Cut prison populations to protect incarcerated

In his recent column, Michael B. Powers, president of New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, argued that doublebunking should be prohibited in state prisons for the safety of incarcerated people and staff alike. He also suggested that incarcerated people housed in dormitories be assigned to every other bed, citing the state’s social distancing guidelines as his rationale (“Prison doublebunking archaic and dangerous,” July 6).

NYSCOPBA has been pushing to get rid of double-bunking for years. The pandemic simply presented a new angle for making the case. Eliminating double-bunking and alternating beds in dormitories would take up more space, which would require the state to keep more prisons in operation. Powers, who tested positive for COVID-19 in March, is not making a public health argument. He is fighting to keep prisons open as the state faces a declining prison population, a $13.3 billion budget shortfall and mounting calls to defund the police and abolish prisons.

Powers has a track record of arguing against the interests of incarcerated people while seeming to advocate on their behalf. A year ago, the Times Union ran a column from him in which he opposed reforms to the use of solitary confinement across the state. In that piece, he insisted that scaling back the use of Special Housing Units would “worsen quality of life for incarcerated individuals.” In reality, 43 percent of suicides in Department of Corrections and Community Supervision custody take place in such units.

We can’t be fooled by NYSCOPBA’S latest ploy to protect jobs for its members. The only way to achieve social distancing in prisons is by reducing the number of people incarcerated.