Public Comment 7/9/2020

On Resolution 37 the text is now pulled down, so I hope it’s still on the agenda because it’s important that we all affirm, at all levels of government, society, and culture that Black Lives Matter. It’s a big driver in my pushing for the ECCF Task Force, as well as the work around the County’s involvement with ICE, who as it is often noted, is detaining Black folks in Essex County today. Thank you to the sponsors, and I hope you’ll support this resolution today, and not table it to pass it a month from now.

On 38, again, thank you for putting this Resolution forward as it is again, a very important topic, that has been front of mind for some for years, but now is receiving more public attention. I appreciate the Freeholders formally registering their support of this idea, and again would encourage you to support this Resolution.

On 51, while I would like for it to include even in-state transfers and street arrests, something is better than nothing. Given the risk to introducing COVID into the jail, even with quarantine procedures I would rather prioritize visitation over new ICE prisoners.

Could you please speak about the next steps if you do pass the Resolution Is this any more binding considering it’s an internal Essex function to accept prisoners? Or can the jail and administration just ignore the Resolution?

Thank you.