Chapter Steps Up Pressure on Onondaga County to Improve Conditions at Local Jail

Writing on behalf of the Central New York Chapter and three other local civil rights organizations, Chapter Director Barrie Gewanter has sent a letter to Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney calling for comprehensive and effective measures to protect the constitutional rights of people held at the Onondaga County Justice Center in Syracuse.

The letter, dated Oct. 7, expresses particular concern about the quality of medical care at the jail facility. It cautions county officials not to view a proposal to privatize medical services at the jail as a substitute for fundamental reforms needed to improve the quality of medical care.

The Syracuse/Onondaga branch of the NAACP, Disabled in Action of Greater Syracuse, and the Syracuse Council of the League of United Latin American Citizens were the other organizations that endorsed the letter.

Gewanter also addressed this issue in remarks to the Onondaga County Legislature at a public hearing on Oct. 7. She is working with a coalition of community works calling on county officials to public officials to address the systemic problems plaguing the county jail, where two inmates have died under troubling circumstances in the past year.