Program areas at CA
The Correctional Association of New York (cany) accomplishes its mission through onsite prison monitoring, data gathering and analysis, information sharing and education, and advocacy. Cany provides independent prison oversight in the form of prison monitoring visits to state Correctional facilities, correspondence by mail with incarcerated people, data analysis and reporting, and engagement with state agencies, the legislature, advocacy partners, and the general public. Each year, cany conducts 8-10 conducts comprehensive prison monitoring visits, receives hundreds of phone calls, website inquiries, and emails from concerned parties, and collects administrative data through freedom of information law requests. Cany assimilates this information and communicates it to stakeholders in the form of reports, digitial media, earned media coverage, legislative testimony, and public speaking engagements.
Release aging people in prison ("rapp") - a sponsored project of the Correctional Association of New York - rapp works to end mass incarceration and promote racial justice by getting elderly and infirm people out of prison. The rapp campaign mobilizes currently and formerly incarcerated people, their families, and other concerned community members. From this united base and through the rapp coalition, rapp works alongside other prison justice advocates to:(1) raise public awareness about the destructiveness of mass incarceration and the benefits to society in releasing aging people, including those convicted of violent crimes who do not threaten public safety; and(2) promote the use of key mechanisms for releasing elderly people, such as parole, compassionate release, and policy changes.