By gabriel sayegh
What a year this has been, on so many levels. In the midst of chaos, Katal has kept up our organizing and secured major victories. I’m proud to share highlights of our work and impact in 2025.
We won our campaign to overhaul the State Commission on Corrections. TheSCOC is an independent agency mandated with the constitutional authority to ensure that all local jails and state prisons throughout New York are “safe, stable, and humane.” The SCOC even has the authority to shut down facilities – like Rikers – that do not meet that standard. But for decades, the SCOC has consistently failed to meet its responsibility. We sought to overhaul the commission and make it more accountable. Last year we made tremendous progress – and this year, with a coalition of more than 160 community, faith, and advocacy groups, we won.
- In May, as part of the state budget, our work catalyzed substantial reforms to the commission, including mandatory inspection requirements for every New York jail and prison, a website portal allowing community members to file complaints, and other significant improvements to strengthen oversight of these facilities.
- In June, the legislature combined 10 jail and prison reform proposals – including our bill to overhaul the membership requirements of the SCOC – into the Jail and Prison Oversight Omnibus Bill. And we built pressure to get the omnibus package passed!
- We turned our attention toward getting Governor Kathy Hochul to sign the bill. It was not going to come easy. We moved into action over the summer and fall – and then made a big final push in December. We made thousands of phone calls to mobilize our base. We tied deaths at Rikers and elsewhere to the governor’s inaction. We sent the governor a letter from 150+ community, faith, and advocacy groups. We rallied outside her NYC office and advocated for the New York City Council to pass a resolution supporting the law. We worked with an ad hoc interfaith network to send a faith-based letter to the governor. We published op-eds. And our persistence paid off: On Friday, December 19, Gov. Hochul finally signed the jail and prison oversight bill! We won! The entire package is fairly robust – and the section we worked on expands the state commission from three members to five and requires that at least one commissioner be a formerly incarcerated person.
We won our demand for a federal court to appoint a receiver at the Rikers Island jail complex. Back in 2022, as Rikers spiraled further into crisis, we called for an independent federal receiver to take over. Our rationale was straightforward: Adams had abandoned the closure plan and was focused on incarcerating more people, conditions were getting worse and more violent, and until Rikers was shut down, an intervention was necessary to save lives. Legal Aid had proposed receivership as part of the Nunez case, but beyond courtroom proceedings, few people were talking about what that would mean. Over the next three years, we organized and canvassed across the city, hosted info sessions with legal experts, and staged marches and rallies. We brought groups into coalition to join the demand for a receiver. We generated dozens of stories in the press (like this one), which elevated the issue and educated the public. We compelled the city council to support our demand. And our years of organizing succeeded: In May we won, as the court moved to appoint an independent receiver at Rikers. The process is underway and the receiver – or remediation manager,as the court calls it – should be in place in the coming months.
We fought back against Mayor Adams’s attempt to sell out New Yorkers in a quid pro quo with President Trump. As Trump was preparing to take office in January, rumors were already swirling about a possible deal with New York City Mayor Eric Adams. It all unfolded within weeks, when news broke that the U.S. Department of Justice would drop corruption charges against the mayor, who said publicly that he would work with the Trump regime to bring ICE into the city, including on Rikers Island. (ICE had been barred from the jail complex in 2014, a victory driven by immigrant rights groups). Katal sprang into action and continued fighting to stop Adams. Our members issued statements as we worked closely with immigrant rights groups to respond and generate press coverage; joined with other groups to demand that Governor Hochul remove the mayor from office; engaged in direct action with our partners; and resisted when Adams sought to open an ICE office at Rikers. Our collective efforts kept ICE off Rikers – and we will keep standing with immigrant rights groups to defend our neighbors.
We released a major report on Rikers and mental health. Addressing the mental health needs of people detained in New York City’s jail system remains a central challenge in closing Rikers – and a critical opportunity for reform. We joined with the Data Collaborative for Justice (DCJ) at John Jay College to bring together the latest mental health data for those held at Rikers, insights from directly impacted people, and a 15-point plan to create a more effective and humane path forward. In Novemberwe publishedRikers Island and Mental Health: Pathways Toward Community-Based Diversion and Jail Population Reduction. Our press release features powerful statements from our members and allies. (Katal and DCJ will host a webinar about the report on Thursday, January 15, at 1 p.m. ET. Register here.)
We expanded our civic engagement and pro-democracy work. When the new Trump administration took office, it was immediately clear that the situation was not normal: We were – and still are – watching an authoritarian regime attack the institutions of our democracy and target our communities. We wrote about how people were making sense of the chaos and fighting back. In March, we launched our pro-democracy phone zaps – a low-bar entry point for those looking to get involved. Through the phone zaps, we provided tools for people to find and contact their representatives in Congress and at the state level. These actions proved so popular that we continued them weekly through the summer and into the fall.
We turned out Katal members and supporters to join the massive No Kings Day marches in June and October. Also in October, we launched our Get Out the Vote program in New York City.This work focused on people about candidates’ positions on closing Rikers, registering new voters, and reminding our base to get to the polls during early voting and on Election Day.
We joined a citywide coalition for nonviolent resistance to authoritarianism. Throughout the year, the Trump administration was busy cutting funding for essentials like health care while sending in National Guard troops and ICE agents to attack families and communities. During the fall, Katal joined Hands Off NYC, “a coordinated effort supported by unions, faith leaders, and community groups, standing together in nonviolent resistance.” We’ve participated in marches, attended trainings, and shared resources. In December, we joined a citywide weekend of action.
We held trainings and spoke at conferences in New York and beyond. A few highlights:
- In April, our organizing director, Melanie Dominguez, and advocacy director, Yonah Zeitz, joined our longtime partners at The Brotherhood/SisterSol to attend their Mindfest conference, where they conducted a workshop on “Organizing to Change” for young people.
- In May, the team attended the Forging a People-Powered Democracy Conference in Atlanta, hosted by the 22nd Century Initiative. There, Melanie co-led an organizing training and I spoke on a panel about authoritarianism and the war on drugs.
- In September, community organizer Lakenya Smith and policy associate Ricky Forde facilitated a training about the SCOC with Malikah, an anti-violence training and mutual aid base-building organization in Queens.
- In November, we attended the International Drug Policy Reform Conference hosted by the Drug Policy Alliance in Detroit. I facilitated two workshops about facing authoritarianism and spoke on a panel about reparations and the drug war.
A wide array of print, TV, radio, and online media outlets covered our work this year. These press hits included PIX 11 News, CBS 6 Albany, WXXI News, City & State New York, Black Agenda Report, Filter, the NY Daily News, Albany News 10, the Albany Times Union, Gothamist, New York Focus, The CITY, Prism, Salon, 1010 WINS, Spectrum News, and the New York Post. And we published a number of op-eds in 2025, including two coauthored by Katal member and leader Ziyadah Amatul-Matin (one in Empire Report and one on our blog), several by Melanie and Yonah on our blog, and one that I wrote in the Amsterdam News. For all our press this year, check out the comprehensive list on our website.
We navigated big organizational changes and marked significant milestones. In January, Melanie and Yonah began two-year fellowships with Galaxy Gives. In February, we shared exciting news about a program spin-off and leadership transition. In May, City & State New York included me on their list of nonprofit trailblazers. In June, we launched our new website. Also in June,facing budgetary constraints amid growing uncertainty, we announced that we would be shrinking the organization, changes that included closing our Connecticut office.
In July, Melanie and Yonah attended the national gathering of Galaxy Gives fellows in New Mexico, and Lakenya completed our apprentice program and was promoted to community organizer. And in September, we welcomed two new graduate student fellows to Katal: Katherine and Amia.
And we made it through the year. With your support, we’ve maintained our footing, secured historic wins for justice, and continued to grow our base. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
These are difficult times, and yet people are in motion everywhere, finding ways to resist fascism, cultivate joy, and build community. We wish you a wonderful holiday season and new year. May 2026 bring us a more equitable world, a healthier world, a more just world for all.
Onward,
gabriel
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