Our History
and victories
Katal was founded in 2015 and launched in early 2016. Since then we’ve organized, built and won campaigns, developed and launched new projects, provided trainings and support to our partners, strengthened movement infrastructure, and more. Here’s a summary of our history and victories so far.
2026
June: We publish our report – Three Years, Five Boroughs, 200,000 Doors: A Report on Katal’s #ShutRikers Canvassing Project, September 2022–December 2025. The press release quotes participants who talk about their experiences talking with New Yorkers about closing the city’s perilous jails.
2026
June: Victory! The New York State Senate confirms Alexander Dockery as a commissioner on the State Commission of Correction, New York’s jail and prison watchdog agency. Dockery is the first known formerly incarcerated person to sit on the SCOC, fulfilling a requirement passed into law by a statewide reform coalition led by Katal. Check out our press release with statements from Katal members, coalition partners, and elected officials.
2026
April: As part of implementing reforms to the State Commission of Correction that we helped pass in 2025, the agency launches its online complaint portal, where incarcerated people and other community members can file grievances. Read our press release.
2026
March: March: Katal members, supporters, and staff gather at our office to assemble the second edition of our zine #ShutRikers: A Brief History of Political Graphics in 15 Stickers. Created by artist Josh MacPhee, it traces the arc of reproducible political graphics over the past 100 years through 15 images reimagined as graphics to mobilize the campaign to shut the jails on Rikers Island.
2026
January: Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain appoints Nicholas Deml as the remediation manager to take control of Rikers Island, reduce violence, and address constitutional violations there. The appointment caps more than a decade of legal work by the Legal Aid Society and more than three years of organizing by Katal and other community groups and people directly impacted, calling on the federal courts to appoint an independent receiver to improve conditions at Rikers until it is shut down.
2025
December: We publish our annual impact letter, recapping our work over a tumultuous year.
2025
December: Victory! Governor Kathy Hochul signs into law the Jail and Prison Oversight Omnibus Bill, which was passed by the legislature in June and includes overhauling the State Commission of Correction – the watchdog agency with authority over local jails and state prisons. The victory caps a multiyear campaign by a Katal-led coalition of more than 160 community, advocacy, and faith-based organizations across New York. Check out our press release.
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 is a challenge central to shutting down Rikers – and a defining opportunity for reform.
Download the full report and read the press release.
2025
November: Katal and our coalition partners hold a strategy session focused on getting Governor Kathy Hochul to sign the Corrections Oversight Omnibus bill. We discuss the political moment, run through scenario planning, and leave energized to get the bill across the finish line. Our partners at the Center for Independence of the Disabled host the session. The governor ultimately signs the bill a month later, overhauling New York’s prison and jail watchdog agency, the State Commission of Correction.
2025
September: Victory! A judge blocks Mayor Eric Adams from bringing ICE to Rikers. Adams had attempted to curry favor with the Trump administration and sell out New Yorkers to ICE. He failed. For months Katal worked closely with our immigrant rights allies, including the ICE Out of New York coalition, to defend our historic sanctuary laws and make it clear that our city must reject the federal mass deportation agenda.
2025
June: After nearly a decade of organizing in Connecticut to build power, cut incarcerated populations, shut down jails and prisons, and invest in real safety, we announce the end of Katal’s operations in the state. You can read about the history of our work in Connecticut in our archives.
2025
June: Victory! Katal and our allies win passage of legislation to overhaul the State Commission of Correction, the 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 our allies’ powerful work in the courts, we won: A federal court took over Rikers and announced a plan to appoint an independent receiver to address the persistent violence and dysfunction in the jails.
Read our press release.
2025
March: We cohost 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 and attacks on democracy, we launch our weekly Pro-Democracy Phone Zaps, creating a place for our community members in Connecticut, New York, and beyond to plug in and connect with their elected reps.
2025
February: We work with lawmakers in Connecticut to introduce H.B. 6361, a bill to eliminate incarceration as a sanction for noncriminal technical violations of probation and make other system reforms concerning probation violations. The proposal draws on the findings from our 2023 report about probation in Connecticut.
2025
February: Katal makes a big announcement — our Cultivating Justice project will spin off to live at a new nonprofit in Connecticut, led by Katal cofounder Lorenzo Jones. The transition will be complete by the end of March. Read the announcement letter.
2025
January: After officers at the Marcy Correctional Facility in New York State’s Mohawk Valley brutally murdered Robert Brooks, we joined Families and Friends of the Wrongfully Convicted and other community-based groups in Albany to demand justice.
2024
December: We published our 2024 stewardship letter summarizing our activities throughout a busy year.
2024
December: We hold our last Receivership at Rikers Info Session of the year to discuss the implications of a federal court potentially appointing an independent receiver to take over at Rikers. It is one of dozens of related info sessions, meetings, and actions we’ve held since late 2023.
2024
October: Katal’s Cultivating Justice project hosts the second Harvesting Change event in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Participants break bread together, reflect on the previous growing season, share skills learned, and discuss goals for the year ahead.
2024
July: With our partner Brotherhood/Sister-Sol we train youth organizers and canvass more than 5,000 doors nearby in Harlem for the #ShutRikers campaign.
2024
May: Victory! The Middletown City Council approves a five-year leasefor our Cultivating Justice project in Connecticut to continue developing a community farm space.
2024
May: We score a victory when the New York State Senate passes our bill to overhaul the State Commission of Correction. Though the bill dies in the Assembly, we’ve built momentum for the year ahead.
2024
February: More than 300 people participate in Katal’s second Growing Power conferencein Middletown, Connecticut. Read the press release.
2024
January: As part of our #ShutRikers campaign, we expand our work on overhauling the State Commission of Correction (SCOC), a nearly dormant state watchdog agency with oversight and investigative power over all jails and prisons in New York. The commission has the authority to shut down these facilities statewide, including Rikers.
2024
January: We publish our2023 stewardship letter, detailing our work over the year.
2023
December: By year’s end, our #ShutRikers canvassing team has hit nearly 100,000 doors across all five boroughs in NYC.
2023
October: In the wake of the tragic death of Katherine Colon, who was killed by a police officer in New Britain, Connecticut, Katal joins the family and community for a march, rally, and vigil to demand transparency and accountability from the city. Read the press release.
2023
August: On International Overdose Awareness Day, we join VOCAL-NY and other allies to demand divestment from the war on drugs and systems of war while demanding investment in care, harm reduction, and social services that will help end the preventable overdose crisis and save lives.
2023
May & July: At Battery Park in Manhattan in May, we confront Mayor Eric Adams about abandoning the plan to close Rikers. We confront the mayor again in July in Downtown Brooklyn.
2023
May: We publish a report with our partners at the Prison Policy Initiative: Excessive, Unjust, and Expensive: Fixing Connecticut’s Probation and Parole Problems.
The report is covered widely in the press and launches our probation reform campaign in the state.
2023
March: We work with allies to organize a series of actions in NYC and Albany to protest efforts to roll back bail reform, including a big rally in the rain outside Governor Kathy Hochul’s office.
2023
February: Through the Cultivating Justice project, we hold the first Growing Power conference in Middletown, Connecticut, with over 200 participants.
2023
February: Katal ramps up efforts to keep the Connecticut Juvenile Training School – a former youth prison – closed, and to demand that it be destroyed.
2023
January: In the face of continuing demands from Katal and other community and advocacy groups to shut down prisons, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont announces plans to close the Willard Correctional Institution.
2022
December: We share our end-of-year stewardship letter, looking back on an extremely active and productive 2022.
2022
December: With our partners at Unchained, we publish the second report about implementation of New York’s Less Is More Act, which reforms parole statewide.
2022
November: As part of our #ShutRikers campaign, we first call for the federal court to appoint an independent receiver to take control at Rikers and improve conditions and save lives until the facility is shut down.
2022
Fall: In partnership with Wesleyan University’s Jewett Center for Community Partnerships, Katal cofounds and launches Cultivating Justice in Connecticut.
2022
August: We launch our #ShutRikers canvassing project, ultimately going to thousands of doors across the city to speak with New Yorkers about the fight to close the Rikers Island jail complex.
2022
June: In partnership with the Museum of the City of New York and artist Josh MacPhee, Katal leads a Community Arts As Activism workshop. The free workshop offers screen printing lessons for all ages and opportunities for kids and families to discuss the fight to close Rikers and reform the city’s criminal legal system.
2022
March: With our partners at Unchained, we release the first status report on implementation of the Less Is More parole reform act in New York.
Check out the press release we issued with the #LessIsMoreNY campaign.
2021
December: We send out our 2021 Wrap-Up.
2021
September: In New York, immediately after the #LessIsMore parole reforms are signed into law, we organize a big rally at City Hall to demand that the city cut the number of people in jails, shut Rikers, and invest in real community safety: housing, health care, education, jobs.
2021
September: Governor Kathy Hochul signs the Less Is More Act into law and 200 people are immediately released from Rikers Island. Eventually, the number of people incarcerated at Rikers for noncriminal technical parole violations drops by 99%, and the number of people on parole statewide is cut in half. Read the governor’s announcement about the bill signing, with a photo of #LessIsMoreNY coalition members onstage.
2021
September: Under pressure from advocacy and community groups, including Katal, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont announces the closure of the second of three prisons, the Radgowski Correctional Center in Uncasville.
2021
June: Victory in New York! With a massive coalition including our partners at Unchained and A Little Piece of Light, we pass the Less Is More Act, which will cut in half the number of people on parole in New York and lead to the closure of six prisons.
2021
June: We hold the second event in our Katal at 5 dialogue series, with Afua Atta-Mensah of Community Voices Heard, DeAngelo Bester of the Workers Center for Racial Justice, and Dr. Charlene Sinclair of the Interfaith Organizing Initiative, in conversation with Katal cofounder Lorenzo Jones.
2021
March through May: In response to Governor Ned Lamont’s efforts to reopen a youth prison in Middletown for immigration detention, Katal fights back to keep the facility closed and to shutter more prisons. We launch a series of community conversations in Connecticut about our #CutShutInvest campaign and succeed at stopping Lamont.
2021
March: Marking our anniversary, we hold the first event in our Katal at 5 dialogue series, with Reginald Dwayne Betts of the Million Books Project, Kassandra Frederique of the Drug Policy Alliance, and Danielle Sered of Common Justice, in conversation with Katal cofounder Lorenzo Jones.
2021
January: Katal launches our #CutShutInvest campaign to kick off the legislative session in Connecticut. We aim to CUT the number of people incarcerated in jails and prisons and under community supervision; SHUT jails and prisons; and INVEST in real community safety: housing, health care, education, jobs.
2021
January: With numerous partners in New York, we convene a forum of Manhattan district attorney candidates to learn about their positions on decarceration, including parole and sentencing reform.
2020
December: We publish our 2020 Update & Wrap-Up, a summary of our activities throughout a turbulent year.
2020
October: Joined by a brass band and our #LessIsMoreNY allies, Katal members leads an in-person and online protest at Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office in Manhattan.
2020
July: With allied groups, Katal members – including dozens of loved ones of incarcerated individuals – convene outside the Connecticut State Capitol for arally and speak-out to demand that Governor Ned Lamont and the legislature address COVID-19 in correctional facilities during their special session.
2020
April & May: In partnership with Community Catalyst, we host two nationwide virtual gatherings about weathering COVID-19 and cultivating solidarity across issue areas.
2020
April:In the first months of COVID-19, we work with artist Josh MacPhee to produce two #FreeThemNow posters, calling for release of people from jails and prisons. We publicize the posters and send them out free. Advocates in dozens of states respond and we distribute hundreds of posters across the country.
2020
April: As part of our #FreeThemNow campaign, we organize a car caravan protest outside Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont’s mansion, raising awareness about incarcerated people being left to die in jails and prisons because 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 State for noncriminal technical violations of parole.
2020
March: At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Katal launches #FreeThemNow campaigns in Connecticut and New York, demanding the release of people from jails and prisons to save their lives.
2020
To defend bail reform against growing attacks by pro-incarceration forces, Katal joins with dozens of groups in Albany for a rally calling on lawmakers to oppose any rollbacks.
2020
January: Katal and our partners in the #LessIsMoreNY coalition convene at the State Capitol in Albany for a day of action, demanding that lawmakers and Governor Cuomo pass parole reform. Directly impacted people and advocates, along with former and current correctional and law enforcement officials, meet with legislators. The day culminates in a joint rally with the Repeal the Walking While Trans Ban coalition on the steps of the Million Dollar Staircase, a fight we win in February.
2020
January: Katal resigns from the Albany LEAD program.
2020
January: We kick off the year with a powerful member meeting in Hartford, Connecticut. COVID would hit soon and though we didn’t know it at the time, this is our last in-person member meeting for the remainder of the year.
2020
January: We publish our 2019 summary, New Year, Let’s Go!
2019
December: City Limits publishes an op-ed by Katal cofounders Lorenzo Jones and gabriel sayegh, “Grassroots Movements Are Needed to End Mass Incarceration.” The essay addresses the troublesome growing influence of billionaires in the criminal justice reform field.
2019
October: Victory! The NYC Council approves the plan to close Rikers. Katal and our allies also succeed in our push for a package of nearly $400 million in investments to support local communities and expand justice reforms such as alternatives to incarceration. In the lead-up to the council vote, we publish an analysis by Katal’s co–executive director gabriel sayegh, “Making Sense of the Fight Over NYC Jails,” addressing tensions in the movement over the city’s plan.
2019
June: Victory! Connecticut becomes the third state in the country to pass legislation funding evidenced-based opioid treatment programs in jails and prisons, a measure we take pride in having worked hard to get passed.
2019
April: Victory! After a years-long fight by Katal and our partners, the state legislature passes comprehensive bail reform legislation. The proposal is based on the bill sponsored by New York State Assembly-member Latrice Walker and passed by the assembly in 2018. The reforms lead to a dramatic reduction in the number of people in county jails detained pretrial throughout New York. (See two pieces we published in March and May, explaining the fight over bail reform.)
2019
May: An in-depth article by the Queens Daily Eagle, “Parole Reform Movement Gains Traction Statewide After Years of Advocacy,” highlights the work of Katal and our partners at Unchained and the Columbia Justice Lab to pass the #LessIsMoreNY parole reform act.
2019
February: At a packed press conference at Brooklyn Law School, Katal and our partners launch the #LessIsMoreNY parole reform coalition. The growing coalition works to pass the Less Is More Act, reforming how New York State handles noncriminal technical violations of parole. The event includes three of New York City’s district attorneys, as well as state lawmakers, advocacy groups, and people directly impacted by parole.
2019
January: We publish our Connecticut Criminal Justice Reform Field Scan, which draws on extensive research, surveys, and nearly 40 interviews with stakeholders across the state.
2018
December: With our partners at Unchained and the Columbia Justice Lab, we announce proposed legislation to reform the state’s antiquated parole system and foster reintegration of formerly incarcerated New Yorkers. The transformative Less Is More: Community Supervision Revocation Reform Act comprehensively addresses the perverse ways that technical violations in the parole system lead to re-incarceration.
2018
October: Katal staff attend and speak at the Harm Reduction Coalition Conference in New Orleans.
2018
September: Katal staff attend the Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted People & Families Movement Conference in Orlando, Florida.
2o18
August: Katal and our partners in the End Overdose NY Coalition hold a rally and speak-out at the New York State Capitol to observe International Overdose Awareness Day.
2o18
June: Katal leads passage of a transformative bail reform proposal in the New York State Assembly, sponsored by Assemblywoman Latrice Walker of Brooklyn. Although the bill does not pass the Senate, momentum builds for the bail reform that passes both chambers in 2019.
2018
March: Katal leads efforts to again to pass the speedy trial reform bill – known as Kalief’s Law, as a tribute to Kalief Browder – through the state assembly. The state senate fails to pass the proposal.
2o18
March: With the Participatory Budgeting Project and other organizations, Katal cohosts the Innovations in Participatory Democracy Conference in Phoenix, to explore new ideas about empowering community members to directly take part in government.
2o18
March: Katal staff attend and speak at the Building Bridges: Reframed conference, about the drug war and Connecticut’s overdose crisis, held at Central Connecticut State University.
2o18
February: Katal publishes our Guide to Bail Reform in New York, laying out key principles for meaningful change.
2018
January: We host an event to launch two new reports from the Justice Lab at Columbia University, about why the probation and parole systems need radical overhaul in New York State and at the national level. Read the event recap.
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: Having stepped down from co-leadership of the #CLOSErikers campaign, we publish the paper Reflections and Lessons from the First Two Phases of the #CLOSErikers Campaign: August 2015 – August 2017.
2017
December: Katal hosts the event “Toward Justice: The History and Future of Criminal Justice Reform in CT.” Over 200 people attend at the Artists Collective in Hartford. Read the program.
2017
December: Katal hosts the symposium “Toward Justice: Reducing Harm and Improving Health and Safety” in Albany. Nearly 300 people from across New York attend. Here’s the program, describing the speakers, sponsors, and supporters.
2017
September: Katal participates in the March for Justice. Led by the Alliance of Families for Justice, the march travels 180 miles from Harlem to Albany, raising awareness of human rights abuses in prisons throughout New York State and calling for the closure of the Attica Correctional Facility.
2017
June: Katal’s cofounder Lorenzo Jones gives a keynote at the 2017 Opioid Misuse & Overdose Prevention Summit in Raleigh, North Carolina..
2017
May: Katal cofounders gabriel sayegh and Lorenzo Jones facilitate a strategic planning retreat in Arizona for the leadership team of the Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted People & Families Movement.
2017
May: Katal cofounder Melody Lee joins Michelle Alexander onstage as part of the series “A New Vision for Justice in America: Justice Beyond Prisons,” organized by the Park Avenue Armory in collaboration with Common Justice.
2017
May: Katal staff attend and speak at the Harm Reduction International conference in Montreal.
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, discussing promising results in diverting people from arrest and incarceration, and highlighting how Albany’s program has emerged as a national model for pre-arrest diversion.
2017
March: Victory! The #CLOSErikers campaign, which we built and co-led with JustLeadershipUSA, scores a major victory when Mayor Bill de Blasio announces that the official policy of New York City will be to close Rikers. See the press release.
2017
January: We publish our Summary of Select Reports & Papers on Criminal Justice Reform as a resource for the movement.
2017
January: We launch regular calls focused on bail reform; these soon become the New York Statewide Criminal Justice Reform Monthly Calls.
2017
January: We launch BLOC monthly organizer roundtables in Connecticut, bringing organizers together for training, coaching, and peer support.
2016
October: Katal produces the event launching a new report, Better by Half: The New York Story for Winning Large-Scale Decarceration While Increasing Public Safety. Read the event recap and program book.
2016
October: Katal staff and our partners from the LEAD National Support Bureau attend and present on multiple panels about pre-arrest diversion at the International Law Enforcement and Public Health Conference in Amsterdam.
2016
September: With our partners at JustLeadershipUSA, we organize a march and rally through Queens to the foot of the bridge to the Rikers Island jail complex. Nearly 1,000 people participate, calling on the city to #CLOSErikers.
2016
June: Intent on fixing the state’s speedy trial statute to reduce the number of people languishing in Rikers and other jails, we pass Kalief’s Law in the New York State Assembly. It’s a big step, but the state senate fails to act.
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 in Seattle announce the launch of the LEAD National Support Bureau to provide technical assistance to pre-arrest diversion projects across the country.
2016
March 19–25: Katal hosts delegates from North and South America for a five-city tour of the United States to meet with local leaders and discuss the growing worldwide movement to end the failed war on drugs. The tour of Atlanta, Denver, Seattle, Chicago, and New York City came just weeks before the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem.
2016
March: We jump into efforts to pass speedy trial reform. The reform proposal is called Kalief’s Law following the death of Kalief Browder. This legislation aims to expedite court processing times, a reform essential to closing Rikers.
2016
February: Katal publicly launches.
2015
Late Summer: Katal is founded by Lorenzo Jones, Melody Lee, and gabriel sayegh.