The Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court today rejected Broome County Sheriff Harder’s continued attempt to stop in-person visitation despite court rulings. The court decision, attached, dictates in-person visitation to begin again on September 29th. JUST members and many friends and family members of those incarcerated will be there, celebrating. JUST will be greeting family with coffee, cake and banners on the day.
We trust the County Executive and Legislators will abandon funding any more attempts to defend the Sheriff’s brutalities. This lawsuit saga is a testimony to how the Sheriff and the County have increasingly resisted basic human rights for those under their control. Harder and the County have now lost a series of wrongful death lawsuits and state investigations. More lawsuits are pending, from the Husar family’s $5 million wrongful death lawsuit, to Legal Services lawsuit on the brutal beating of a Black/Latino youth, to a suit filed by a trans women on her abuse in the jail.
It is time to put an end to these injustices, open up the jail, and let more people await trial at home where they belong. We look forward to more success, more justice, in the coming days. Above all, we celebrate the ability to visit loved ones in the jail.
Press Contacts: Jackson Hengsterman 518-779-5899, Ella Friday 702-742-3290, William Martin 917 340 0468
Emails: jhengsterman@gmail.com, ellamfriday@gmail.com, wgmartin1@gmail.com