I recently made a Freedom of Information request to the New York State Department of Corrections. I did so because I wanted to better understand where inmates are sent in New York's vast prison system. The data I received, which until now has not been made public, is disturbing. 58% of New York City prisoners are sent to serve their sentences in prisons located more than 200 miles from their loved ones and their communities. 92% of these prisoners are members of minority groups. The prisons to which they are sent are controlled by prison guards who are overwhelmingly white. Locating prisons so far away from so many prisoners, particularly black and Hispanic prisoners, has detrimental consequences to the prisoners, to their families and to the communities from which they come.