Take Action Today: #FreeOurElders #HALTsolitary & #Repeal50A

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June 5, 2020

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 to address 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 Diaries, Inc. 

  15. Black Lives Matter Hudson Valley

  16. Black Trans News LLC 

  17. Black Youth Project (BYP) 100 - NYC

  18. Brooklyn Community Bail Fund

  19. Brooklyn Defender Services

  20. BronxConnect

  21. The Bronx Defenders

  22. Broome Tioga Green Party 

  23. The Brotherhood/Sister Sol

  24. Call BlackLine

  25. Campaign for New York Health

  26. Campaign for Youth Justice

  27. Campaign to End The New Jim Crow 

  28. Capital Area Against Mass Incarceration

  29. Center for Appellate Litigation

  30. Center for Bronx Nonprofits

  31. Center for Community Alternatives

  32. Center for Constitutional Rights

  33. Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU Law

  34. Children's Haven: A Place of Healing & Hope, Inc.

  35. Circles of Support

  36. Citizen Action of New York

  37. City University of New York (CUNY) Law School 

  38. City Voices

  39. City Wide Tenant Union of Rochester

  40. Close Rosie's

  41. College & Community Fellowship

  42. Columbia County Sanctuary Movement

  43. Community Service Society of New York

  44. Correctional Association of New York

  45. Criminal Justice Task Force, RocACTS

  46. Defenders Clinic at CUNY School of Law

  47. The Door-A Center for Alternatives

  48. Drug Policy Alliance

  49. Enough Is Enough 

  50. Exodus Transitional Community

  51. Experiencing God Ministries

  52. Flying Squirrel Community Space

  53. Free the People WNY

  54. Friends of Island Academy

  55. FWD.us

  56. The Gathering for Justice

  57. Genesee County Public Defender

  58. Girls Inc. of Long Island

  59. Granny Peace Brigade 

  60. Greater Rochester LGBTQ Caucus 

  61. Harlem United

  62. Housing Justice for All 

  63. Housing Works

  64. Hudson Valley Community Coalition 

  65. Human Rights Coalition

  66. Incarcerated Nation Network

  67. Indivisible Westchester

  68. Innocence Project

  69. Immigrant Defense Project 

  70. Ithaca Prisoner Justice Network

  71. It Takes A Village Action Organization, Inc.

  72. Jews for Racial & Economic Justice

  73. Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club

  74. John Jay College Institute for Justice and Opportunity

  75. Junior League of Buffalo 

  76. Justice and Peace Resource Center

  77. Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier  

  78. Justice League NYC

  79. Justice for Families

  80. JustLeadershipUSA

  81. LatinoJustice PRLDEF

  82. Lawyers For Children

  83. Legal Aid Society of Nassau County

  84. The Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County

  85. Legal Aid Society of Westchester County

  86. LIFT-NY 

  87. LGBT Bar Association of Greater NY

  88. Long Island Progressive Coalition

  89. Make the Road New York

  90. Marsha P. Johnson Institute

  91. Memorial United Methodist Church

  92. Met Council on Housing

  93. Metro Justice

  94. Morningside Heights Resistance

  95. Mott Haven Reformed Church

  96. Nassau County DSA

  97. National Action Network, NYC Chapter Second Chance Committee

  98. National Association of Mental Health – Queens

  99. National Center for Law and Economic Justice

  100. National Equality Action Team 

  101. National Trans Bar Association

  102. National Trans Visibility March

  103. Nazareth College Jail Project

  104. Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem

  105. Neighbors Against White Supremacy (NAWS) Central Queens

  106. Neighbors Together

  107. Network Support Services Inc.

  108. New Hour Women and Children

  109. New Hour for Women and Children – Long Island

  110. New Leaf Coalition

  111. New Pride Agenda 

  112. New Sanctuary Coalition

  113. New York City Anti-Violence Project

  114. New York Civil Liberties Union

  115. New York Communities for Change

  116. New York Immigration Coalition

  117. New York State Council of Churches

  118. New York State Defenders Association, Inc.

  119. New York State Tenants & Neighbors

  120. Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson

  121. No Justice No Pride

  122. No Justice Under Capitalism

  123. North Bronx Racial Justice

  124. Northeast Political Prisoner Coalition

  125. Northern Manhattan Coalition to Immigrant Rights (NMCIR)

  126. North Star Fund

  127. NYCAIC #HALTsolitary Campaign

  128. NYC Jericho Movement

  129. NYU School of Law

  130. Onondaga County Bar Assoc. Assigned Counsel Program

  131. The Osborne Association 

  132. Queens Defenders

  133. Parole Preparation Project of NYC

  134. Partnership for the Public Good

  135. Peaceprints of Western New York 

  136. Positive Women's Network-USA

  137. Presbytery of New York City

  138. Prisoners Are People Too

  139. Public Interest Resource Center, Fordham Law School

  140. PUSH Buffalo

  141. Racial Justice BK

  142. Real Justice PAC

  143. Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) Campaign

  144. Religious Society of Friends 

  145. Returning Citizens Society

  146. Rise and Resist

  147. Rise Up Kingston 

  148. Riverside D.A.R.T 

  149. Rochester Alliance Of Communities Transforming Society, Inc. (RocACTS)

  150. Rochester Decarceration Research initiative

  151. Rochester First Unitarian Church (Criminal Justice Ministry) 

  152. Rochester Never Again Action

  153. Rochester Mutual Aid Network

  154. ROCitizen

  155. ROC DSA

  156. Safe Passage Project

  157. Sanctuary for Families

  158. Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

  159. Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet (Albany Province Justice Committee) 

  160. Sound Justice Initiative

  161. South Central Brooklyn United for Progress

  162. Southern Tier Independence Center

  163. St. Augustine's Episcopal Church, Croton-on-Hudson

  164. St. Mary's Episcopal Church

  165. S.T.R.O.N.G. Youth, Inc.

  166. Students for Sensible Drug Policy

  167. SURJ NYC

  168. Tenants Political Action Committee

  169. T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

  170. Truth Pharm Inc.

  171. Turning Points Resource Center

  172. United Christian Leadership Ministry, Western NY

  173. United Voices of Cortland

  174. Uptown Progressive Action 

  175. Uri L'Tzedek

  176. Violence Intervention Program

  177. VOCAL-NY

  178. Westchester Coalition for Police Reform

  179. Westchester for Change

  180. Women's Health and Reproductive Rights

  181. Women & Justice Project

  182. Women's Prison Association

  183. Woodhull Freedom Foundation

  184. Workers Center of Central NY

  185. Worth Rises

  186. Yonkers Sanctuary Movement 

  187. Youth Arts New York

  188. Youth Represent

  189. YVote/Next Gen Politics

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club