SearchNY: Action Alert! Urge Albany to Use Federal Funds to Maintain ATI and Re-Entry Programs
PROGRAMS ENSURE PUBLIC SAFETY, SAVE LIVES AND MONEY, AND STRENGTHEN COMMUNITIES
MESSAGE TO LEGISLATORS:
Use available federal funds to maintain Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) and reentry programs that reduce crime and the prison population and play an essential role in the successful implementation of Rockefeller drug law reform.
BACKGROUND:
We are hearing that public protection budget discussions in Albany may close in the next week. As you know from previous alerts, the governor's budget proposes a cut of more than 10% (similar to the rest of the criminal justice budget), which would reduce ATI funding by $1.6 million, and neither the Assembly nor Senate budget resolutions restored any of that. The field also lost critical federal and state funding over the last two years. Even worse, we are hearing that approximately $3 million in Legislative adds – which have been the backbone of much of the ATI system for many years – is in real jeopardy. All told, ATI programs stand to lose as much as $4.5 million, a blow that could decimate the system.
Join us in urging that the governor and legislature use some of the millions of dollars of federal criminal justice funding allocated last year to continue ATI programming. As you know well, funding for ATI programs is critical to ensuring the success of drug law reform and ending the cycle of addiction and crime. Indeed, what could be a more appropriate use of these funds than identifying good candidates for diversion from prison to treatment or other community sanctions, advocating for their diversion, providing them treatment and other services they need, and monitoring their progress?
ACTION:
Please encourage your clients and their families, staff, board members and colleagues in your criminal justice work to call the governor, legislative leaders, public protection committee chairs and their own Assembly member and Senator (governor at 518-474-8390; Assembly at 518-455-4100; Senate at 518-455-2800) and ask them to use unspent federal funds to protect ATI and reentry programs, which are essential to public safety and the backbone of Rockefeller reform.
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Assembly Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (e-mail him) |
Senate Senate Majority Conference Leader John L. Sampson (e-mail him) |
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Joseph R. Lentol, co-chair (e-mail him) Jeffrion L. Aubry Roann M. Destito Helene E. Weinstein |
Ruth Hassell-Thompson
Eric T. Schneiderman Craig M. Johnson |