Our History
and victories
Katal was founded in 2015, and launched in early 2016. Since then, we’ve organized, built and won campaigns, provided trainings, and more. Here’s a summary of our history and victories to date.
2025
November: With the Data Collaboration for Justice at John Jay College, we released a new report: Rikers Island and Mental Health: Pathways Toward Community-Based Diversion and Jail Population Reduction. Addressing the mental health needs of people detained in the jail system remains a central challenge for shutting down Rikers—and a defining opportunity for reform. This report brings together the latest mental health data for people held at Rikers, lived-experience insights from directly impacted people, and a 15-point plan to create a more effective and humane path forward. Download the PDF of the full report and see the press release here.
2025
June: Victory! Katal & our allies win passage of legislation to overhaul the State Commission on Corrections – the government watchdog agency with oversight and investigative authority over jails and prisons throughout New York.
2025
May: Victory! After years of organizing on the streets, and powerful work by allies in the courts, a federal court took over Rikers and decided to appoint an independent receiver to address the violence and dysfunction that has persisted for a decade. See our full release about it here.
2025
March: We held Cultivating Justice’s third Growing Power conference at the Artists Collective in Hartford, with over 200 participants.
2025
February: In the face of growing authoritarianism from the new administration, we launch our weekly Pro-Democracy Phone Zaps, creating a place for our community members to plug in and connect with their elected representatives.
2024
December: Our #ShutRikers canvassing project reaches 150,000 doors across all five boroughs of NYC.
2024
November: We hosted the second Harvest Change conference in Bloomfield, CT.
2024
July: We partner with Harlem-based Brotherhood/Sister-Sol to train youth organizer and canvass more than 5,000 doors in Harlem for the #ShutRikers campaign.
2024
July: Our #ShutRikers canvassing project reaches more than 100,000 doors in NYC, across all five boroughs.
2024
May: We score a victory when the NY State Senate passes our bill to overhaul the State Commission of Corrections. The bill dies in the Assembly but we’ve built momentum for the year ahead.
2024
February: We held the second Growing Power conference with more than 300 participants, also in Middletown, Connecticut.
2024
January: As part of our #ShutRikers campaign, we begin work on overhauling an obscure state watchdog agency with oversight and investigative powers over all prisons and jails in New York – the State Commission on Corrections.
2023
December: The #ShutRikers project reaches 30,000 doors canvassed across all five boroughs.
2023
August: We launch our new #ShutRikers outreach project, aiming to canvass thousands of doors across the city to speak with New Yorkers about the fight to shut Rikers.
2023
May: With our partners at the Prison Policy Initiative, we publish a new report about probation and parole in Connecticut – Excessive, Unjust, and Expensive: Fixing Connecticut’s Probation and Parole Problems. The report is widely covered in the press and launches our probation reform campaign in the state.
2023
February: Through Cultivating Justice, we hold the first Growing Power conference in Middletown with over 200 participants.
2023
February: Katal ramps up efforts to keep the Connecticut Juvenile Training School (CTJS) closed.
2022
December: With our partners at Unchained, we released the 2nd report on the implementation of the #LessIsMoreNY parole reform act.
2022
November: As part of our #ShutRikers campaign, we launched an effort to call on the federal court to appoint an independent receiver to take control at Rikers, to improve conditions and save lives until the facility was shut down.
2022
Fall: We co-founded and launched Cultivating Justice in CT.
2022
March: With our partners at Unchained, we release the first status report on the imple-mentation of the Less Is More parole reform act.
Check out the press release we issued with the #LessIsMoreNY campaign, which includes statements from elected officials, allies, and our members.
2021
September: Katal expands our #CutShutInvest campaign into New York City with a rally at City Hall to demand to shut Rikers.
2021
September: Governor Kathy Hochul signs the Less is More Act into law and 200 people are immediately released from Rikers Island. Over time, the number of people incarcerated at Rikers for noncriminal technical parole violations drops by 99%, and the number of people on parole statewide will be cut in half. Here’s the governor’s page about the bill signing, with members of the #LessIsMoreNY coalition on stage.
2021
June: With our partners at Unchained, A Little Piece of Light, and a massive coalition, we passed the Less is More Parole Reform Act, which will, once implemented, cut the number of people in New York on parole in half and helped lead to the closure of six prisons.
2021
May: Katal launches a series of community conversations in CT about our #CutShutInvest campaign.
2021
January: Katal launches our #CutShutInvest campaign.We aim to CUT the number of people incarcerated in jails and prisons, and under community supervision; SHUT down jails and prisons, and INVEST in real community safety: housing, health care, education, jobs.
2020
April: As part of our #FreeThemNow campaign, we organized a car caravan protest outside the mansion of Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, to bring attention to incarcerated people being left to die in prisons and jails in the midst of COVID.
2020
March: As COVID rates continue to spike, Katal and our partners in the #LessIsMoreNY coalition win the release of approximately 1,100 people detained in jails across New York on noncriminal technical parole violations.
2020
March: At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Katal launches the #FreeThemNow campaigns in Connecticut and New York, to demand the release of people from jails and prisons in order to save lives.
2019
April: After a years-long fight by Katal and other community & advocacy groups, the state legislature passed comprehensive bail reform legislation. The proposal is based on the measure sponsored by Assemblymember Latrice Walker and passed by the state assembly in 2018. The reforms lead to a dramatic reduction in the number of people in New York county jails detained pretrial. For more background, we wrote two pieces explaining the fight over bail reform: Part 1, and Part 2.
2019
February: At a packed press conference at Brooklyn Law School, Katal and our partners launch the Less is More New York parole reform coalition. The growing #LessIsMoreNY coalition will work to pass the Less Is More Act, reforming how New York handles noncriminal, technical violations of parole. The event includes organizing and advocacy groups, state lawmakers, three of NYC’s district attorneys, and people directly impacted by parole. Check out the press release with quotes from participants, here.
2019
January: We publish our Connecticut Criminal Justice Field Scan,which draws on extensive research, surveys, and nearly 40 interviews with stakeholders across the state. The Scan provided meaningful insights into the criminal justice reform space in Connecticut.
2018
December: With our partners at Unchained and the Columbia Justice Lab, we announce new legislation – the most progressive in the nation – to reform the state’s antiquated parole system and improve reintegration of formerly incarcerated New Yorkers to society. The Less is More: Community Supervision Revocation Reform Act is comprehensive new legislation that addresses the current problems of how technical violations in the parole system lead to reincarceration. Press release, with bill description, here.
2018
June: Katal leads passage of a transformative bail reform proposal through the New York State Assembly, sponsored by Assemblywoman Latrice Walker of Brooklyn. While the bill did not pass the Senate that year, it set the stage for the bail reform that passed both chambers in 2019.
2o18
March: Katal leads effort to pass the speedy trial reform bill — known as Kalief’s Law — through the state assembly. The state senate does not pass the proposal.
2o18
January: Katal launches the Connecticut Monthly Statewide Criminal Justice Reform Calls.
2018
January: We host an event to launch two new reports from Vincent Schiraldi of Columbia University, about why the probation and parole systems need radical overhaul. Check out the event recap here.
National report: Too big to succeed: The Impact of the Growth of Community Corrections and What Should Be Done About It
New York Report: Less is More in New York: An Examination of the Impact of State Parole Violations on Prison and Jail Populations.
2018
January: We published “Reflections and Lessons from the first two phases of the #CLOSErikers campaign.” The summary covers August 2015 to August 2017, and includes how the campaign got built, what worked well, and reflections on what could have worked better.
2017
December 12th: Katal holds “Toward Justice: The History and Future of Criminal Justice Reform in CT.” Over 200 people attended the evening event which was held at the Artists Collective in Hartford. Here’s the program, with speakers, sponsors, and supporters.
2017
December 5th and 6th: Katal holds “Toward Justice: Reducing Harm and Improving Health and Safety” in Albany, New York. Nearly 300 people attended, from across New York. Here’s the program book, which includes the speakers, sponsors, and supporters.
2017
May: Katal facilitates a strategic planning retreat for the Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted People and Families Movement (FICPFM).
2017
May: Katal co-founder Melody Lee joins Michelle Alexander on stage. The conversation was part of a series entitled, “A New Vision for Justice in America: Justice Beyond Prisons,” organized by the Park Avenue Armory in collaboration with Common Justice.
2017
April: In our capacity as the facilitator of the Albany LEAD policy coordinating group, we produce and publish a report on the first year of the program.
2017
March: The #CLOSErikers campaign—that we built and co-led with JustLeadershipUSA—scores a major victory when then-Mayor Bill de Blasio announces that the official policy of New York City would be to close Rikers. See the press release here.
2017
January: We launch the monthly Statewide Criminal Justice Reform Call in New York.
2017
January: We launch BLOC monthly organizer roundtables in Connecticut.
2016
October: Katal produces the event launch for a new report, “Better by Half: The New York Story for Winning Large-Scale Decarceration While Increasing Public Safety.” Read the event recap (with program book) here.
2016
June: We lead the effort to pass Kalief’s Law (speedy trial reform) through the NY State Assembly.
2016
April: With our partners at JustLeadershipUSA, we launch the Close Rikers campaign with a big rally on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan.
2016
April: Katal and our partners at the Public Defender Association announce the launch of the LEAD National Support Bureau to provide technical assistance to pre-arrest diversion projects across the country.
2016
March: At the end of March, the Albany LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) Program launches, with Katal serving as project facilitator.
2016
March 19-25: Katal hosts delegates from North and South America for a weeklong, 5-city tour of the U.S. to meet with local leaders and discuss the growing worldwide movement to end the failed war on drugs: Atlanta, Denver, Seattle, Chicago, and New York City. The tour came just weeks before the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on the World Drug Problem.
2016
March: We jump in to efforts to pass speedy trial reform called Kalief’s Law in the wake of the death of Kalief Bowder. This pretrial reform would expedite court processing times, essential to closing Rikers.
2016
February: Katal Center launches, sending out our first public announcement.
2015
Katal is founded.