June 5, 2020: 176 Organizations Tell the NYS Legislature to Address the Devastation Visited on Black New Yorkers by State Violence of Prisons and Policing

June 5, 2020: New York, New York

Hon. Carl Heastie, Assembly Speaker
New York State Assembly
188 State Street, Legislative Office Building, Room 932
Albany, NY 12247

Hon. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Majority Leader
New York State Senate
188 State Street, Legislative Office Building, Room 907
Albany, NY 12247

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie,

People across the world are witnessing the pain of hundreds of years of Black subjugation, abuse, and murder at the hands of the state. We’ve seen the lives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade and countless others taken by law enforcement. But the deaths and violence don’t stop at police interactions. They are perpetrated against Black people in jails and prisons across New York and have taken the lives of Layleen Polanco, Benjamin Smalls, Kalief Browder, and too many others. The system that purports to “protect” and uphold “public safety” has instead subjugated, dehumanized, and murdered Black people for centuries.

We need bold and immediate change that will pull power away from the system that has made clear that Black lives, Black pain, Black existence, and Black humanity do not matter. To that end, we are calling on you to do what is right and address racist state violence from policing to courts to jails and prisons.

Police violence is one piece of a larger system, and we believe that this element is critical taddress through the full repeal of 50a and the full Safer NY Act. It is also important to address other forms of violence happening across the system and that leave generational trauma and scars across the Black community, including Black immigrants, Black incarcerated people, and Black LGBTQIA+ people.

That is why, next week when the legislature reconvenes, we call on you to pass a slate of bills to peel away at the devastation wrought on Black New Yorkers by a system of mass criminalization and state violence. This includes:

• Full Repeal of 50a: S.3695 (Bailey) / A.2513 (O’Donnell)
• Police Statistics & Transparency (STAT): S.1830 (Hoylman) / A.05472 (Lentol)
• Elder Parole: S.2144 (Hoylman) / A.9040 (De La Rosa)
• Fair & Timely Parole: S.497 (Rivera) / A.4346 (Weprin)
• The HALT Solitary Confinement Act: S.1623 (Sepúlveda) / A.2500 (Aubry)
• Repeal the #WalkingWhileTrans Ban: S.2253 (Hoylman) / A.654 (Paulin)
• Protect Our Courts Act: S.00425 (Hoylman) / A.02176 (Solages)

We are also calling on you to indefinitely delay implementation of bail reform rollbacks and to oppose any efforts to expand pretrial jailing that will expose thousands of more Black people to the violence and extraordinary health risks of New York’s jails.

The time is now to begin to address the violence of the police, jails, and prisons that have proven deadly to too many Black New Yorkers.

Signed,

1. Action Together Rochester
2. Advocates for the Incarcerated at Fordham Law School
3. African Services Committee
4. Aging People in Prison Human Rights Campaign
5. Ali Forney Center
6. Amida Care
7. Amnesty International Brooklyn Local Group 27
8. Appellate Advocates
9. Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
10. Asociación de Mujeres Progresistas Inc.
11. Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (UAW 2325)
12. Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Long Island
13. Black and Pink NYC
14. Black Lives Matter Hudson Valley
15. Black Trans News LLC
16. Black Youth Project (BYP) 100 – NYC
17. Brooklyn Community Bail Fund
18. Brooklyn Defender Services
19. BronxConnect
20. The Bronx Defenders
21. The Brotherhood/Sister Sol
22. Call BlackLine
23. Campaign for New York Health
24. Campaign for Youth Justice
25. Campaign to End The New Jim Crow
26. Capital Area Against Mass Incarceration
27. Center for Appellate Litigation
28. Center for Bronx Nonprofits
29. Center for Community Alternatives
30. Center for Constitutional Rights
31. Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU Law
32. Children’s Haven: A Place of Healing & Hope, Inc.
33. Circles of Support
34. Citizen Action of New York
35. City Voices
36. City Wide Tenant Union of Rochester
37. Close Rosie’s
38. College & Community Fellowship
39. Columbia County Sanctuary Movement
40. Community Service Society of New York
41. Correctional Association of New York
42. Criminal Justice Task Force, RocACTS
43. Defenders Clinic at CUNY School of Law
44. The Door-A Center for Alternatives
45. Drug Policy Alliance
46. Enough Is Enough
47. Exodus Transitional Community
48. Experiencing God Ministries
49. Flying Squirrel Community Space
50. Free the People WNY
51. Friends of Island Academy
52. FWD.us
53. The Gathering for Justice
54. Genesee County Public Defender
55. Girls Inc. of Long Island
56. Greater Rochester LGBTQ Caucus
57. Harlem United
58. Housing Justice for All
59. Housing Works
60. Hudson Valley Community Coalition
61. Human Rights Coalition
62. Incarcerated Nation Network
63. Indivisible Westchester
64. Innocence Project
65. Immigrant Defense Project
66. Ithaca Prisoner Justice Network
67. It Takes A Village Action Organization, Inc.
68. Jews for Racial & Economic Justice
69. Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club
70. John Jay College Institute for Justice and Opportunity
71. Justice League NYC
72. Justice for Families
73. JustLeadershipUSA
74. LatinoJustice PRLDEF
75. Lawyers For Children
76. Legal Aid Society of Nassau County
77. The Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County
78. Legal Aid Society of Westchester
79. LIFT-NY
80. LGBT Bar Association of Greater NY
81. Long Island Progressive Coalition
82. Make the Road New York
83. Marsha P. Johnson Institute
84. Memorial United Methodist Church
85. Met Council on Housing
86. Metro Justice
87. Morningside Heights Resistance
88. Mott Haven Reformed Church
89. Nassau County DSA
90. National Action Network, NYC Chapter Second Chance Committee
91. National Association of Mental Health – Queens
92. National Center for Law and Economic Justice
93. National Trans Bar Association
94. National Trans Visibility March
95. Nazareth College Jail Project
96. Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem
97. Neighbors Against White Supremacy (NAWS) Central Queens
98. Neighbors Together
99. Network Support Services Inc.
100. New Hour Women and Children
101. New Hour for Women and Children – Long Island
102. New Leaf Coalition
103. New Pride Agenda
104. New Sanctuary Coalition
105. New York City Anti-Violence Project
106. New York Civil Liberties Union
107. New York Communities for Change
108. New York Immigration Coalition
109. New York State Council of Churches
110. New York State Defenders Association, Inc.
111. New York State Tenants & Neighbors
112. Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson
113. No Justice No Pride
114. No Justice Under Capitalism
115. North Bronx Racial Justice
116. Northeast Political Prisoner Coalition
117. Northern Manhattan Coalition to Immigrant Rights (NMCIR)
118. North Star Fund
119. NYCAIC #HALTsolitary Campaign
120. NYC Jericho Movement
121. NYU School of Law
122. Onondaga County Bar Assoc. Assigned Counsel Program
123. The Osborne Association
124. Queens Defenders
125. Parole Preparation Project of NYC
126. Partnership for the Public Good
127. Positive Women’s Network-USA
128. Presbytery of New York City
129. Prisoners Are People Too
130. Public Interest Resource Center, Fordham Law School
131. PUSH Buffalo
132. Racial Justice BK
133. Real Justice PAC
134. Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) Campaign
135. Returning Citizens Society
136. Rise and Resist
137. Riverside D.A.R.T
138. Rochester Alliance Of Communities Transforming Society, Inc. (RocACTS)
139. Rochester Decarceration Research initiative
140. Rochester Never Again Action
141. Rochester Mutual Aid Network
142. ROCitizen
143. ROC DSA
144. Safe Passage Project
145. Sanctuary for Families
146. Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
147. Sound Justice Initiative
148. South Central Brooklyn United for Progress
149. Southern Tier Independence Center
150. St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, Croton-on-Hudson
151. St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
152. S.T.R.O.N.G. Youth, Inc.
153. Students for Sensible Drug Policy
154. SURJ NYC
155. Tenants Political Action Committee
156. T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
157. Truth Pharm Inc.
158. Turning Points Resource Center
159. United Christian Leadership Ministry, Western NY
160. United Voices of Cortland
161. Uptown Progressive Action
162. Uri L’Tzedek
163. Violence Intervention Program
164. VOCAL-NY
165. Westchester Coalition for Police Reform
166. Westchester for Change
167. Women’s Health and Reproductive Rights
168. Women & Justice Project
169. Women’s Prison Association
170. Woodhull Freedom Foundation
171. Workers Center of Central NY
172. Worth Rises
173. Yonkers Sanctuary Movement
174. Youth Arts New York
175. Youth Represent
176. YVote/Next Gen Politics