Brooklyn College journalism major and senior, said. “There is strength in numbers.”

  Metropolitan Food Service manages 100 standard vending machines on Brooklyn College campus. FastCorp Vending provides ice cream vending machines.  What they do not have is a refrigerated machine that stocks healthier alternatives.  Nutritious snack options such as fruit cups, hummus, cheese, Greek yogurt, kefir, chocolate covered nuts and organically dried fruit require refrigeration.

  Demand for a healthier version of the vending machine may be met with surprising receptivity. Gallopini said that to change the vending machine options to add healthier snacks, “Just ask, we’ll stock it.”  He said Metropolitan is open to brand-specific products and suggestions compatible with the current machines on the Brooklyn College campus.

  One of the biggest challenges is meeting the needs of everyone. According to Carl Jeff of Vendrite, it is possible to offer students healthier snack choices without sacrificing convenience or taste.  “The future of vending may rest in micro markets,” he said. “Reimagine a commissary-type micro market as an opportunity to effect significant change in the daily lives of most on the go students.”

  Micro markets are a new food service option.  Fair trade snacks, unsweetened beverages and fresh fruit are available 24/7 in a self-service system at Virginia Science and Tech.

  Trips to the vending machines are inevitable.  Can they be made healthier?  In a study, published in the International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health in 2014, researchers conducted an experiment with 200 college students. Scientists replaced high-sugar, salt and fat snacks sold in two campus vending machines with healthier options to find out how students responded.  The results suggest students who were aware of the healthier snack choices were excited to have alternatives. Promoting healthier choices did not affect sales.

  “Students will consume what is available,” Black-Arias said. “ If we can influence this behavior with better choices, we can consider that winning.”

   

   

   

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  From NY, a Treasure Returns to Mexico’s Jewish Community

  02 Mar 2017 by journalism / No Comments

  By LINDA KRESTANOVA

  The national debate over immigration was inescapable at the closing ceremony of New-York Historical Society’s exhibit commemorating the first Jewish Americans as a 16th-century manuscript written by a persecuted Jew became a symbol of solidarity between the United States and Mexico.

  The manuscript, written in colonial Mexico, had been lost for over eight decades and was found earlier this year in Manhattan. After being a part of the exhibit titled “The First Jewish Americans: Freedom and Culture in the New World,” it will now be returning to Mexico, “where it belongs,” said Ambassador Diego Gómez Pickering, Mexico’s consul general in New York.

  “It’s coming back to the Mexican Jewish community,” Pickering said at Tuesday’s ceremony, “and it’s going across the border, a border that, in culture and understanding, will never be closed.”

  Pickering was met with enthusiastic applause from everyone there to celebrate the early immigrants, who had fled from Europe and established communities in both North and South America.

  The artifact, considered the earliest surviving worship account of coming to the New World, is the diary of Luis de Carvajal the Younger, a Jewish man who lived in New Spain (now Mexico). To avoid punishment imposed by the Inquisition, which followed believers to the New World, De Carvajal claimed to be Catholic. In 1590, his true faith was discovered and he was captured. During his imprisonment, he began writing his memoir, which largely focused on his faith.

  De Carvajal was ultimately burned at the stake, along with other members of his family. His manuscript was saved and found its way to Mexico’s National Archives, only to mysteriously disappear in the 1930s.

  New York City became a part of the narrative when Leonard Milberg, a New Yorker and collector of Judaica, came across the manuscript in a catalog at Swann Galleries in Manhattan. Thanks to Milberg, experts studied the artifact and confirmed its authenticity. After financing the purchase, Milberg made a deal with Pickering: the manuscript would return to Mexico after a being a part of the exhibit in New York.

  “We value the effort and dedication to build bridges between the Mexican and the Latino communities and the Jewish community here in New York City,” Pickering said of Milberg and the groups that collaborated with the museum, including AJC NY, part of a global Jewish advocacy group.

  The exhibit was a celebration of the men and women who sought freedom in the New World. As a result, there were many allusions to current anti-immigration sentiment in a room filled with rare paintings, portraits, maps, books and artifacts that showed a world of different cultures and traditions coming together in a new land.

  “America, as is often said, is a nation of immigrants,” Louise Mirrer, president and chief executive officer of the New-York Historical Society, said during the ceremony. “And these days, we cannot say that enough.”

  The exhibit runs through March 12.

  Photo: Diego Gómez Pickering, Mexico’s consul general in New York, hails the return of an important historical manuscript to Mexico. (Linda Krestanova)

   

   

   

   

   

   

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  Castro Death Opens New Debate over Cuba

  14 Dec 2016 by journalism / No Comments

  By ALEXANDRA SEMENOVA

  A viral Facebook video posted last Saturday by Ivis Suarez of Miami Lakes, Florida shows her  abuela, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, as she is overwhelmed with tears on receiving the news that Fidel Castro has died.

  “Not even Alzheimer’s could take away the emotions my abuela Ata felt when she found out that monster had died!” Suarez wrote in the post, which was seen by over 400,000. “Thanks to her, my family is in this country today.”

  Castro’s death aroused strong feelings, pro and con: In New York some people placed flowers at the Cuban consulate in Midtown Manhattan.

  But when the partying, for some, and grieving, for others, are said and done, a bigger question, remains: What will Castro’s death mean for U.S. relations with the island nation at a time when President-elect Donald Trump takes office?

  “The big question mark is Trump,” said Ron Howell, a professor at Brooklyn College and a journalist who covered Cuba for Newsday. “I think younger Cubans will make a difference because they largely want to see an opening.”

  Castro’s death on Nov. 25 quickly ignited political debate in the United States.

  “I hope we don’t see Barack Obama and Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton and the Democrats lining up to lionize a murderous tyrant and thug,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who is Cuban American, told ABC News. “If you wouldn’t go to Pol Pot’s funeral or Stalin’s funeral or Mao’s funeral because they were murderous communist dictators then you shouldn’t be doing what Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau are doing, which is celebrating Fidel Castro, a murderous communist dictator.”

  Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) slammed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for offering sympathy upon Castro’s death, calling his remarks a “parody.”

  Trump followed.

  “The world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades,” Trump said in a statement following Castro’s death. “Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights.”

  During his campaign, Trump criticized “concessions” made to Cuba’s Communist government and threatened to void Obama’s U.S.-Cuba Bilateral Commission, a plan that was resurfaced by Trump Chief of Staff Reince Priebus when he told Fox News that Trump stands by his intention to negate the deal.

  Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, bolstered the president-elect’s statement, tweeting “I called @RealDonaldTrump to let him know that the State of Florida will help his administration to support a pro-democracy movement in Cuba.”

  Florida holds 67 percent of the nation’s 1.2 million eligible voters of Cuban descent,  many of whom live in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area, according to Pew Research Center.

  Despite a 2014  Pew Research Center survey that found Cuban American registered voters have shifted toward the Democratic Party for over a decade, more than 54 percent of Cuban Americans voted for Trump, National Election Pool exit poll data showed. The number was almost double the 26 percent of non-Cuban Hispanic voters who supported Trump in the 2016 race.

  This number is higher than the 47 percent who supported Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 race, according to the exit poll.

  “The generally more conservative you are, the more you did not like Fidel Castro,” said Howell, who reported on Cuba for three decades and met Castro when he invited journalists to the Presidential Palace in Havana in 2001.

  Studies show that while older Cuban Americans are strongly Republican, there is a divide between them and younger voters.

  According to a study done by Pew Research in 2013, 56 percent of Cuban Americans aged 18 to 49 identified with or leaned toward the Democratic Party compared to 39 percent of those 50 years and older.

  “The future, I think, is in young people who want to preserve the achievements of the revolution, but also want to engage in more cooperative forms of governance and production,” according to Professor Alan Aja, professor of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies at Brooklyn College.

  According to Aja, the Cuban government has long prepared for Castro’s death and a transfer of power well beyond his “more moderate” but equally aging brother.

  “The paternalistic model of the revolution does not work for them but neither does free market capitalism because they know how much inequality it yields in the U.S. for their familial loved ones and in other Caribbean nations,” Aja said. “Contrary to our ‘exceptionalist’ thinking in the U.S. that we’re the only ones that matter, or know better, the Cuban government is self-aware and strategic.”

   

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• City Jails Struggle to House Young Inmates

  10 Nov 2016 by journalism / No Comments

   

  By SHANECE McGREGOR

  In December 2014, Punitive segregation, also referred to as solitary confinement, was  abolished for adolescent inmates ages 16 to 17, in the New York City jails.

  On  Oct. 11, the city Department of Corrections moved to end  punitive segregation for young adults aged 19 through 21 years old.

  In some ways this is a big leap for the Corrections Department, given studies that found solitary confinement along with harsh treatment often worsens inmates’ conditions and leads to higher rates of suicide than the general prison population.

  The experience of isolation makes it more difficult for inmates to interact with others once they are released from solitary. Mental health deteriorates — causing a greater likelihood of  violent behavior.

  But on the other hand, according to the Correction Officers Benevolent Association website, “It Also Reduces Staff/Inmate Physical Confrontations, And Injuries To both Parties.”

  Punitive segregation was the topic of an Oct. 11 hearing before the New York City Board of Correction,  a nine-person  board with authority to oversee the jail system.

  Its members sat at a long table on a stage as the Correction commissioner, Joseph Ponte, stood at a  podium below the stage. Several of his aides joined him. According to the board’s website, its job is to regulate “conditions of confinement and correctional health and mental health care” as well as to advance “improvement and change toward smaller, safer, fairer, and more humane jails.”

  At the hearing, the board discussed a dizzying number of new and revised programs aimed at solving the problem of how best to treat adolescents confined on Rikers Island.

  The board had to decide whether to issue variances – exceptions, basically, that the city Corrections Department requested to depart from previous decisions about how the jails should be run.

  The first measure considered was the city’s request to extend the new-ish Enhanced Supervision Housing program, which involved mingling young adults with adults in special units for violent inmates.

  Is that a good idea?

  One board member, Bryanne Hamill, a former Family Court judge, said the problem was that this program was originally intended only as a tool for adults, not the young adults who were also in it. .

  Before that, there were two other programs created as tools to work with young adults as an alternative to punitive segregation:  Transitional Repair Unit and Second Chance Housing. These programs were designed to encourage better behavior. Later came Secure, which was needed to house the more violent adolescents..

  So when an inmate would commit a heinous act such as a slashing, he would immediately be sent to Secure.

  Under the Enhanced Supervision Housing program, there would not be solitary confinement, but greater supervision of trouble-prone adult inmates, 19 and older. Many were skeptical about extending this new program — originally it was supposed to be temporary.

  Ponte wanted the board to let him create a separate unit for inmates 18 to 21. That would get the younger inmates away from the adult inmates, but it also brought 18-year-olds into Enhanced Supervision.

  According to the Corrections Department, keeping closer tabs on the inmates would help to prevent problems before they occurred.

  The board soon approved the variances, but member Bryanne Hamill made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with the decision.

  One problem she raised had to do with the fact that in the Enhanced Supervision Housing, inmates get seven hours outside the cell to interact with the staff and other inmates – better than solitary, but only half of what inmates in the general population get.

  Hamill said the inmates in the unit were as a result forced to compromise either their educational or their social time – a choice between picking up a deck of cards or a book. She attempted to add a condition that three hours of school time not be deducted from adolescents’ seven hours out of cell time. But that was negated as the variances passed.

  Hamill packed her things and before walking off stage announced her resignation as chair of the Correction Department’s Adolescent and Young Adult Advisory Board.

  Hamill wasn’t the only one concerned about these new programs.  Those who worked within the facility like Kelsey De Avila, the jail services social worker with Brooklyn Defender Services, expressed her concerns about “restrictive units sprouting up through out the department.”  She said that the Corrections Department is continuing the use of solitary confinement methods for young adults within these new units.  She urged the board to not only refuse the variance but to keep a closer eye on what is going on within the units.

  Dale Wilker of the Legal Aid Society also was against the variance for similar reasons. He said that school hours should not be deducted from the seven-hour time outside the cell – and warned that the Corrections Department seemed to be repeating mistakes it had made with punitive segregation.

  Nevertheless there are some who believe it is necessary for safety.

  Albert Craig, a correctional officer for 20 years and an agent for the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, which represents over 8,000 correction officers,  spoke out.

  He said that the new variances need to be improved because the jails are nowhere close to safe.  His ringing voice left a strong impression.

  “You are violating your charter and it’s not true when you say you hear our complaint,” he said.

  Craig complained that every time he has come to a Correction Board hearing, he heard correction officers depicted “as criminals who beat kids up.”

  Craig said that actually, the officers were the ones would console the inmates whenever dangerous events took place. He blamed the board for the jails’ conditions.

  With a look of sorrow he dove into the story of his brother who died in the Brooklyn House , and then the story of Kalief Brown. Kalief was was arrested at the age of 16, on charges of robbery, and imprisoned without conviction for three years.

  “It’s not our fault,” he said. “We wanted him to go but your peers kept him there.”

  Craig said that not only would judges continuously postpone hearings, but also the bails were too high, forcing people who were not convicted to stay in jail for extended periods of time. In many ways you can say Albert is right. According to city data, from 2003 to 2012, the average length of stay for a detainee has steadily risen.

   

   

   

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  Elephant Ivory Peddlers Indicted

  22 Sep 2016 by journalism / No Comments

  By ROBERT TAUB

  Two store owners, a salesperson, and an antique business were indicted on two counts for selling and distributing elephant ivory, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R Vance Jr. announced in a press conference at The Manhattan Family Justice Center Thursday morning.

  Irving Morano, 46, Samuel Morano, 48, Victor Zilberman, 62, and the Metropolitan Fine Arts & Antiques Inc. were all charged felonies in Manhattan Supreme Court. Prosecutors found that all the illegal items estimated a total price of more than $4.5 million, the largest seizure of illegal elephant ivory in the state’s history, Vance said.

  The Morano brothers have been in the business of selling elephant ivory articles and carvings since at least 2007, court documents said. Under the New York State Environmental Law, it is illegal to sell, or offer for sale, elephant ivory unless the seller has been granted a license from the Department of Environmental Conservation. That law was enacted with new restrictions in 2014.

  “I’m outraged,” Vance Jr. said standing before a table full of illegal ivory products. “I can’t believe in our city that we have stores that are profiting from ivory.”

  The elephant population has been steadily declining 30 percent in recent years, down to just 350,000 now. Experts say. Vance Jr. added that from 2010 to 2012, 100,000 elephants were slaughtered in Africa to fuel the illegal ivory trade. The illegal trade of wildlife is worth an estimated $7 billion dollars to $23 billion annually, according to a report done by Interpol and the United Nations.

  New York has remained one of the world markets for elephant ivory, according to Vance. “I think we need to send a message that those who commit wildlife crime not in their jurisdiction need to know that there will be no market for them in New York City,” he said.

  “The people that are poaching elephants for ivory are not trying to make ends meet,” said Basil Seggos, the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. “They are not simple individuals, not trying to make a quick buck; these are criminal syndicates who deploy very sophisticated armies out in the field using automatic weapons, chainsaws, and other devices who are doing battle with government forces.”

  John Calvelli, the Vice President for Public Affairs at the Wildlife Conservation Society commended those people who are working to have a zero tolerance for illegal elephant ivory sales.

  “New York State was one of the first states to ban ivory sales and it is clear our officials are serious about enforcing this law which is designed to ensure Africa’s elephants do not go extinct.”

  Photo by Robert Taub

   

   

   

   

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• Accused Slasher May Not Attend Own Trial

  21 Apr 2016 by journalism / No Comments

  By RENEE BEYDA

  A Bronx man accused of slashing a 24-year-old woman in Lower Manhattan in early January will not have to be present in the courtroom during his trial, unless necessary, ruled Judge Michael Obus on Thursday in Manhattan Criminal Court.

  Kari Bazemore, 41, who authorities claim called his victim, Amanda Morris, a “white bitch” is said to be mentally ill, according to his family, and was off his meds during the time of the slashing. He has been linked to three other violent attacks since September 2015.

  Bazemore’s family said that he was previously diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and has been in and out of mental institutions for the past five years.

  The defendant’s sister, Dana Brazemore explained that her brother had been showing signs of mental illness for the past 15 years, and was even hospitalized for six months with medication at Bellevue Hospital. Without his medication, Brazemore would act very aggressively.

  Brazemore, who has been arrested a total of 32 times in New York since 1990, allegedly slashed Morris’ face with a blade as she walked to Whole Foods in Chelsea on Jan. 6 around 6:00 a.m.

  Morris stumbled into a Malibu Diner for help, where police were notified. She was taken to Bellevue Hospital where she received seven stitches on her lip and nose. She was released that day.

  The entire incident was caught on a nearby surveillance camera, and Bazemore was arrested later that day for assault when he was recognized from the video.

   

   

   

   

   

   

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