Katal Opposes Roll Backs to Bail Reform

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, March 17, 2022

Contact:  Yonah Zeitz, yonah@katalcenter.org | (347) 201-2769

Follow on Twitter @KatalCenter | #BailReformNY

 

Katal Opposes Roll Backs to Bail Reform 

Governor Hochul’s Proposal Will Lead to More New Yorkers Being Incarcerated Pretrial 

Albany, NY: Today, the NY Post reported that Governor Hochul is calling for further rollbacks to bail reform, along with other criminal justice reform rollbacks, in the 2022 budget. 

Statement from Yonah Zeitz, Director of Advocacy, Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice.

“It is terrible for Governor Hochul to choose fear-based politics over facts and people’s lives.   For decades, the pretrial incarceration crisis in New York perpetuated mass incarceration and racial disparities in the state’s justice system. Katal and dozens of community and advocacy organizations from across our state worked for years to pass sensible bail reform in 2019. The success of bail reform is in the data — bail reform is working for public safety and justice.  It has prevented tens of thousands of New Yorkers from being detained in jails simply because they cannot afford to buy their freedom. Opponents who are committed to caging human beings used racist fearmongering and outright lies in Albany to rollback some of those reforms in 2020. Tellingly, those rollbacks led to more people, mostly Black and Brown people, being jailed across the state. We are deeply disappointed to see Governor Hochul take a page out of former Governor Cuomo’s playbook to do this again. We urge the New York Legislature to reject the racist fearmongering and manufactured hysteria that is driving these regressive proposals. Do not roll back bail reform. Do not roll back discovery reform. Do not roll back Raise the Age. Do not pass these ridiculous so-called “tough on crime” proposals that do not and have never made communities safe. Such proposals will increase jail and prison populations, further entrench racial disparities, and imperil the effort to close the notorious Rikers Island Jail Complex. We call on the Governor and Legislature to continue to decarcerate, close more prisons and jails, and invest in real safety: housing, health care, education, and jobs.” 

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