Katal In New York
Shut Rikers Campaign
#ShutRikers is a campaign of the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice. Katal and our allies are working to cut the number of people incarcerated and the budgets used for caging people; shut down Rikers Island; and invest in real public safety: housing, health care, education, and jobs.
Increasing Jail and Prison Oversight
With jails and prison from Rikers to Marcy in crisis, New York needs and deserves an effective independent watchdog for its correctional facilities. The State Commission of Correction is an independent body mandated with the constitutional authority to ensure that correctional facilities across New York – all local jails and state prisons – are “safe, stable and humane,” but for more than 20 years, the SCOC has consistently failed to meet its responsibility. We’re working to expand and strengthen the SCOC to increase oversight and accountability by passing S.856 – Salazar/ A.2315 – Gallagher.
Advancing Federal Receivership at Rikers
Since Mayor Eric Adams took office, the overlapping crises and scandals on Rikers Island have worsened. With violence out of control and the jail population steadily rising, dysfunction continues to reign at the New York City Department of Correction (DOC). Starting more than two years ago, we started ratcheting up demands for the federal courts to intervene to improve conditions at Rikers until it is shut down. On May 13, 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.
New York Membership
Bi-Weekly Katal Member Meeting: At these meetings, we come together with community members who have been directly impacted by the criminal legal system, and we organize to change the system. We discuss building power, shutting down Rikers, and ending mass incarceration! To learn more, please contact NY Organizing Director, Melanie Dominguez, at melanie@katalcenter.org.
See Our Members in Action:
Take Action
Contact your local officials
Tell your representatives to support probation reform!
NY Monthy Calls
Join our monthly statewide criminal justice reform call. Launched in 2017, our monthly criminal justice reform calls are the best place to find out about organizing and advocacy campaigns for criminal justice reform in New York.
Connect with us on socials
We post regularly on our socials to showcase our upcoming actions as well as the amazing work happening in the Katal community!
New York Resources
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About #LessIsMoreNY and Parole Reform in New York State – Fact Sheet
To download a PDF, please click here. See the version with full citations here.
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Bail Reform in New York — Fact Sheet
On April 1, 2019, after years of work by grassroots groups and advocates across New York, lawmakers in Albany passed a historic slate of criminal justice reform bills to address […]
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Supporting Letter – #LessIsMoreNY Act
#LessIsMoreNY is a statewide coalition of community groups, service providers, and public safety experts working together to pass the Less Is More: Community Supervision Revocation Reform Act. To…
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New York’s Less Is More Act: A Status Report on Implementation
This report addresses the following: • A summary of the main provisions of the Less Is More Act • Progress and challenges with respect to implementation so far • Next steps and recommendations
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Fact Sheet – #FreeThemNowNY
COVID-19 in New York Prisons and Jails: #FreeThemNowNY As New York State continues to confront the worst public health crisis in the last century, Governor Andrew Cuomo and state officials [&helli…
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MAT in NY Jails and Prisons – Fact Sheet
Addressing Addiction and Preventing Overdose in NY: Providing Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) in Jails and Prisons People struggling with addiction deserve treatment and care. However, due to stig…
New York Victories
Less is More New York
The Less Is More Act was passed by the New York legislature in June and on September 17, 2021, Governor Hochul signed the bill into law. Most provisions take effect March 1, 2022 and it will be fully implemented by July 2022, but there is a provision that allows for the full and immediate implementation of #LessIsMoreNY before the effective date.
