Staffing shortages mean incarcerated people are not getting vital medical care, programming and other services.

New York will soon make phone calls free in its state prisons, officials said Tuesday. People who are incarcerated in the state's prisons currently receive three free, 15-minute phone calls a week. After that, the calls cost 2.4 cents a minute.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested a 38-year-old man from Côte d'Ivoire on July 23 following his release from

The move will save the loved ones of the state’s more than 30,000 prisoners over $13 million a year, advocates say.

PITTSFIELD — A New York City man has been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for raping a girl in 2017 in Lee. David Gonzalez, 69, of Staten Island, was convicted last week in Berkshire Superior Court in connection with the incident, which prosecutors said took place in July 2017.

Tyquinn Montell Cannon, 32, of Syracuse, New York, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Bangor to 45 months in prison.

The Trump administration said it was protecting Americans unjustly held abroad. One of the rescued men, Dahud Hanid Ortiz, killed three people, according to court documents.