Press Statement

Advocates Call Out Cuomo And State Senate For Negotiating Secret Rollbacks To Bail Reform

NEW YORK – Advocates and legislators rallied today against secret budget negotiations in Albany that threaten to gut New York’s bail reform law and deepen mass incarceration. New legislation reveals the extent of Governor Cuomo’s ambition to push through a radical rollback to bail reform in the middle of the night that would put the state back decades and would submit tens of thousands of New Yorkers to indefinite remand for the first time in the State’s history.

The proposal would undermine the presumption of innocence, dramatically increase jail populations across the State, and exacerbate racial disparities. Overall, tens of thousands of more New Yorkers would be subjected to pretrial jailing each year.

Watch the full video of the press conference here.

“It’s with a heavy heart that my family came together to discuss the consequences and repercussions of this bill. We as a family fought this battle not only for an acknowledgment of what happened to Kalief, but for many other people,” said Akeem Browder, brother of Kalief Browder. “This is a smack in the face to my family–this bill would still have condemned Kalief to being in the system that he was in for three years in the first place. We will still be here until justice is implemented and served.”

“The Governor and State Senate seemed to have learned nothing from Kalief Browder’s story because under this proposal, far more innocent people like him would be locked up behind bars than ever before. This bill would make a mockery of innocence until proven guilty, greatly expand the number of people held pretrial and put more Black and brown people behind bars. This is not about policy, this is about politics and represents a shameful disregard for the lives of thousands of New Yorkers,” said Katie Schaffer, Director of Advocacy and Organizing, Center for Community Alternatives.

These rollbacks would also serve as the equivalent of a death sentence for tens of thousands of New Yorkers who will be thrown into cages as COVID-19 continues to spread like wildfire throughout our jails.