Advancing Jail and Prison Oversight in Albany
Across the state, correctional facilities are dangerous and deadly for incarcerated people. This week, six corrections officers were charged with murder for killing Robert Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility. Right now, correctional officers are engaged in an illegal strike that is denying incarcerated people medical care, family visits, legal calls, and more—all to subject incarcerated people to tortuous conditions by suspending the HALT solitary Confinement Law. It’s clear urgent action is needed to get #JusticeforRobert Brooks and protect incarcerated people by increasing oversight and accountability.
The State Commission of Correction (SCOC) is an independent body mandated by the constitutional authority to ensure that correctional facilities across New York – all local jails and state prisons – are “safe, stable and humane.” Still, it is failing to fulfill this responsibility. The commission has yet to say anything about the murder of Robert Brooks.
We’re working on legislation (S. 856)-Salazar / (A.2315)-Gallagher to expand and strengthen the SCOC to ensure it meets its mandate with regard to jails and prisons throughout the state. The bill is currently moving in Albany. On Tuesday, February 4, the bill advanced out of the Senate Committee on Crime, Crime Victims, and Correction Committee and onto Senate Finance. On Tuesday, February 25, the Assembly Correction Committee will vote on the Assembly version. We’ll be up in Albany on Tuesday, pushing to advance the bill.
For groups, please sign this organizational support letter calling for the immediate passage of (S.856)-Salazar / (A.2315)-Gallagher. Sign on here!
If you have any questions or want to get involved in the fight, please reach out to Yonah at Yonah@katalcenter.org.
For more information about the bill, check out our fact sheet here.
Taking Action This Week To Protect New Yorkers and Remove Adams!
Katal staff participating in a civil disobedience outside of Gov. Hochul’s office, 2.21.25 (Photo credit Jonathan Bloom)
Today, we held a protest and civil disobedience outside Governor Hochul’s NYC office to demand she remove Eric Adams from office for selling out New Yorkers (check out photos and videos from today’s action). Two of our staff members were arrested blocking the door of the Governor’s office to demand she take action to protect New Yorkers. This was an escalation as we’ve hit the streets every day this week to hold the mayor accountable, and we’ll continue to keep the pressure up!
Last week, Mayor Adams shamelessly agreed to target immigrant New Yorkers in a quid pro quo with President Trump to get his corruption charges dropped. We say HELL NO to letting ICE back on Rikers or anywhere in NYC. We put out this statement with the ICE out NYC coalition rejecting Mayor Adams’s plan to once again flout the law and reopen the ICE office at Rikers.
On Wednesday, news broke that Ramel Powell died at Rikers. This is at least the 34th person to have died since Mayor Eric Adams took office in 2022. Here is a statement we put out in response to this death. Instead of working to save lives and close Rikers, Adams has abandoned the plan to shut Rikers and wants to let ICE target and further criminalize immigrants. We’re demanding Gov. Hochul protect New Yorkers and remove Adams.
Here are highlights from the week:
- On Tuesday 2/18: we joined New York Communities for Change for a rally outside of Hochul’s NYC office to demand she take swift action to remove Adams and protect New Yorkers (see photos and videos here).
- On Wednesday, 2/19: we joined the People’s Plan for a rally at the Tweed Courthouse to demand Mayor Adams be removed from office (see photo and videos here).
- On Thursday, 2/20: we joined Food & Water Watch for a rally outside of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries Bed-Stuy office to demand he take bold action to oppose Trumps attacks on our communities and call for the removal of Adams (see photo and videos here).
And lastly, tomorrow, Saturday, 2/22, at noon, we’re joining the New York Immigration Coalition for a rally and march at Washington Square Park to remove Adams and reject Trump.
If you’re interested in joining the fight to shut down Rikers and hold Mayor Adams accountable, please contact Melanie at melanie@katalcenter.org.
Katal staff outside Gov. Hochul’s office demanding she remove Adams, 2.21.25 (Photo credit Jonathan Bloom)
Katal at the Film Forum
Our director of organizing speaking on a panel at the Film Forum, 2.19.25
On Wednesday, we co-presented a screening of Paint Me A Road Out Of Here at the Film Forum. In the film Paint Me A Road Out Of Here, documentarian and activist Catherine Gund tracks the labyrinthine ordeal borne by Faith Ringgold’s 1971 painting “For the Women’s House” — originally created for the women incarcerated on Rikers Island, then relegated to mishandling, defacing, and deep storage. Artist and rapper Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter, herself formerly incarcerated and commissioned to create a new work for the Rikers women, bands together with Ringgold, politicians, philanthropists, and corrections officers against the oppressive bureaucracy to liberate the original painting from Rikers and, more profoundly, Black women from mass incarceration. It’s a remarkable film.
After the film screening, our organizing director, Melanie, spoke on a panel with the director and film participants. She shared information about our #ShutRikers campaign with the audience and let them know how they can get involved in the fight!
If you have any questions or want to get involved in the #ShutRikers campaign, please reach out to Melanie at melanie@katalcenter.org
Katal in the News
- Queens Daily Eagle: Our member Lah Franklin speaks about how this recent death is unacceptable, and Adams must be removed from office.
- amNewYork: Our organizing director Melanie Dominguez was quoted discussing the need to shut down Rikers following the death of Ramel Powell
- Filter Magazine: Our advocacy director Yonah Zeitz pushes back against Adams’s plans to target immigrants in a quid pro quo with President Trump.
Katal Quotes of the Week
These are some of the quotes we’re thinking about this week.
“I don’t know how to save the world. I don’t have the answers or The Answer. I hold no secret knowledge as to how to fix the mistakes of generations past and present. I only know that without compassion and respect for all of Earth’s inhabitants, none of us will survive—nor will we deserve to.” ― Leonard Peltier
“Creativity helps us realize that we don’t have to understand everything. We can enjoy something -feel it and use it- without ever fully comprehending it.” ― Faith Ringgold
For printing and distribution,
download the Katal Weekly Update PDF version.
Katal works to develop intergenerational leadership and organizing capacity to build community-based power and win systemic change for equity, health, and justice.
Join us: web, Bluesky, Instagram & Facebook!
Email: info@katalcenter.org Phone: 646.875.8822
