June 9, 2022

(NEW YORK, NY) – The Legal Aid Society, The Bronx Defenders, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, New York County Defender Services, Brooklyn Defender Services, and Queens Defenders, among a number of organizations that provide constitutionally and/or legally required defense and civil legal services representation, called on Mayor Eric Adams, Speaker Adams, and City Council Members to prioritize fully funding the invaluable work of staff and the operational needs in the Fiscal Year 2023 budget.

City Hall made an extraordinary commitment to addressing the recruitment and retention issues in these offices in 2019 when it agreed to supplement existing program revenue with a “parity” supplement for the most junior attorneys at these organizations which brought them into parity with Corporation Counsel, attorneys who represent the City on legal matters. The City’s public announcement of funding to increase salaries for more junior staff in 2019 came with a commitment to continue to address the recruitment and retention issues for more senior staff over a “four-year full implementation plan.” However, the City never followed through on that commitment.

Moreover, year-over-year costs for rent, healthcare, salary and pension, technology, and other operating needs have continued to rise. At the same time that the City seeks to expand mandated legal services, it has not provided additional funding to account for these increased costs. For The Legal Aid Society alone, annual costs increase each year by at least 3 percent due to rising healthcare costs, collective bargaining increases and rent increases – requiring an allocation from the City of $10M for just Fiscal Year 2023.

Without additional funding, defender and legal services organizations have had to manage these cost increases by not replacing staff who leave and delaying essential investments critical to the safe and effective delivery of services to clients, such as technology. Neither the Corporation Counsel nor any City agency has had to make these trade-offs since their cost escalations are covered by the City separate from the operating dollars provided to each agency.

Beyond year-over-year cost increases, many of the defender and civil legal service providers’ contracts fall far short of covering the existing programmatic costs necessary to provide quality representation – including not only attorneys, but also legal supervision, paralegals, and other support. These shortfalls grew even larger after the justice-improving pretrial measures that were ushered into law in 2019, including discovery reform. However, these reforms have not come with the necessary funding to properly implement them, including the need for new technology and additional staffing. These funding constraints combined with delays in contract registration create major cash flow challenges.

This perpetual underfunding has contributed to a significant departure of staff from our organizations and widespread vacancies. According to internal data collected from the above organizations, attrition rates are double-digit, and in some cases up to roughly 25 percent, and many have reported increases in attrition of approximately 70 percent to more than 200 percent compared to last year. These defender organizations are on track to lose at least 348 staff for the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2022. And that does not include at least a dozen other civil legal services providers citywide that help with housing, immigration, consumer, employer, and other civil legal services. 

Legal Aid alone, which currently employs roughly 2,000 people, has nearly 500 positions that need to be filled across the organization over the coming year, and other providers have identified similar vacancy rates.

The City’s rising cost of living, skyrocketing inflation, and burden of student loans will only exacerbate the hiring and retention issues being faced.

“Defender organizations play a critical role in ensuring our city’s justice system functions and the citizens of New York have equal access to high quality legal representation and crime-reducing community-based programs,” said Hettie Powell, Managing Director of Queens Defenders. “We encourage the City to demonstrate to its lowest-income citizens that it values their right to legal counsel as much as an over-funded police force and their own attorney staff.”   

“A budget reflects values and priorities, and if City Hall values the critical role public defenders and civil legal services providers play in New York City, any agreed-upon budget must include funding to fully compensate staff and meet the operational demands of these organizations,” said Twyla Carter, Incoming Attorney-In-Chief and CEO of The Legal Aid Society. “Mayor Adams has talked a lot about how our justice system must fully function, emphasizing the needs of law enforcement, but we are a part of that system too, and when the scales of justice tilt towards one side, people suffer, and those New Yorkers are often some of our most vulnerable neighbors.”

“By failing to close the salary gap between City Attorneys and public defenders, the City is essentially putting its thumb on the scales of justice,” said Alice Fontier, Managing Director of Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem. “As with so many other budget issues, low-income New Yorkers will bear the brunt of this continued economic shortfall.”

“Today, the City is failing the low-income people of the Bronx who rely on the legal and social support services of The Bronx Defenders. Our staff of 400 helps over 20,000 Bronx residents each year and reaches hundreds more through community intake and engagement. Our work has been proven to reduce evictions, incarceration rates, lengths of sentences, deportations and time in foster care,” said Justine Olderman, executive director of The Bronx Defenders. “But we can’t deliver high-quality holistic defense without full funding. The inability to provide our staff with competitive compensation coupled with the chronic underfunding of our work threatens our ability to serve those who need us most. The City must act now to ensure equal access to justice for all New Yorkers.”

“All New Yorkers deserve high-quality representation regardless of their ability to pay for an attorney,” said Lisa Schreibersdorf, Executive Director of Brooklyn Defender Services. “When the city budget underfunds and undervalues these critical services and Constitutionally-guaranteed rights, New Yorkers suffer. New York City must show that it values the work of public defenders fighting tirelessly to guarantee justice for their clients, by closing the pay parity gap and fully funding the staffing and operational needs of legal services organizations.”

“Legal services providers deliver life-changing support to thousands of New Yorkers every year. The increasing costs of essential expenses that keep our programs running threaten not only the wellbeing of our staff, but also the lives of our clients,” said Lisa Rivera, managing attorney and interim president and attorney-in-charge of New York Legal Assistance Group . “Full compensation from the City for our staffing and operational needs is crucial to the delivery of justice and protecting New Yorkers who face the steepest barriers to resources and support.”

“Civil legal services programs are being hit just as hard as the defender community,” said Raun Rasmussen, Executive Director of Legal Services NYC. “Our staff provides life-changing legal services for low-income New Yorkers, helping them keep their homes and stay out of shelters, find safety from domestic violence, get fully paid for low-wage work, and obtain green cards or citizenship after fleeing violence in their home countries, among other things. While the City pays us to provide these critical services, it’s never enough to cover costs which increase year after year while City funding remains stagnant. Unfortunately, this means fewer staff members each year to deliver these essential legal services. We need City funding that fully covers our costs so New Yorkers in need can get the justice they deserve.” 

“Defender organizations provide critical support for the most vulnerable among us,” said Michele Cortese, Executive Director of the Center for Family Representation , which has represented over 12,000 parents at risk of losing their children to the foster system and youth at risk of incarceration in Manhattan and Queens. “The chronic underfunding of our work not only impacts our staff, but also has a disproportionately negative impact on low-income families and communities of color. If the City is to live into its values of racial justice and supporting the most vulnerable New Yorkers, it must close the pay parity gap between City attorneys and public defenders, and ensure that all our organizations are sustainable.”

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April 26th, 2022

Hon. Kathy Hochul
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

Hon. Andrea Stewart-Cousins
Democratic Leader, New York State Senate
188 State Street
LOB – Room 907
Albany, NY 12247

Hon. Carl Heastie
Speaker, New York State Assembly
New York State Capitol Room 349
Albany, NY 12247

Re: NYC Public Defenders Priorities for Remainder of Legislative Session on Criminal Legal System Reform

Dear Governor Hochul, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Speaker Heastie:

As New York City’s primary public defense organizations, we again write to share our criminal legal system reform priorities for the remainder of the 2022 legislative session. The budget process was consumed by discussions of changes to discovery, bail and mental health protections, but much work remains to thoughtfully address the entrenched failings of the criminal legal system and its wide-ranging consequences.

Since we last wrote on December 16th, 2021, the conditions on Rikers Island have continued to deteriorate. After the inexcusable deaths of 16 people detained at Rikers facilities in 2021, three additional people have perished in the squalid conditions, all presumed innocent and unable to make bail at the time of their death. In mid-March, the federal monitor appointed to oversee Rikers found that the jail continued to be “unstable and unsafe” and by mid-April the US Attorney in Manhattan threatened to place federal control via a receivership.

While we recognize the political pressure to address the perceived rise in crime, we know that the most effective method to increase public safety  remains creating and funding the conditions in which individuals can thrive. As the Governor herself has made clear, there is no data suggesting that bail reform is responsible for the rise of violent crime in American cities. We were disheartened to watch additional rollbacks made to the hard-fought reforms pass through the state budget process, despite the overwhelming evidence that these short-lived reforms have been a success. In the remaining weeks of the legislative session, we urge you to turn your attention to bills that will address many of the root causes that lead to criminal system  involvement, not simply increase jailing and incarceration, and that will create safer communities.

We commend you on restoring New York’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) resources and the funding for a fully staffed parole board, as well as ending the imposition of parole supervision fees. But much remains to be done. We urge you to continue the crucial work of reducing New York’s incarcerated population and investing in our communities by swiftly passing and signing the following proposed legislation this legislative session

The full letter of 2022 Legislative Priorities can be found here.

Defenders Call on Albany to Shrink the State’s Foster System, Deepen Support for New York Families, and Increase Funding for Family Defense

(New York, NY) – In a recently issued letter, 21 family defense organizations representing thousands of parents across New York State in Family Court called on Governor Kathy Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to pass a suite of bills aimed at protecting the rights of parents and caregivers and reducing family regulation and surveillance that disproportionately target low-income Black and brown New Yorkers.

These measures would shrink the pathways to and the harmful impact of the family regulation system, which, from start to finish, serves to surveil and punish, and shift power back to and honor the dignity and autonomy of communities most impacted by the family regulation system.

“As public defenders, and advocates for the underserved communities in Queens County, we see how the “Family Regulation System” can cause irreparable harm to families and the children we all want to protect,” said Kirlyn Joseph, Esq. Queens Defenders, Director of Family Law Practice. “Consistently we see the impact of family separation on children lasting long after the events have taken place. In some instances, we are seeing these children as clients in the Criminal and Juvenile courts. An inability to deal with or trust the system that emotionally traumatized them has led to a life entrenched in the justice system. These legislative changes will help to put families, and more importantly children, first by preventing the system from criminalizing poverty. Current policies that rely on anonymous tips while ignoring the socio-economic factors around cases of neglect or abuse allow a stranger to ruin the lives of people who are just trying to do their best.”

“For too long, the family regulation system has used social service providers, like health care providers and educators, as its eyes and ears, thus creating a relationship of mistrust and fear among New York’s socially marginalized families toward critical social service providers,” says Miriam Mack, Policy Director to the Family Defense Practice at The Bronx Defenders. “As public defenders, we see how practices like ‘test and report’ in hospitals, anonymous reporting, and family regulation workers keeping parents in the dark about their rights unnecessarily expose families to the harms of family regulation system intervention and potential family separation. We see how families can be subjected to years-long trauma of family court proceedings and deprived of sacred familial bonds. If New York is truly a state that honors all families’ dignity and humanity, the Legislature must pass and Governor Hochul must sign into law these important reforms.”

“As public defenders who have represented thousands of parents in Brooklyn family court, we have witnessed the traumatic effects of the so-called ‘child welfare system’ on New York’s families,” said Lauren Shapiro, Managing Director of Brooklyn Defender’ Family Defense Practice. “Steeped in the same systemic racism as the criminal legal system, the family regulation system disproportionately targets families of color living in poverty, subjects families to surveillance and separation, causing long-lasting harm that ripples through generations and communities. New York has an opportunity to minimize the harmful impact of this system, by investing in resources that will support New York families and enacting a slate of legislation that will empower parents and keep families together.”

“Research shows the family regulation system does irreparable harm to Black and Latine families and it doesn’t make their communities any safer. New York must invest community-based resources that support, not punish, the state’s most vulnerable families. The six legislative priorities outlined in this letter will protect the rights of those targeted by family regulation, reducing court filings and traumatic family separations, and preserve economic opportunities for parents harmed by the system, while saving the State money,” said Jennifer Feinberg, Litigation Supervisor for Policy & Government Affairs, Center for Family Representation.

“It is well past time that New York adopts policies and laws that invest in families and minimize family separation,” said Susan Bryant, Executive Director of the New York State Defenders Association. “The existing family regulatory system has caused and continues to cause a disproportionate number of poor, Black, and brown children to be taken from their parents. Enacting this slate of legislation is a first step towards demonstrating New York’s commitment to advancing equity and fairness and investing in real community-based support for parents and children that are not a part of the family regulatory system.”

“Racism is just as embedded in the family destruction system as it is in policing and our criminal courts. The family destruction system exists to surveil, seize and separate Black and brown families. ACS is part and parcel of this systemic and structural destruction of Black and brown families in Upper Manhattan,” said Alice Fontier, Managing Director of Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem. “The constant surveillance and policing has devastated the Northern Manhattan neighborhoods we serve. ACS punishes Black and brown families for being poor instead of providing support and the outcomes speak for themselves: just six percent of children in foster care in New York City are white. We demand Governor Hochul and state legislators act swiftly in eliminating the racialized surveillance of the family destruction system and replacing it with community-based infrastructure that allows Black and brown families to thrive.”

In 2020, New York State’s family regulation system received 134,406 reports and its foster system admitted 6,349 children. In 2021, the New York City Administration for Child Services conducted over 43,000 investigations, 64% of which found no credible evidence of child maltreatment. Less than 40% of cases found credible evidence of child maltreatment, and the vast majority were allegations stemming from poverty, such as not having access to childcare.

Much like the criminal legal system, the family regulation system has been and continues to be profoundly shaped by structural racism. It operates by surveilling and punishing low-income families and communities of color, particularly Black and brown communities. This system treats poverty as child neglect, unnecessarily separating families and shifting resources to the family regulation system, rather than directly providing support to the families it is meant to serve.

With the state budget negotiations finalizing on March 31 and the legislative session beginning in earnest, advocates urge the Governor and Legislature to invest in New York families by addressing the acute crisis in the representation of parents and family defense, and passing the following critical bills:

• The Family Miranda Rights Act Requires Caseworkers Investigating Reports of Child Maltreatment to Notify Parents and Caretakers of Their Rights – S05484A (Brisport) / A06792 (Walker)

• The Anti-Harassment in Reporting Act Requires Non-Mandated Callers Making Reports of Suspected Child Maltreatment to Provide Their Name and Contact Information – S07326 (Brisport) / A07879 (Hevesi)

• Prohibit Non-Consensual Drug and Alcohol Testing and Screening of Pregnant and Perinatal People and Newborns – S04821 (Salazar) / A04285 (Rosenthal)

• Allow Post-Termination Contact Between Children and Their Birth Parents or Siblings in Termination of Parental Rights Proceedings When in the Best Interest of the Child – S04203 (Savino) / A02199 (Joyner) (previously passed by the Legislature and vetoed by the Governor in 2021)

• Ensure Equity in Establishing Parental Rights for All Fathers of Children in the Foster System S06389 (Brisport)/A07347 (Hevesi) 

• Give Judges in Article 10 Matters the Discretion to Grant Adjournments in Contemplation of Dismissal (ACDs) – S07173 (Bailey)

The full letter can be found here

January 24th, 2022

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

NYC Defender Joint Statement in Response to Mayor Adams’ Remarks on Gun Violence

(NEW YORK, NY) – The Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, The Bronx Defenders, The Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and Queens Defenders released the following statement in response to Mayor Eric Adams’ remarks on gun violence:

“We appreciate Mayor Adams’ commitment of significant resources to strategies that support a holistic approach to mitigate gun violence by expanding New York City’s Crisis Management System, mental health intervention services, and job development and housing support for young people, people in the foster system and those currently suffering homelessness. We fully support an expansion of the Summer Youth Employment program, the Fair Futures Initiative and employment opportunities for young people. These efforts will go a long way towards stabilizing communities in need of investment and resources.

However, we do not support Mayor Adams’ focus on discredited punitive and surveillance-based strategies, including his call for additional rollbacks to bail and discovery reform, amendments to Raise the Age, increased use of facial recognition and reinstatement of the NYPD’s historically racist Anti-Crime Unit. 

The data is clear: bail reform has not contributed to any increase in crime; rather, it has helped address the crisis in our local jails and allowed New Yorkers to remain safely at home with their families and communities while they fight their cases. The proposal to upend New York’s decades-old bail system by attempting to predict a person’s risk of future ‘dangerousness’ invites racial discrimination into our courtrooms and will lead to an  unprincipled and unwarranted increase in pretrial jail population, as it has done in several other states. 

The proposal to amend the Raise the Age law to increase the number of adolescents prosecuted as adults is equally ill-advised. The current law already allows for cases of gun possession to be retained in the adult court system; further rollbacks only risk undermining effective strategies for supporting young New Yorkers and addressing historical racial disparities. The current system ensures that all teenagers except those charged with the most serious crimes are prosecuted in a system with age-appropriate services and residential options. COVID-19 brought massive disconnections from necessary services, death and economic upheaval for the young people of our City. This is precisely the wrong time to unnecessarily push more young people into the criminal courts – a system designed for adults. New York spent decades laboring under the myth that children are adults with no evidence that the practice ever reduced crime rates. We should not roll back the clock.

Reinstating the NYPD’s Anti-Crime Unit without also addressing the culture and policies that drove that unit’s decades-long pattern of harassment and violence targeting Black and brown New Yorkers is a mistake. Today’s announcement gives the community members who live with the legacy of hyper-aggressive policing no comfort that Mayor Adams’s Anti-Crime Unit will be different from its predecessors. The Mayor must focus on addressing long standing problems with NYPD’s culture of impunity before he doubles down on strategies that will only perpetuate the harms of that culture.

Finally, regarding the Mayor’s claims that public defenders need to ‘return to work:’ public defenders from each of the six defender organizations in New York City have worked around the clock since March 2020 in our representation of our clients. The delay in trials has nothing to do with defenders and all to do with a backlog caused by COVID-19, a pandemic that forced the criminal legal system to a full halt for over a year and the lack of trial capacity in the courts.

We call on the Legislature to reject the Mayor’s wrongheaded proposals to rely on discredited punitive approaches and focus on investing in our communities.”

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Contact: 

Chi Nguyen, The Bronx Defenders (CNguyen@bronxdefenders.org)

Redmond Haskins, The Legal Aid Society (RHaskins@legal-aid.org)

Daniel Ball, Brooklyn Defender Services (Dball@bds.org)

Sam McCann, The Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (SMccann@ndsny.org)

Hettie Powell, Queens Defenders (hpowell@queensdefenders.org)

January 5th, 2022

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

NYC Defenders Demand that City Stop Recording Phone Calls Made by Incarcerated New Yorkers

Thousands of privileged conversations between defense attorneys and their clients were recorded, with some of those recordings sent directly to prosecutors

(NEW YORK, NY) – The Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, The Bronx Defenders, New York County Defender Services, Queens Defenders and Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem called on the city to cease recording all phone calls made by New Yorkers incarcerated in local jails. This call comes in response to an audit of recordings made by the New York City Department of Correction (DOC) and its jail phone service contractor, Securus Technologies Inc., which revealed that nearly 2,300 privileged calls between New Yorkers and their defense team were recorded. The audit follows public defenders’ discovery that prosecutors received recordings of attorney client conversations earlier last year. 

The Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, The Bronx Defenders, New York County Defender Services, Queens Defenders and Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, stated: 

“The illegal recording of conversations between incarcerated people and their defense teams , the overwhelming majority of whom have not been convicted of any crime, violates every bedrock principle of our legal system. Thousands of times, the people we serve believed they were having private and legally-protected conversations with their counsel. Thousands of times, DOC and its contractor Securus trampled that right. In some instances, conversations were turned over directly to the prosecutors. 

This is just one example of DOC’s blatant disregard for the rights and humanity of incarcerated New Yorkers – a disregard it continues to demonstrate by allowing deadly conditions at Rikers to persist. 

The recordings also underline the pernicious overreach of the city’s surveillance apparatus. Currently, DOC records every single call involving an incarcerated person, but claims to not record numbers it allegedly includes on its ‘Do Not Record’ list, like those belonging to the defense team. Even if legal calls were properly protected, the universal recording project is a violation of privacy and subjects incarcerated people to undue monitoring and control. Every call, no matter how personal, is recorded and frequently turned over to prosecutors. 

We demand an immediate end to recording of all phone calls made by New Yorkers incarcerated at New York City’s jails. 

DOC and Securus claim these recordings were made by mistake; that they did not intend to record calls between attorneys and their clients. The simplest way to ensure such a mistake is impossible in the future – and to prevent further damage to the legal system and our clients – is to end the wrongful draconian practice of recording phone calls made by incarcerated people every single call.” 

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Contact: 

Redmond Haskins, The Legal Aid Society (RHaskins@legal-aid.org) 

Daniel Ball, Brooklyn Defender Services (Dball@bds.org) 

Chi Nguyen, The Bronx Defenders (CNguyen@bronxdefenders.org) 

Lupe Todd-Medina, New York County Defender Services (LToddmedina@nycds.org) 

Sam McCann, The Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (SMccann@ndsny.org) 

Hettie Powell, Queens Defenders (hpowell@queensdefenders.org)

December 22nd, 2021

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

 DOC Commissioner: COVID-19 Infection Rate Skyrocketing in Local Jails

 Positivity Rate Doubled in Last Day from 9.5% to 17% 

Only 38% of Incarcerated People in DOC Custody Fully Vaccinated

(NEW YORK, NY) – The Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, The Bronx Defenders, New York County Defender Services, Queens Defenders and Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem called for the immediate release of incarcerated people and the halt of new admissions to New York City jails in response to a letter from New York City Department of Correction (DOC) Commissioner Vincent Schirali which notes that the COVID-19 positivity rate at Rikers Island continues to skyrocket due to the Omicron variant.

The letter states:

“While much of New York City may be spared the worst possible impacts of the Omicron variant due to relatively high vaccination rates, only 45% of our incarcerated population has received one shot of the vaccine, and only 38% is fully vaccinated. Until ten days ago, for the past several months our COVID positivity rate was consistently hovering at approximately 1%. Yesterday it was 9.5%. Today it is over 17%.

The combination of these data indicates that the risks to the human beings in our custody are at a crisis level. As you are aware, considerable efforts were made at the beginning of the pandemic to reduce the jail population immediately in order to avert a major humanitarian catastrophe. All indications suggest that our jail population faces an equal or greater level of risk from COVID now as it did at the start of the pandemic.

We are doing what we can to limit the spread of Omicron. Sadly, that includes the suspension of congregate services and in-person visitation, additional movement protocols for individuals who may have been exposed to COVID, and reductions in programming. These measures will have considerable negative effects on a jail population that is still reeling from two years of COVID and a staffing crisis that has contributed to unprecedented levels of tension, anxiety, and violence within the jails. The consequences of removing these basic services and supports from those in our custody will be felt by both persons in custody and the officers who work hard every day to keep people here safe. We believe we have no choice. 

I implore you to ask the courts to similarly consider every available option to reduce the number of individuals in our jail. Whether that means seeking supervised release in more cases or identifying cases that can be resolved with modifications to sentence length or requesting compassionate release for individuals who are at higher risk due to underlying medical conditions, I leave to your professional judgment.”

In response, New York City public defender organizations stated:

“As New York City experiences a massive surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, our fears that the virus would ravage the City’s jails have been realized, with positivity rates for people held in DOC custody doubling in the last 24 hours.

The virus is spreading like wildfire throughout Rikers Island and other DOC facilities, exacerbating an ongoing humanitarian crisis that has already taken the lives of sixteen people this year and forced countless others to endure life-threatening conditions while in custody.

Thousands of incarcerated New Yorkers are suffering, and DOC has proven to be incapable of caring for the health and safety of the people in its custody throughout the pandemic. Without immediate decarceration, more lives will be lost. We urge judges, district attorneys, and elected officials at every level of government to take immediate action to release people and halt new jail admissions.”

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Contact: 

Redmond Haskins, The Legal Aid Society (RHaskins@legal-aid.org)

Sarah Duggan, Brooklyn Defender Services (SDuggan@bds.org)

Chi Nguyen, The Bronx Defenders (CNguyen@bronxdefenders.org)

Lupe Todd-Medina, New York County Defender Services (LToddmedina@nycds.org)

Sam McCann, The Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (SMccann@ndsny.org)

Hettie Powell, Queens Defenders (hpowell@queensdefenders.org)

December 16th, 2021

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

NYC Defenders’ Statement on Mayor-elect Eric Adams’ Comments on Solitary Confinement

(NEW YORK, NY) – Brooklyn Defender Services, The Bronx Defenders, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, New York County Defender Services, and Queens Defenders released the following statement in response to Mayor-elect Eric Adams indicating his intention to reinstate solitary confinement at Rikers on January 1:  

“Solitary confinement has taken the lives of Kalief Browder, Layleen Polanco, Brandon Rodriguez, and countless others who have suffered the torturous conditions of the practice. Calling for people to be locked up in perpetual solitary confinement on the heels of the deaths of Malcolm Boatwright and William Brown ⁠— the 15th and 16th people to die in DOC custody this year ⁠— is not only inhumane, dangerous, and unconscionable; it also fails to grasp the root causes of the humanitarian crisis in the city’s jails. 

As anyone who has spent time on Rikers knows, the culture of violence and brutality is inherent in our dependence on pre-trial incarceration and the punitive nature of confinement. The answer to the crisis on Rikers Island is not more punishment. The Board of Correction agrees that punitive segregation does not provide safety.

We hope and expect that the mayor-elect will not make any decisions about solitary confinement without first hearing from impacted people, advocates, and experts on the topic.”

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Contact: 

Chi Nguyen, The Bronx Defenders (cnguyen@bronxdefenders.org)

Sam McCann, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (SMccann@ndsny.org)

Daniel Ball, Brooklyn Defender Services (DBall@bds.org)

Lupe Todd-Medina, New York County Defender Services (LToddmedina@nycds.org)

Hettie Powell, Queens Defenders (hpowell@queensdefenders.org)

December 15th, 2021

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

NYC Defenders Statement on Death of William Brown, the 16th Person to Die in DOC Custody This Year

(NEW YORK, NY) – Brooklyn Defender Services, The Bronx Defenders, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, New York County Defender Services, and Queens Defenders released the following statement following the death of William Brown in Department of Correction custody. Mr. Brown was the 16th incarcerated person to die in New York City in the last year:

“Our city’s jails are deadly. Mr. Brown’s death today, the second in the last five days, is the result of DOC’s failure to protect the health and safety of people in its custody.  That failing continues to be compounded by the refusal of our elected officials – the mayor, the governor, district attorneys and judges – to do everything in their power to address the humanitarian crisis at Rikers and reduce the jail population in response to a mounting death toll. Their apathy to the lives of all those held on Rikers will kill again if left unchecked. 

While we are still learning details about Mr. Brown’s death, we know plenty about the deadly conditions in which he was held. A federal monitor described the jail as succumbing to ‘disorder and chaos,’ and noted that conditions have progressively worsened. We hear  horror stories from the people we represent every day, and we have witnessed firsthand people stuffed into tiny cells – or even shower stalls – forced to defecate into bags, wary of COVID and terrified that they might be the next person killed by these conditions. 

In fact, one person attempted suicide in front of us on a visit this September. 

The very real risk of death is part and parcel of Rikers Island at this point, and it is a risk judges and DAs have apparently deemed acceptable as they continue to send droves of New Yorkers into its cages every day. Last week alone more than 270 new people were sent to Rikers, bringing the total to 5,423 people – 82% of whom are being held pre-trial or on technical parole violations. We demand judges and DAs stop gambling with people’s lives. They must stop seeking and setting bail in virtually every eligible case. 

Sending people into cages because they cannot afford the price of their freedom has never been about public safety.Not only are people held on Rikers part of that public, but the overwhelming majority would be free if they could simply afford bail. 

As DOC continues to be responsible for more death and suffering, those who continue to put more New Yorkers in its custody bear responsibility for these deaths.” 

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Contact: 

Chi Nguyen, The Bronx Defenders (cnguyen@bronxdefenders.org)

Sam McCann, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (SMccann@ndsny.org)

Daniel Ball, Brooklyn Defender Services (DBall@bds.org)

Lupe Todd-Medina, New York County Defender Services (LToddmedina@nycds.org)

Hettie Powell, Queens Defenders (hpowell@queensdefenders.org)