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11 Dec, 6 tweets, 4 min read
Every year, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers get trapped in a cycle of debt & criminalization simply because they can't afford to pay a traffic ticket.

The legislature passed a bill in July to end this travesty. Yet @NYGovCuomo has yet to indicate whether he'll sign it.
Since 2018, 10 governors from across the political spectrum have enacted legislation to end debt-based driver's license suspensions.

Not a single governor has ever vetoed this reform. @NYGovCuomo, don't get left out!

freetodrive.org/maps/#page-con…
Ending debt-based license suspensions is part of the Democratic platform.

Joe Biden campaigned on it: joebiden.com/justice/

The US Senate's Driving for Opportunity Act— cosponsored by Kamala Harris—also has broad bipartisan support: coons.senate.gov/news/press-rel…
The Driver's License Suspension Reform Act is critical to New York's economic recovery, @NYGovCuomo.

The communities most harmed by debt-based driver’s license suspensions are the same communities that have been hardest hit by Covid-19. timesunion.com/opinion/articl…
If @NYGovCuomo doesn't sign the Driver's License Suspension Reform Act, it would put him to the right of states like Mississippi, Idaho, Montana, and West Virginia.

100+ NY-based orgs are calling on @NYGovCuomo to sign this critical legislation:

finesandfeesjusticecenter.org/content/upload…
In the last 3 years, 10 states—even red states like MS, ID, MT, and WV—have enacted bills to end debt-based license suspensions.

@NYGovCuomo could soon be the 11th governor to sign this reform into law. No governor has vetoed this reform.

Learn more: drivenbyjustice.org

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More from @ScottHech

Scott Hechinger Profile picture
12 Dec
“My name is Cassandra Greer. I am the wife of Nickolas Lee. I’m calling calling calling the jail to no avail. His health is declining. He was gasping for air. I was telling him memories we had. Things we were gonna do. But God saw fit for something else.”
Cassandra's husband was one of the first to die in Chicago's Cook County Jail. She told her story. Local artists illustrated. This is part 2 of 132Calls.com. "I'm calling, calling, calling, to no avail. Calling Sheriff Tom Dart's office to no avail." More from her:
"I'm calling Cermak, which is the hospital on the jail compound. At Cermak there's not an operator or anyone you can speak with. All the while that I'm calling, trying to receive help, my husband's health is declining."
Read 15 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
11 Dec
Outraged about Brandon Bernard’s death? There are over 2 million caged in jails & prisons facing death right now. Leaders in blue & red states are enabling COVID to infect & kill w/ little care. In Chicago, Cassandra called 132 times to save her husband:
In NY, Dino Caroselli. 64. Caged in Sing Sing prison. No masks to purchase. Social distancing impossible. Nothing changed since start of COVID. Haunted by the death of a friend. “I felt like the walls of my cell closing in on me, like a trash compactor.”
In Michigan, Yusef Qualls. 16 when condemned to die in prison. 41 now. Supreme Court ruled sentence unconstitutional. He's been waiting in prison for last 5 years for resentencing. Gov. Whitmer won’t do anything. Friends dying of COVID. "I might be next."
Read 12 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
11 Dec
As Brandon is about to be executed, his attorneys released a statement: “Tonight, those of us who love Brandon Bernard — & there are many — are full of righteous anger & deep sadness at the actions of the federal government in taking his life. Brandon’s life mattered.” More:
“Brandon’s life mattered to us, his legal team; to his 3 beautiful & talented daughters; to his mother, brother & sister; & to the countless people around the country who came to know him & his story in recent weeks.”
“Brandon made 1 terrible mistake at 18. But he did not kill anyone, & he never stopped feeling shame & profound remorse for his actions on the crime that took the lives of Todd & Stacie Bagley. He spent the rest of his life sincerely trying to show that he ‘was not that person.’”
Read 10 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
10 Dec
Dino Caroselli. 64. Caged in NY's Sing Sing prison. No masks to purchase. Social distancing impossible. Nothing changed since start of COVID. Haunted by the death of a friend in the Spring. “I felt like the walls of my cell closing in on me, like a trash compactor.” His words:
"My name is Dino Caroselli. I’m a prisoner at Sing Sing correctional facility. I’m 64 years old. And I’d like to inform you on some of the conditions that are happening here." Read on for more of Dino's witness statement. The full @CodaStory video is here:nysfocus.com/2020/12/10/pri…
"You won’t be tested in here unless you’re dying, unless you’re falling over and keeling over.

They’ll just quarantine you and then if you get real bad, like you can’t breathe anymore, then they’ll take you out and test you."
Read 11 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
9 Dec
This is giving me life. Fiona Apple on FIRE about jail conditions & COVID. "I don't see how it's possible for anybody to not be furious. These are people. They don't deserve to be placed in these f*cking death camps. It doesn't sit with my alright. I can't just sit here." Part I:
Fiona Apple on empathy for those jailed: "Anybody out there could find 1 or 2 instances in their lives when they felt a little bit alone, afraid, disbelieved, forgotten about. Magnify that by an unimaginable amount. And ask why you're not doing something."
Months ago, Fiona Apple stepped up. After a federal judge dismissed dozens of sworn declarations from inside jail as “unhelpful” & only “marginally relevant.” She read their words. “I’ve lost my spirit, sort of given up.” More:
Read 6 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
8 Dec
In courts across country, it's business-as-usual as COVID rages. Prosecutors demand jail. Judges cage. Howard University Law Students have been court watching in P.G. County, MD. A brave student collected her thoughts. "Like an assembly line. Minutes is all it takes." Read more:
"I open up Zoom and my court watch of the bond hearing in Prince George’s County, Maryland begins. There are four screens. Two of them show a lawyer in suit and tie. One shows a judge in a robe. The last: A person in an orange jumpsuit, their hands cuffed behind their back."
"Nine times out of ten this person cuffed is a Black man."
Read 14 tweets

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