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weekly update – march 25, 2021

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In this issue…

Pressure behind #LessIsMoreNY!

In CT: Supporting Efforts to End Solitary

Please Take our 1-Minute Survey!

Katal at 5 – Anniversary Dialogue Series

Katal at 5 – Anniversary Dialogue Series

As you likely now know, Katal turns 5 in 2021, and we’re marking the moment with an anniversary Dialogue Series. Our first dialogue is on Monday, March 29, from 5:30 – 7:30, with an amazing lineup of speakers:

  • Reginald Dwayne Betts, Founder and Director, Million Books Project, author of Felon, and poetry editor for The New York Times Magazine;
  • Kassandra Frederique, Executive Director, Drug Policy Alliance;
  • Danielle Sered, Executive Director, Common Justice, and author of Until we Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair.

 Join us on Monday March 29th, from 5:30 – 7:30 for our first Dialogue!

 


Action on #LessIsMoreNY

 

Less Is More Bill Sponsors Assemblymember Phara Sourrfrant Forrest and Senator Brian A. Benjamin

Last night was our latest #LessIsMoreNY Town Hall, with bill sponsors, Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest and Senator Brian A. Benjamin as well as the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO).

Nearly 150 people registered for the Town Hall, where Katal member Luke Steele provided an explanation of how #LessIsMoreNY will limit the incarceration of people for minor technical parole violations, transform parole to bolster due process, provide for earned time credits for parole, and reduce jail and prison populations in both upstate and downstate New York. Luke’s comments were followed by a powerful Q & A, where participants asked important questions about #LessIsMoreNY and shared powerful accounts of individual experiences on parole, further showing why we need to reform parole in New York with the Less Is More Act.

The Town Hall followed a busy Wednesday, where joined forces with the Center for Employment Opportunities – CEOThe Fortune Society, and the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys – UAW 2325 for a #LessIsMoreNY Day of Action. During the action, participants placed hundreds of phone calls to New York State’s elected officials, including legislative leaders and the Governor, asking them to bring necessary reform to parole in New York with Less Is More.


A thank you to all of our speakers for our #LessIsMoreNY Day of Action this week, including Makeda Knight and Paul Rivera as well as Andre Ward , Kenneth Edwards and Cara Hoffman; for recounting powerful experiences while on parole and during incarceration and for helping to host our zoom call.

 

If you missed it, join us for our final #LessIsMoreNY Day of Action in March, with Exodus Transitional Community and United Neighborhood Houses, next Wednesday, March 31 from 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m!


Pushing to End Solitary Confinement in CT & NY

Katal Members Imani Pennant and Nancy Peters Testify in support of the SB, 1059, the PROTECT Act

On Monday, our members Imani Pennant and Nancy Peters spent a long day on zoom to provide testimony in support of SB 1059, the PROTECT Act to CT Legislators in Hartford.

As part of his testimony to the legislature, Imani shared a striking account of how people are treated while being placed in solitary confinement in Connecticut prisons:

 “Right now, the inside of prisons are built to break its incarcerated individuals in every way, especially psychologically. It is a place built to take your faith and leave you uninspired. Prisons warp and dehumanizes your natural way of interacting with people to the point you can’t even function in normal society… I know because a year ago today, I was in solitary confinement.” 

Imani’s testimony builds on our action from last week where we joined Stop Solitary CT. CT needs to act now to limit solitary confinement in CT with the #ProtectCT act.

Rallying outside Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Manhattan Office in support of the #HALTsolitary bill.

In NY, we joined the New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement (NYAIC) and so many others outside Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Manhattan office, in support of the #HALTsolitary legislation on Sunday. The bill is on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s desk now; he must immediately sign it. It’s time to #HALTsolitary!

 

Please Take our 1-Minute Survey!

Can you take a 1-minute survey with us? As announced last week, we are changing the format of Katal’s Weekly Update to give our readers and supporters the choice to receive information about our work in either or both Connecticut and New York.

Please click here to take 1 minute to update your contact information, so we’re sending you the content you want!


Keep practicing social distancing, wear your mask, wash your hands, and check in on your neighbors. If you want to get involved, learn more about our work, or just connect, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Katal works to strengthen the people, policies, institutions, and movements that advance health, equity, and justice for everyone. Join us: web, Twitter, Facebook! Email: info@katalcenter.org. Phone: 646.875.8822.

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