Queens Daily Eagle:Queens leaders lean on DA to stop bail amid Rikers crisis
By Rachel Vick via Queens Daily Eagle Days after Queens Defenders issued a letter to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz asking her office to stop requesting bail, lawmakers, advocates and public defenders are urging Katz and her counterparts across the five boroughs to take action. The letter, signed by public defenders and lawmakers including Queens Sen. […]
WRGB Albany:Former inmates/advocates urge state to invest more money into parole transition programs
By Emma Quinn via WRGB Albany ALBANY (WRGB) — By March 2022, over $680 million dollars of New York state tax dollars can be redistributed once the “Less is More” Act takes effect. The legislation was signed by Governor Hochul on Friday and means those on parole will no longer get sentenced for a technical parole violation. […]
SpectrumNews1:Prison reform advocates rally to close Rikers Island
By Clodagh Mcgowan via SpectrumNews1 Henry Robinson says he spent three months on Rikers Island in 2017 for a minor parole violation. “It’s terrible. It’s really bad. I was there where I had injuries,” said Robinson, a member of the Katal Center, a community organization dedicated to ending mass incarceration. “I got jumped by 15 people […]
AMNY:‘Torture island’: Calls grow louder for mayor to shutter Rikers, address inhumane conditions
By Dean Moses via AMNY The fight to close and decarcerate Rikers Island continued on Sept. 22 with the latest rally outside City Hall, as activists and elected officials continue to fume over inhumane conditions in the jail facility. Public anger has grown in recent days after the Sept. 19 death of Isaabdul Karim, the […]
SpectrumNews1:NY parole officials preparing for implementation of Less is More Act
By Wendy Wright via SpectrumNews1 New York State Parole officials are preparing for the implementation of the Less is More Act, the Parole Reform Bill signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday. “I think this is going to be very difficult for parole officers to really get a handle on the people that they […]
AMNY:After latest Rikers Island death, de Blasio acknowledges more improvements coming
By Morgan C. Mullings via AMNY The most recent inmate death on Rikers Island spurred renewed outrage from criminal justice advocates — and renewed promises from Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday that the city’s working to improve conditions on the penal island. During his Sept. 20 briefing at City Hall, the mayor comments on the major […]
WBFO:Hochul signs law to end sending New Yorkers back to prison on minor parole violations, immediately releases nearly 200 inmates
By Karen DeWitt via WBFO New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday ordered the immediate release of nearly 200 state prison inmates being held for committing technical parole violations, while also vowing to improve what she called “hell on earth” conditions at New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail. Hochul signed a new law, known as […]
WRGB Albany: “Less is More” Act was signed: Former inmates feel a sense of relief
By Emma Quinn via WRGB Albany ALBANY (WRGB) — Come March 2022, missing curfew or being late to a parole meeting won’t automatically land someone on parole back in the prison system. That is all thanks to the “Less is More Act”; Governor Kathy Hochul signed the legislation on Friday. New York social justice reform advocates say the legislation […]
CBS New York: Nearly 200 People Being Released From Rikers After Gov. Hochul Signs ‘Less Is More Act,’ Calls N.Y.’s Incarceration Rate ‘A Point Of Shame’
By Aundrea Cline-Thomas via CBSNewYork NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Gov. Kathy Hochul acted to immediately free several hundred parolees from Rikers Island and made arrangements to move several hundred more from the notorious jail complex to state lockups to ease the unsafe conditions at the troubled facility. But the correction officers union is questioning the effectiveness of the actions in ending […]
NYDailyNews: Less is More is law: Gov. Hochul signs an important criminal justice reform bill
By Daily News Editorial Board via NYDailyNews Parolees aren’t done serving their sentence, but that status shouldn’t be an all-too-easy tripwire speeding their return to prison caused by a technical violation. So affirmed Gov. Hochul in signing into law the Less is More Act, an important new statute that will responsibly reduce New York’s inmate population. We […]
