NEW: My bill w/ NYS Senator Julia Salazar to overhaul the NYS Commission of Correction, bring greater oversight of prisons/jails and ensure basic standards just passed the Assembly Correction Cmte. My thanks to Chair Dilan + Carl E. Heastie.

More via Katal Center for Equity, Health, & Justice:
katalcenter.org/a5709a-advance…

🚨RELEASE: Today, the Assembly Committee on Correction passed A5709A (Emily Gallagher), which expands the State Commission of Correction and diversifies the appointments to strengthen jail and prison oversight.

Check out our full press release here: katalcenter.org/a5709a-advance…

BREAKING: Gov. Hochul just granted clemency to 2 incarcerated people, including to Yohannes Johnson, a member of the RAPP family. She also granted 11 pardons. Huge shoutout to our friends CUNY School of Law and everyone else who made these clemency grants happen. Our statement:

HAPPENING SOON: Today at 12pm we’re holding an Info Session on Receivership at Rikers. We’ll have Hernandez D. Stroud, a legal expert from the Brennan Center, discussing receivership and its implications. #ShutRikers

Register here: katal.info/receivership

Join us tomorrow Thurs 5/23 at noon for our Info Session on Receivership at Rikers. With violence out of control at Rikers, the federal courts could order an independent receiver to take control of Rikers to improve conditions. #ShutRikers

Register here: katal.info/receivership

The DOC just confirmed that 56% of the people incarcerated at Rikers have a mental health diagnoses. Rikers is has become the city’s biggest mental health facility. These individuals have little or no access to meaningful care while they are locked up. #ShutRikers

At today’s DOC budget hearing, Commissioner Maginley-Liddle claims Mayor Eric Adams is doing everything he can to reduce the jail population.

If that’s the case, why has he worked to rollback bail in Albany, cut funding to ATI’s and supervised, and brought back stop and frisk policing?

Congrats to the Justice Committee for celebrating their 40th anniversary! #JusticeCommittee40

🚨RELEASE: Katal responds to the Adams administration's statement today questioning the 2019 plan to shut down Rikers. It has become painfully clear that Mayor Eric Adams does not intend to shut down Rikers. #ShutRikers

See the full statement here: katalcenter.org/katal-center-r…

“We need to stop incarcerating people who could have potentially treatable mental health or substance abuse issues, which are often co-occurring disorders, and treat them instead of jailing them in the first place,” - NY Chief Judge Rowan Wilson

queenseagle.com/all/2024/5/15/…

It's time to have a real conversation about how the criminalization of sex work perpetuates stigma, discrimination, and violence against those engaged in it. Thanks to those who joined me in today's call to Stop Violence in the Sex Trades. Let's get it done for Cecilia. #DecrimNY

Ending the torture of solitary confinement IS possible; we're making it happen in NYC with #LocalLaw42 .

Now, we proudly join a National Day of Action to support #ESCA —a US bill that says NO to solitary and YES to transformative solutions.

#HALTSolitary #TransformationNotTorture

New in THE CITY: 'City to Shell Out $1.6 Million to Rikers Detainee Abused by Therapist.'

Once again, DOC investigators ignored complaints of abuse by incarcerated people, which led it to continue for months. Reuven Blau #ShutRikers
thecity.nyc/2024/05/13/rik…

While Mayor Eric Adams cuts funding for pre-K, libraries, mental health services, alternatives to incarceration, & more, he continues to excessively fund the NYPD with unlimited overtime spending. It is fiscally irresponsible to give the NYPD blank checks while slashing social services.

New in Gothamist by Matt Katz: In the latest example of Mayor Eric Adams completely abandoning the city's plan to close Rikers by 2027, new city contracts show that the Bronx and Queens borough-based jails won't be completed till at least 2031. #ShutRikers
gothamist.com/news/rikers-is…