Stephen Figurasmith was wrongfully arrested June 14 in Nassau County, NY and charged with a felony. He now faces up to seven years in jail for staging political theater to protest prison slave labor in the Nassau County Jail. On Aug. 24, he will argue for a dismissal and is asking for support. Figurasmith calls his case “a politically motivated attempt to silence progressive activists and to shut down criticism of the Nassau County criminal justice and penal systems.”
Conditions in Nassau County Jail
Figurasmith is co-founder of the group Prison Abolitionists of Nassau Inciting Change (PANIC), which advocates for “the creation of safe, healthy, and equitable communities in Nassau County, achieved through the abolition of the Prison Industrial Complex and a paradigm shift away from criminal justice toward public health.”
There are 1,100-1,200 prisoners at Nassau County Jail, Figurasmith said. “Eighteen people have died there in the last eight years. Most deaths were connected to medical neglect such as prisoners not receiving prescribed medications for mental health, blood pressure or diabetes, having to wait weeks just to see a doctor, and serious illnesses like cancer going undiagnosed for years.” The jail also has a “history of physical and sexual abuse perpetrated and covered up by guards and officials,” he said, and of deteriorating living conditions like no heat for long periods of time in the winter.
“About 75 percent are pre-trial and there because they can’t afford bail. Of the remaining 25 percent, who have been sentenced, the majority are serving time for misdemeanors, with a small percentage awaiting tranfer to another facility. The roughly 100 people who are sentenced and not awaiting transfer are mandated for work for 10-30 cents an hour, but then their wages are garnered to recompensate the county for the cost of incarcerating them.”
To call attention to this situation PANIC decided to stage a political theater campaign in June called “Ten Plagues to End Prison Slavery.” They would demand “that Nassau County inmates on work assignment be paid the hourly minimum wage for their labor,” that the County “pass legislation outlawing all forms of slavery with no exceptions,” and that members of the jail’s oversight committee be “replaced by people who’ve actually been detained inside the jail.”
Authorities call theater action ‘placing a fake bomb’
PANIC planned to root the campaign against modern day prison slavery in the Biblical story of Moses. Through nonviolent political theater, PANIC planned to visit symbolic plagues upon the offices of various county officials complicit in the county jail’s inhumane conditions. For the first plague, (when God turned all of Egypt’s water into blood), they planned to deliver cases of water bottles with red food coloring to complicit officials. Labels on each bottle read, “Ingredients: Water, Red Food Coloring (100% Safe and Non-Toxic).” Each case of water contained a copy of PANIC’s press release explaining the campaign and emphasized its nonviolent nature. The same press release was sent to dozens of local media.
On June 14, PANIC co-founder Stephen Figurasmith and another PANIC member, dressed in costume as Moses and his brother Aaron, staged the theatere action on the steps of the County Legislature. They were told by personnel that they could set the bottles on the steps of the building and remain there as long as they did not impede others’ access to the building.
However, more and more law enforcement officers arrived, including the Chief of Detectives, the Chief of Police, the Bomb Squad and the Anti-Terrorism Taskforce. Two detectives explained that while they understood what the protesters were doing and believed that the bottles contained nothing dangerous, they needed to test the liquid.
After several hours of waiting and complying with every request from the building’s security guards and every order from law enforcement, and after the tests confirmed that no hazardous materials were present inside the bottles, the PANIC members were arrested and charged with “Placing a Fake Bomb or Hazardous Material in the 1st Degree, a Class D felony carrying a sentence of 4-7 years.”
Although the Assistant District Attorney requested bail set at $5,000, the judge multiplied it tenfold at $50,000 – an unheard of and punitive use of bail.
Media implies activist is a ‘terrorist’
Local media took matters even further. The arrest was widely reported and spun to imply criminality. Figurasmith’s arrest mug shot was run next to headlines calling the political theater a “bomb scare” and accusing Figurasmith of “creating” or “placing” a “fake bomb.”
Figurasmith has lost his job as an early childhood music teacher, and is unable to find new employment in the area. Nassau County has also kept his car as ‘evidence,’ creating additional hardships for his family.
According to Figurasmith, “Even if charges are dropped, the damage of the media putting the name of a teacher next to the words ‘bomb scare,’ to be seen by neighbors, community members and potential employers, has been done. This has denied me my right and ability to make a living to support myself and my family, which was part of the County’s intent.”
Despite all this, Figurasmith and PANIC intend to continue to fight for the rights of prisoners, in Nassau county and nationally.
How to help
If you are in the area, come to the hearing on Friday, August 24 at 9:15 am at the Nassau County District Court Annex, Part 9, 252 Old Country Rd, Mineola, NY 11501. Figurasmith’s attorney will argue for dismissal, and Figurasmith, his lawyers and and supporters will hold a news conference afterwards.
Contribute to his Go Fund Me campaign to pay legal expenses.
Support the right of prisoners, especially their right to earn at least minimum wage for any work done while incarcerated.
