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.

Sign the Petition
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Read the Fact Sheet

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 the Corrections Oversight Omnibus bill S.8415 – Salazar/ A.8871 – Dilan, which includes a provision to overhual the SCOC.

Tell Governor Hochul to Sign the Bill!
Read the Fact Sheet
See the Groups Who Have Signed On

demanding 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. Check out our interview on NY1.

Press Release — Appointment of “Remediation Manager”
Press Release — City Council Letter to Court
See the Groups Who Have Signed On

Statewide Criminal Justice Reform calls

Join us every month for the statewide call.  The goals are: 

  • Share and highlight issues, campaigns, and projects that groups are working on to advance statewide reform; 
  • Identify ways to align, coordinate, and support each other in the work to end mass incarceration; 
  • Strengthen organizing and advocacy across issues and build movement in New York.

Calls are scheduled on the second Thursday of every month, at 12pm EST. Register now. 

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:

Ziyadah’s op-ed
Member Statements
Member Quotes
Member Interviews

Take Action

Contact your local officials

Tell your representatives to support probation reform!

Find Contact Information for Your Representatives
Sign a Petition

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.

Register for Monthly Calls

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!

Instagram
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Facebook

New York Updates 

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