ACTS-CNY

At the public meeting in November, County Executive Joanie Mahoney committed to working with the ACTS Justice Taskforce to establish procedures that will allow every person incarcerated at the Justice Center or Jamesville to obtain a New York State DMV photo ID upon his or her release.

Based on samples from the Justice Center and of people being released from Jamesville, we have found that over half of the people incarcerated in Onondaga County have no photo ID, and over one-third do not have a Social Security card, which is required to get a photo ID from the DMV. Having photo ID is necessary to access services that one might need post-release and to obtain employment so as to reduce recidivism, support successful reintegration, and promote public safety.

Since January 2008, a core group of ACTS Justice Taskforce leaders has been meeting monthly with representatives from the offices of many of our elected officials and from partner organizations. We have had some major accomplishments already. For example, the Justice Center has developed a questionnaire to be administered to people when they arrive at the Justice Center to determine what documentation they need to obtain photo ID upon release. If one of the pieces of documentation that someone needs is a birth certificate, the Bureau of Vital Statistics has agreed to provide, free of charge, a government-issued birth certificate to those people born in Onondaga County who are incarcerated at the Justice Center or Jamesville. And the Justice Center has committed to use their Commissary Fund for Indigent Inmate Needs to cover, on a case-by-case basis, the fees associated with obtaining an out-of-county or out-of-state birth certificate.

At our Taskforce’s meeting with elected officials at the Onondaga County Justice Center on June 9, we heard from various stakeholders including members of ACTS, officers from the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, Syracuse City School District teachers, leaders from community organizations, and two young men who were recently released from incarceration themselves. It became clear that this is an issue that has inspired a broad base of support from a wide spectrum of local government agencies, faith communities, service providers, community organizations, and community members. We are now working to establish relationships with elected officials at the local, state, and federal levels who are working with us to make the DMV and Social Security Administration procedures more responsive to the needs of people being released from jail and prison.