SCOC Budget Wins and Movement in the Senate
Katal team in Albany pushing to overhaul to SCOC, 5.13.25
Last week, the New York State Legislature passed 2025-26 State Budget, a $254 billion spending plan that includes funding and strengthens oversight provisions for a key state watchdog agency – the State Commission of Correction (SCOC). The budget allocates a total of $7.1 million to the SCOC, an increase of $3 million from last year’s budget. We’re glad to see the governor and legislative leaders take a first step by increasing the funding and oversight requirements of the SCOC. This significant win is a testament to the sustained organizing and pressure by groups across the state, including Katal.
However, this is only a first step – the legislature must still pass S.856 (Salazar)/A.2315 (Gallagher) – which increases jail and prison oversight by expanding and strengthening the SCOC. Check out this press release we issued following the passage of the budget.
On Tuesday, May 13th, our team was back up in Albany to push this bill forward and are happy to report the bill advanced out the Senate Finance Commitee advanced S.856 (Salazar). Check out this press release we issued with our impacted members, community groups, and elected officials.
We stopped by legislative offices to speak with Senators and Assemblymembers about S.856 (Salazar)/A.2315 (Gallagher) and picked up four new co-sponsors.
Support for this legislation continues to grow with nearly 100 community, advocacy, legal, and faith-based groups from across the state signed on in support of this bill (click here to sign on your organization.
With the recent killing of Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi in state prisons and five deaths ar Rikers this year, this is a critical moment. The bill now on the floor of the Senate and we’re calling on Senate leadership to take the final stepand pass this bill. On the Assembly side, we’re pushing to get this bill on the next Assembly Corrections agenda.
For more information on this bill, check out our fact sheet here.
If you want to support efforts to increase jail and prison oversight please reach out to Yonah at Yonah@katalcenter.org.
Katal Testifying at Public Hearing on Prison Crisis
Katal Member Ziyadah Amatulmatin testifying at the Joint Public Hearing on the Crisis Unfolding in State Prisons on 5.14.25
On Wednesday, May 14th, the Senate Standing Committee on Crime Victims, Crime & Correction and the Assembly Standing Committee on Correction held a Joint Public Hearing: Safety of Persons in Custody, Transparency, and Accountability within State Correctional Facilities. Our member Ziyadah Amatulmatin testifyed before the committee about her family’s experience with incarceration in New York, and called on lawmakers to overhaul the State
Commission of Corrections by passing S.856 (Salazar) /A.2315 (Gallagher). Here a quote from Ziyadah’s testimony:
“As family members, we shouldn’t have to grieve our loved ones or worry daily about their well-being while detained at a New York State Correctional Facility. Yet, that is the current reality we face. The New York State Legislature should do everything possible to pass reforms needed to address the horrible conditions in prisons by increasing oversight and shutting down dangerous and deadly facilities. A necessary step in this process is to overhaul the State Commission of Correction (SCOC)”.
See our press release following the public hearing. Check out Ziyadah’s testimony here and recording of the here.
If you want to support efforts to increase jail and prison oversight please reach out to Yonah at Yonah@katalcenter.org.
Federal Courts Takes Control of Rikers
Rally outside of federal courts calling for intervention at Rikers, 7.9.24
MAJOR NEWS! On Tuesday, May 13th, U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain issued a decision to take Rikers Island out of the city’s control and appoint an independent “remediation manager” to address the constitutional violations. This decision is momentous and would not have happened without so many people and groups engaged in collective action.
This “Remediation Manager” will have powers commensurate with a receiver and will report only to the judge. As the situation at Rikers has worsened, Katal and our allies have organized across the city and rallied in front of the courts for over two years to demand intervention at Rikers. This is the right decision by the court. Until Rikers is shut down, the “Remediation Manager” must work expeditiously to reduce violence, save lives, and advance closure efforts.
We’re grateful to the over 100 community, advocacy, legal, and faith-based groups that joined us to demand that the federal courts intervene to improve conditions and save lives at Rikers until it is shut down.
This decision from the federal court comes a week after news broke that Mayor Adams is exploring abandoning the current plan to shut down Rikers Island. Since taking office, the mayor has worked to undermine the plan so this doesn’t come as a surprise. Under Mayor Adams, the overlapping crises and scandals on Rikers Island have worsened. Adams has pursued a jail-first approach locking up even more people in the deadly and chaotic system while cutting the budgets for the very programs that safely reduce jail populations. Check out this piece by our executive director gabriel sayegh responding to this news.
Rikers must be shut down and we’ll continue organizing until that happens.
If you’re interested in joining the fight to shut down Rikers and hold Mayor Adams accountable, please contact Melanie at melanie@katalcenter.org.
Dignity Not Detention Rally
On Tuesday, May 13th, we also joined the Dignity Not Detention campaign for rally on the Million Dollar Staircase. The Dignity Not Detention Act (S316 Salazar /A4181 Reyes) gets New York out of the business of immigration detention. Our organizing director Melanie Dominguez spoke at the rally about the need to protect immigrant New Yorkers and address the crises unfolding in jails and prisons across New York.
Check out this press release to learn more.
If you have any questions around this, reach out to Melanie at Melanie@katalcenter.org.
Katal Quotes of the Week
These are some of the quotes we’re thinking about this week.
“You can’t make a movement, but you can prepare for one.” – Vincent Harding
“It is so easy to have principles. Far, far harder to live by them.” ― N.K. Jemisin
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” – Maya Angeloujustice, rehabilitation, and human dignity” – Akeem Browder, brother of the late Kalief Browder
For printing and distribution, download the Katal Weekly Update PDF version.
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Email: info@katalcenter.org
Phone: 646.875.8822.
