Making prison communication FREE supports:
- Public safety
- Economic mobility
- Gender equity for women
- Children's wellbeing
- Second chances

Governor Kathy Hochul Sen. Stewart-Cousins Carl E. Heastie, can New Yorkers count on you to make prison calls free?
timesunion.com/state/article/…

🚨TAKE ACTION: We have the opportunity to win three #JusticeRoadmap bills in this year's budget. Help make prison phone calls free, end predatory court fees, and allow people to overturn wrongful convictions.

Email your legislators NOW: bit.ly/nyjustice2024

TY to Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal Jamaal T. Bailey New York State Senate & to the many artists and community groups who supported this effort.

We can't wait to see the Rap Music on Trial bill make it across the finish line this year!

For #TransDayOfVisibility , here are 7 things you may not know about the experiences of transgender people in prison and jail.

TNJ is in Albany today offering REAL public safety solutions to our state’s mental health and substance use crises.

TOMORROW at 12pm: Join Center for Community Alternatives, VOCAL-NY, Worth Rises, Fines and Fees Justice Center, New York County Defender Services at the State Capitol to call for urgent justice issues in this year's budget:

✅ End Predatory Court Fees
✅ Connecting Families
✅Challenging Wrongful Convictions

More than 50% of the total lawsuits filed in NYC's state courts under the Adult Survivors Act allege sexual abuse in NYC jails, according to a new report from Gothamist.

To stop the harm and violence, we must decarcerate and close Rikers.
gothamist.com/news/ny-lawmak…

DOJ has warned state/local courts: many of their fines & fees practices are potentially unconstitutional. But NY’s predatory practices continue. NY must include the End Predatory Court Fees Act in its budget. CC: Kathy Hochul, Carl E. Heastie and Sen. Stewart-Cousins

“We reaffirm our call for a receivership; ultimately, decarceration and closing Rikers are imperative to stopping the harm and violence.' - NYC Defender Offices in response to Gothamist story on accounts of systemic sexual abuse at Rikers
gothamist.com/news/ny-lawmak…

“A system where jail employees groped detainees, forcibly kissed them, ordered them to perform oral sex and engaged in violent rape.”

Jaw-dropping investigation from Jessy Edwards Samantha Max Gothamist Christopher Werth into decades of sexual abuse @ Rikers

gothamist.com/news/late-nigh…

Prisons fail us. They create violence and hardship, not safety. The Treatment Not Jail Act offers a better solution, aiming to divert thousands from incarceration to specialized treatment for substance abuse and mental health issues. This legislation aligns with the needs of…

#Right2RemainSilent is on the Senate Children & Families Committee agenda this week - looking forward to seeing this bill move forward to protect youth from wrongful convictions and traumatizing police interrogations!

“The Indigent Legal Services fund was created to ensure equity, justice, quality representation and family unification for indigent New Yorkers,” the legal services organizations said in a joint statement.

law.com/newyorklawjour…

'They don't upload any paperwork. They're not like the federal system,' Christopher Boyle, NYCDS Director of Data Research and Policy , said of the state's system. 'It's completely inefficient.'
law360.com/articles/18125…

URGENT ACTION NEEDED! The New York Assembly has included free prison communication in its budget. We need your help to protect it in the final budget! Visit connectfamiliesnow.com/newyork to take action now!

We joined 70 legal organizations to urge lawmakers to restore $234m to NY's Indigent Legal Services Fund and appropriate adequate funding for public defense services for people in need of an attorney in criminal and family courts.

Read our letter here: bit.ly/stopILSFsweep

With deep sadness we must share the news that Carl Hamad-Lipscombe, our exceptional executive director, died on March 15. It feels impossible that our colleague and friend is no longer with us and we miss him more than words can express.

On Gideon Day, CDANY thanks all of NY State's Indigent Defenders for this dedication to serving their clients. We will continue to fight for you while you fight for them.

This year in #NYS we need to pass #Right2RemainSilent so that all young people speak to a lawyer prior to police questioning. CDF-NY The Legal Aid Society The Bronx Defenders The Gathering for Justice

NYCDS is proud to join with Legal Defense Fund & dozens of others to speak out against the harmful transit plan proposed by Governor Hochul.