MEDIA ADVISORY
Contact:
Kenyatta Thompson, kthompson@katalcenter.org | (860) 937-6094
Yan Snead, ysnead@katalcenter.org | (518) 360-1534
Follow on Twitter @KatalCenter #LessIsMoreNY
Monday: Family Members of Incarcerated People & Community Groups to Hold Protest at the Governor Cuomo’s NYC Office, Demanding the Legislature and Governor Immediately Pass #LessIsMoreNY
New York Leads Nation in Incarcerating People for Non-Criminal Technical Violations of Parole and Leads the Nation in Incarcerating People on Parole to Receive Drug Treatment
As COVID-19 Continues to Spread in DOCCS Facilities, Families and Community Members Demand Action as Over 5000 Individuals are Incarcerated in Jails and Prisons for Technical Violations of Parole
New York, NY – On Monday, October 26th at 11:00 am, families of incarcerated individuals and community groups will gather outside of Governor Cuomo’s NYC office for a protest and speak out to demand the legislature and Governor Cuomo immediately pass the #LessIsMoreNY Act. In March, as the COVID-19 crisis in jails and prisons intensified, Governor Cuomo acknowledged the immoral and impractical decision to incarcerate people for technical violations of parole by announcing plans to release up to 1,100 individuals held in local jails for technical violations of parole. However, since that announcement New York continues to incarcerate people for technical violations of parole and DOCCS has once again begun to increase the number of people sent to county jails for these violations. This means thousands of people incarcerated in New York’s jails and prisons for technical violations of parole are being held in cages, subjected to sickness and death.
WHAT: Protest and speak out at Governor Cuomo’s NYC Office to demand the immediate passage of #LessIsMoreNY
WHEN: Monday, October 26th, 2020 |11-12PM
WHERE: 633 3rd Avenue New York, NY (Subway to Grand Central)
WHO: Family members of those currently incarcerated; constituents; and the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice
Since the onset of the pandemic, the #LessIsMoreNY campaign has demanded that Governor Cuomo immediately release every New Yorker currently incarcerated for a technical violation of parole. This demand directly aligns with a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine which calls for large-scale releases and decarceration to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Governor Cuomo and the legislature must act now to save the lives of incarcerated residents, who are disproportionately Black and Latinx. The press is invited to attend and hear testimonies from NY constituents who will speak about the harm of incarceration for technical violations of parole and the need to pass #LessIsMoreNY.
It is clear legislative action is urgently needed to fix this problem, and legislative leaders must prioritize passage of the #LessIsMoreNY Act (Less Is More: Community Supervision Revocation Reform Act (S.1343C – Benjamin / A.5493B – Mosley)). Passing #LessIsMoreNY Act will lead to thousands fewer people incarcerated for technical violations, advancing the goal of decarceration while saving lives and reducing the fiscal deficit. With nearly 170 groups across the state and multiple district attorneys backing the measure, the time to pass the #LessIsMoreNY Act is now.
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