Friends,

My district, NY-5, includes a detention facility that is New York City’s only private jail. 

Just last week, a story broke that a “three-page letter was signed by 13 inmates at the Queens Detention Facility in Jamaica, near Kennedy Airport. Most listed coronavirus symptoms next to their signature  including fever, loss of taste and smell, aches, diarrhea and chest pains.”

 “Coronavirus-sickened inmates at Queens prison say help comes slowly — and they’ve tested symptoms by ability to taste Jolly Ranchers candy”- the story

What’s even more disturbing, inmates are being asked to “guess the flavors of Jolly Ranchers candy” in order to determine whether they have Coronavirus symptoms. 

Let’s call it what it is. Our government and Representatives don’t care about the millions of people who they incarcerated through the criminalization of poverty, racist drug wars and an unjust criminal justice system.

Last month, when this issue first arose, my opponent, Rep. Meeks wrote a letter to the warden requesting more information. 

Click on the image to check it out

But Rep. Meeks should be asking more important questions like why our government cooperates with a company that commits human rights violations , why he refuses to take a serious stand against for profit prisons, and why he believes that doing the bare minimum counts as advocacy for our district? 

Our campaign wants to abolish private prisons.

Our campaign wants to end mass incarceration.

Our campaign wants to put an end to companies like Geo Group. Our city is suffering and so many, who have had their freedom stolen by a fundamentally broken criminal justice system, are disproportionately at risk. 

I will immediately push legislation that makes profiting off of the mass incarceration of poor people and people of color, illegal. I will work everyday to end mass incarceration and to repair a broken criminal justice system that criminalizes poverty. And unlike Rep. Meeks, I will never turn my back on the people of NY-5 for profit or political expediency. 

Help me put an end to the oppressive systems like private prisons and the criminalization of poverty by helping me win this election on June 23rd, 2020. 

Since my vote is not for sale, I don’t have corporate backers. That is why every dollar you contribute counts. Donate $15 or $20 today and together we can fight the oppression that destroys our communities!

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My work does not end on election day, it begins. 

In Solidarity,

Shaniyat.