Dear Friend of Drop the Rock,

I am pleased to finally announce that we have hired the energetic and talented Denise Thomas to join the Correctional Association as the Associate Director of the Public Policy Project. Denise comes to us with a Master of Public Administration in Criminal Justice from John Jay College and 10 years of professional experience as a legal assistant. She has served as a Drop the Rock intern for almost 2 years demonstrating her high level of skills and determination and we look forward to her work to expand our campaign and coalition.

Denise has assisted in organizing two Advocacy days in Albany, working closely with Caitlin Dunklee and coalition members to promote full repeal of the Rockefeller Drug Laws and subsequently, prison downsizing. As the lead organizer for this year’s Empowerment Day, Denise coordinated 14 teams throughout New York State to conduct voter registration and petitioning. I am confident in her work and her dedication to the coalition.

I will partner with Denise in the coming months to maintain and expand Drop the Rock. As we move forward with actions and strategies to reach our policy goals, please keep Denise informed about upcoming events and about your ideas and suggestions for effective strategies.

Please contact Denise at dthomas@correctionalassociation.org or 212-254-5700 x 339 with any questions or comments and urge your personal and professional associates to do the same.

Please come to our next coalition meeting Tuesday, July 13 at 6:00pm.

Drop the Rock!

Robert Gangi
Executive Director
Correctional Association

Drop the Rock and the Correctional Association together with Human Rights Watch and the NYCLU are co-sponsoring the New York premiere of the documentary: In the Land of the Free…

Targeted by prison officials for being members of the Black Panther Party and for fighting against prison conditions, the Angola 3 were convicted of the murder of a prison guard-with no physical evidence and no credible eyewitnesses. We are delighted that filmmaker Vadim Jean and film subject Robert King will be present for a discussion after the screenings.

SCREENINGS:
Wednesday, June 16 - 6:30pm
Thursday, June 17 - 9:00pm
Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th Street
New York, NY 10023

Find out more and purchase tickets at www.hrw.org/iff.

Dear Friends of Drop the Rock,

As you now know, I have decided to leave my position as Drop the Rock Coordinator to move to California and apply for graduate degree programs in Public Policy.  Over the past month I have thought about my time working with our campaign. Here are a few highlights which stand out to me:

Empowerment Day: A coalition member’s clever idea spreads from one neighborhood to nineteen, 150 volunteers turn out, and in a single day, Drop the Rock gathers 5,000 petition signatures and registers 400 new voters.  My faith in grassroots organizing is affirmed.

Empire State of Mind: Fifty middle school students from Mott Hall in the South Bronx attend Advocacy Day 2010, perform “Empire State of Mind,” and ask legislators to Educate, not Incarcerate.

Amir Comes Home: A coalition member’s son is finally resentenced under reforms to the Rockefeller Drug Laws, and after 19 years behind bars, he is released.  One week later, he and his mother attend a Drop the Rock Coalition meeting, together.

Read more…

On Saturday, May 15, neighborhood teams across New York registered voters and gathered over 1,500 signatures calling for prison closures and reinvestment in communities.

Thank you to our team captains and volunteers for making Empowerment Day 2010 a great success!

Here is some of the press coverage on Empowerment Day:

• Rallies for Stepped Up Prison Closures - Capitol Confidential, Albany Times Union (May 14, 2010)
• Drop the Lock Up? - Gotham Gazette (May 14, 2010)
• Una campaña popular reclama el cierre de diez cárceles y la reforma penitenciaria - Agencia EFE (May 14, 2010)

Get involved with the campaign and help us plan for the summer: Join Drop the Rock for our next full coalition meeting on Thursday, June 3 at 6pm at the Correctional Association (2090 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd, Suite 200, New York, NY 10027).  For more information, contact Caitlin Dunklee, DTR Coordinator, at cdunklee@correctionalassociation.org or (212) 254 - 5700 x.339.

On Saturday, May 15, in neighborhoods across the city and state that are heavily impacted by incarceration, teams of community members, elected officials, young people, formerly incarcerated people, and families will come together to educate the public about Drop the Rock’s campaign to reduce the use of incarceration in New York. Volunteers will register voters and gather signatures on Drop the Rock’s new petition calling for prison closures, reforms of work release, parole, and merit time, full repeal of the Rockefeller Drug Laws, and reinvestment in communities.

Empowerment Day is tomorrow, Saturday, May 15 from 11am-3pm! Get ready to educate your community about Drop the Rock’s new campaign to downsize New York’s prison system, register voters, and collect signatures on our petition.

Click below to see our eighborhood meet-up locations:
Read more…

We need additional volunteers for Drop the Rock Empowerment Day! On Saturday, May 15, teams of community members, elected officials, young people, formerly incarcerated people, and families will come together in neighborhoods across the city and state that are heavily impacted by incarceration to educate their communities about Drop the Rock’s campaign to downsize New York’s prison system. Download our Empowerment Day flyer to help spread the word in your community.

For information on volunteering, read more:

Read more…

On Saturday, May 15, teams of community members, young people, formerly incarcerated people, and families will come together in neighborhoods across the city and state that are heavily impacted by incarceration to educate their communities about Drop the Rock’s campaign to downsize New York’s prison system.

Teams will register voters and gather signatures for Drop the Rock’s new petition calling for prison closures, reforms of policies like work release, parole, and merit time, full repeal of the Rockefeller Drug Laws, and reinvestment in communities.

We are currently building teams in the following neighborhoods:
Albany
Brownsville
Central Harlem
Downtown Brooklyn (Fulton Street Mall)
Hudson
Jamaica
Lower East Side
North Harlem
South Bronx
Stapleton (SI)

Will we be in your neighborhood? We are calling for New Yorkers across the state to join us in this day of action, so let us know where you are and we’ll help you build a team.  We are also looking for team captains in Washington Heights and East New York.  Email us with your neighborhood of choice and contact information  to sign up.

For for information, contact contact Caitlin Dunklee, Drop the Rock Coordinator, at 212 - 254 - 5700 x.339 or cdunklee@correctionalassociation.org.

This Wednesday, April 21 at 7pm, the Campaign to End the Death Penalty’s national speaking tour will hold a teach-in called Lynching Then, Lynching Now: the Roots of Racism & the Death Penalty in the U.S. at City College.

This important event, co-sponsored by Drop the Rock, looks at the historic link between the death penalty and lynching in the United States. Hear from those who have been freed from death row, activists and scholars on the role of racism in our criminal justice system and why the death penalty and unjust sentencing need to be abolished.

**Visit the national Tour blog at http://cedptour.blogspot.com

Speakers:
Marvin Reeves - Police torture victim and former IL prisoner, freed in 2009
Lawrence Hayes - Former NY death row prisoner, Drop the Rock member
Marlene Martin - National Director, Campaign to End the Death Penalty
Yusef Salaam - Exonerated in the Central Park Jogger case (NYC). Board member, Campaign to End the Death Penalty

EVENT DETAILS:
CITY COLLEGE NAC BUILDING
137th Street & Amsterdam Avenue
BALLROOM
7 PM

The CCNY tour stop is sponsored by Amnesty International USA Local Group 11, Correctional Assoc. of New York, Drop the Rock, Educators for Mumia, Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition-NYC, Grassroots Artists Movement (G.A.Me), Green Party of New York City, International Socialist Organization The Paper (CCNY)

On Saturday, May 15, teams of community members, young people, formerly incarcerated people, and families will come together in neighborhoods across the city and state that are heavily impacted by incarceration to educate their communities about Drop the Rock’s campaign to downsize New York’s prison system.

Empowerment Day teams will register voters and gather signatures on Drop the Rock’s new petition calling for prison closures, reforms of policies like work release, parole, and merit time, full repeal of the Rockefeller Drug Laws, and reinvestment in communities. Volunteers will petition in supermarkets, public housing lobbies, and on street corners in neighborhoods like Washington Heights, the South Bronx, Harlem, Crown Heights, Jamaica, Co-Op City, Downtown Brooklyn, Jackson Heights, Park Slope, and the Lower East Side, as well as in Hudson and Albany.

Empowerment Day will be the first event following Drop the Rock’s successful trip to Albany where more than 400 advocates met with over 140 state leaders to call for prison downsizing. Now we are heading back to our own neighborhoods to build grassroots power in our communities.

Will we be in your neighborhood? Register now by emailing us with your neighborhood of choice and contact information to help us bring Empowerment Day to your community.

For more information, contact Caitlin Dunklee, Drop the Rock Coordinator, at 212 - 254 - 5700 x.339 or cdunklee@correctionalassociation.org.

On Tuesday, March 16, over 400 New Yorkers united in Albany and met with more than 140 state legislators for Drop the Rock’s Advocacy Day, urging them to downsize New York’s prison system and invest in communities, not prisons. We received some great press coverage and had some excellent photos taken throughout the day. For those who could not make it to Advocacy Day, here is some of the information that we shared:

• Prison Closure Savings vs Proposed Service Cuts - a fact sheet comparing the fiscal implications of the cuts to valuable services that Governor Paterson has proposed for the 2010-22 budget with the millions of dollars the state could save by downsizing the prison system.
• How to Talk About Drop the Rock’s Prison Downsizing Campaign - a primer on how to guide conversations about prison downsizing.
• How to Respond to Common Questions About Prison Downsizing - a “Devil’s Advocate” piece that answers some of the questions about prison downsizing that we frequently encounter.
• Prison Downsizing Brochure - a brochure that lays out Drop the Rock’s prison downsizing campaign, with plenty of compelling facts and figures.
• Put People Before Prisons Petition - Drop the Rock’s new petition that urges state leaders to cut crime, save money, and build communities by downsizing the prison system.

Download these files and help spread the message that New York can no longer use prisons as an economic stimulus plan. Invest in communities, not prisons!