RAPP Campaign

Release Aging People in Prison Campaign

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

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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
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