Monday, May 3rd

A vocational day today for the team. After breakfast with the Schafers - our present host family - Helen, James and myself were picked up by Jay Wilber. Jay is the Public Defender for Broom County, and while Helen and James disappeared to varying vocational visits, Jay showed me around the office and explained how the PD system works. Essentially the office of the Public Defender is paid by the County to represent defendants in criminal cases. It's the flipside to the Crown Prosecution Service, and something we could do with adopting back home.


Jay in his office.

After discussing law for a while, we picked up Helen and headed to a re-entry meeting at the Council of Churches. The meeting involved a number of organisations attempting to deliver a coherent and worthwhile service to people who've been paroled from prison. It was reassuring to see that we're working towards the same goals on both sides of the pond, although clearly there are no easy answers and it was surprising to see the same problems that I face on a daily basis also occurring over here.

After a quick lunch at Tulley's sports bar, we headed to Broom County Jail. Our thanks to Lt. Guinan who took us around the facility, and answered our endless questions with good humour and patience. We'd also like to thank all of the officers we met during the day. After the tour we had the opportunity to speak to Sheriff David Harder, and compared law and policing policy back home. Despite the differences in our two systems, it's clear that everyone we met was dedicated about their work, and there's a lot of common ground between us.

We finished the night at the Kampai Japanese Steak House. If you're ever in New York State I'd recommend a visit. The chef prepared our meal in front of us on a hibachi grill. We even attempted to catch shrimp that he launched into the air, and with an amazing display of talent I managed to bounce a shrimp squarely off my forehead. The owner of the Kampai, Rotarian Richard Matsushima, then presented us with a photo of the group which he then dedicated in Japanese.

After the meal we popped out with Jay to see the nightlife of Endwell, before heading back home to finish the night watching baseball (have I said that I've become addicted to this? I have).

Our thanks again to Jay Wilber, who was a fantastic guide and kept us entertained throughout the day. Listening to his discussion with Helen about trial procedures and the rule of law was fantastic, and a definite highlight of the trip for me.