Search
Close this search box.

ADVISORY: Tuesday 2/28, 12:00 p.m, Gov. Hochul’s NYC Office: Community Groups, Impacted People and Families​ will​ Rally to Protect Bail and Close Rikers

Share This Post

**MEDIA ADVISORY**

February 23, 2023

Contact: Yonah Zeitz – 347-201-2768 yonah@katalcenter.org, 

Follow online: #CutShutInvestNY #CloseRikers | @katalcenter

Tuesday 2/28, 12:00 p.m, Gov. Hochul’s NYC Office: Community Groups, Impacted People and Families Rally to Protect Bail Reform and Close Rikers

With Rikers in Crisis, Governor Hochul’s Retrograde Bail Rollback Proposal will Send More Legally Innocent People To Rikers, Most of Whom are Black, Brown, and Low-Income

Under Mayor Adams, the City’s Jail Population Has Increased to Nearly 6,000 and is Rising Further. If Passed, Hochul’s Proposal Would Send Thousands More To Rikers, Dooming Closure 

New York, NY – This Tuesday, February 28 at 12:00 PM, outside of Governor Hochul’s NYC office, people and families impacted by unjust pretrial detention and Rikers, along with community groups, will gather together to denounce the Governor’s budget proposal to gut bail reform and increase pretrial detention across the state. The proposal, if enacted,  would lead to thousands more people – mostly Black, Brown, and low-income – being jailed across the state, including at the notorious Rikers Island Jail Complex.

WHAT: Rally to Protect Bail & Close Rikers

WHEN: Tuesday, February 28 at 12 p.m.

WHERE: Governor Hochul’s NYC Office 633 3rd Ave

WHO: People and Families Directly Impacted by Rikers and pretrial jailing, Community Groups including the Katal Center, Brooklyn Defender Services, Children Rights, Latino Justice, Center for Employment Opportunites, Black Trans Nation, A Little Piece of Light, and more

Background: Rikers is in a state of crisis. Since Mayor Adams took office 20 people have died in New York City jails, and Rikers is the deadliest it has been in 25 years when the population was more than twice the size. Yet in her recent state budget proposal, Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed further rollbacks to bail reform which would lead to thousands more people – mostly Black, brown, and low-income – jailed pretrial every year at Rikers and in other jails across New York State simply because they’re not able to afford to buy their freedom. The governor’s awful proposal would derail the planned closure of the Rikers Island Jail Complex. Instead of rolling back bail reform and sending more people to be incarcerated in local jails, the state budget must work to cut correctional populations, shut down Rikers and other deadly jails across New York, and invest in real public safety: housing, healthcare, education, and jobs.

Speakers at the action will share how they have been impacted by both pretrial detention and Rikers Island and call on Governor Hochul to protect bail and close Rikers. 

WATCH LIVE ON INSTAGRAM: @katalcenter

###

More To Explore