A 21-year-old Suffolk County man is asking a Chautauqua County judge to help him begin his treatment at the Lakeview Shock Incarceration Facility after his transfer to the Brocton facility was delayed by COVID-19.

Wayne Beavers pleaded guilty in October 2019 to one count of second-degree armed robbery and was sentenced by Judge William Condon to two years in jail and 2 1/2 years of post-release supervision. Condon was with a person who committed a robbery, though the court found Beavers was not the chief perpetrator of the crime and did not have a weapon in his possession on the night of the robbery. Condon specifically ordered that Beavers’ jail time was to be served in the state’s Supervision Shock Incarceration Program, which would allow Beavers to be released in as few as six months if he completes the program so that he can be with his 1-year-old daughter.

“The Wayne Beavers that’s going in ain’t going to look anything like the Wayne Beavers that comes out, should you complete it,” Condon said to Beavers at his sentencing. “I’m not going to lie to you. It’s not going to be easy. OK? But if you embrace it and you do what you need to in Shock, two good things: number one, it’s going to change your way of thinking. You’re going to be in the best shape of your life. And it will give you a fresh start. Number two, you will be out in six months instead of 2 1/2 years.”

One week after his March 12 court appearance, Beavers was placed on a bus transferring inmates from the Suffolk County Correctional Facility to the state Corrections Department’s downstate facilities. That bus was denied entry to the downstate facility due to the COVID-19 pandemic , and Beavers and the other inmates were taken back to Suffolk County.

“Upon information and belief, the New York state Department of Corrections denied entry to Mr. Beavers and the other inmates due to the COVID-19 crisis,” Kathleen Gearrity, Beavers’ attorney, wrote in her affidavit in support of a writ of mandamus to the state Supreme Court in Chautauqua County. “Upon information and belief, there was no indication that Mr. Beavers or any other inmate was experiencing or had experienced COVID-19 symptoms when they were denied entry into the New York State Department of Corrections at Downstate.”

Beavers has remained in the Suffolk County Correctional Facility since then. He and Gearrity are asking state Supreme Court in Chautauqua County to compel Anthony J. Annucci, acting state corrections commissioner, and Brian Kubik, Lakeview Shock Incarceration Facility superintendent, to accept Beavers into the Brocton-area facility.

Gearrity argues that Beavers is a longtime asthma patient who now fears that his placement in Suffolk County’s jail places him at risk of contracting COVID-19

“Every day that Mr. Beavers remains incarcerated and not placed in the Shock Incarceration Program or an alternative-to-shock program is a day that Mr. Beavers is denied vital services and essential treatment,” Gearrity wrote. “Furthermore it is a day that Mr. Beavers is denied that ability to work toward successfully completing the Shock Incarceration Program which would render him immediately eligible for conditional release pursuant to Correction Law Section 865, paragraph 2.”

A hearing date has not yet been scheduled, but Gearrity wrote that Beavers needs to be moved into the shock program so that he can have access to the services he needs. Beavers said during his sentencing that Judge Condon had been fair and that Beavers simply wanted to finish his sentence.

“This is your chance, man,” Condon said. “You’re getting a chance right here, right now, at the age of 22. It’s going to affect the rest of your life. You hang out with people like Mr. Williams, then get used to that door because you’re just going to be seeing that door for the rest of your life and going upstate. You turn things around – and I’m telling you, remember I said this — if you complete it, you’re going to be a different guy in all respects and a better guy. It’s up to you, man.”