Bail Reform in New York
#BailReformNY

Background

When Katal launched in 2016, we immediately began working on pretrial reform. We first focused on the right to a speedy trial, because thousands of people were languishing at Rikers Island jail complex for months or years, simply waiting for their day in court. The other area of our pretrial focus was on bail reform.

For decades in New York, tens of thousands of people were caged pretrial every day in local jails across the state – incarcerated only because they didn’t have the means to pay bail. This drove up jail populations everywhere, including at Rikers Island.

In late 2016, we began a series of convenings with allied groups to discuss bail reform, loosely under the banner of #BailReformNY. These were especially complicated discussions because of New York’s unique pretrial laws and its history of reform. Some groups didn’t want to change the bail laws at all for fear of making things worse, while other groups vehemently debated the details of the various types of reform options. This made for a volatile mix, as some advocates were deeply split over objectives, while others were split over strategy.

Eventually two separate campaigns emerged, one of which was #BailReformNY. (We explore these dynamics in full in the article, Making Sense of Bail Reform in New York state, part 1.)

In 2018, we published A Guide to Bail Reform in New York, outlining nine principles that bail reform must adhere to.

In 2018, Katal and our partners in #BailReformNY won a key victory when the New York State Assembly passed major bail reforms. The State Senate didn’t take up the proposal that year, but the stage was set: the 2018 bill passed by the Assembly became the basis of the massive reform package that finally passed both chambers in 2019. The new reforms dramatically restricted the use of pretrial detention in New York, leading to a historic drop in the number of people held in jails across the state.

We wrote about this victory – and the reform process – in Making Sense of Bail Reform in New York, part 2. (And the Center for Justice Innovation’s 2019 report outlines key details of the reforms.)

Immediately, opponents of reform sought to overturn the law, and over the next few years, Katal and many other groups worked to protect the reforms. While some rollbacks were made, the core elements of the reforms still stand. (The Brennan Center produced a helpful summary of all the changes.)

Sample of Campaign Materials

• Fact Sheet – Time for Bail Reform (2017 – 2019)
• Fact Sheet – Bail Reform in New York (2022)
• Report: Guide to Bail Reform in New York, 2018 version
• Report: Guide to Bail Reform in New York, 2019 version
• Fact Sheet: Public Health and Bail Reform (2018)
• Fact Sheet: Update on the Litigation in the Fifth Circuit to End Wealth-Based Detention in Harris County (2017)

#BailReformNY Short Video Series (2018)

In June 2018, we launched a series of short videos about bail, the bail industry, and the fight for reform. The videos included the stories of Katal members and staff, about how they’d been impacted by bail and pretrial detention. Each video was about one minute, and was designed to be shared on socials. The video launch was covered in the June 5, 2018 morning newsletter of City & State NY. Check out the videos here.