When Prisons Locked Down, Prisoners Were Denied Release Leaving prison often hinges on completing rehabilitative programming. The pandemic caused many of these required courses to be put on hold. Daniel Moritz-Rabson
New York City Has People on Parole In Jails At Rates Not Seen Since The Early Pandemic Despite calls to reduce incarcerated populations, the number of people being detained for minor parole violations has been rising. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
New York Moves A Step Closer To Decriminalizing Sex Work After organizing to repeal the “walking while trans” ban, advocates in the state—and around the country—are looking ahead to the next fight. Bryce Covert
New Jersey Could Force Cuomo’s Hand on Pot Legalization The New York governor has released a plan to legalize marijuana, months after voters in the Garden State approved legalization in November. Advocates say the pressure could have ripple effects regionally. Joshua Vaughn
Supreme Court’s Decision To Bar Restrictions On Religious Services In New York Is An Ominous Sign The Court’s willingness to infer discrimination against Judeo-Christian religions from poorly articulated remarks that accompanied a public health response to COVID-19 may make other laws and policies vulnerable to claims of religious discrimination as well. Leah Litman
Newly Elected Los Angeles DA Will End Cash Bail in Nation’s Largest Prosecutor Office On his first day in office, George Gascón said prosecutors will not seek bail starting Jan. 1, a win for criminal justice reformers. Eliyahu Kamisher
America’s Biggest City Was Hit Hard By COVID-19. Its Jails Are Filling Up Again New York City’s jail population is close to reaching pre-pandemic levels. Advocates say dishonest fearmongering about bail reform—and the politicians who capitulated to it—have created a very real safety crisis. Joshua Manson
Families Urge Cuomo to Release Loved Ones from Prison During COVID-19 Pandemic In addition to the releases he has already ordered, the New York governor can grant commutations to free more incarcerated people to protect them from the disease. He has issued only three since the pandemic began. Alana Sivin, Joshua Vaughn
Andrew Cuomo Promised Criminal Justice Reforms, But New York Is Still Waiting The governor has rolled back bail reform, not released enough prisoners during the pandemic, and failed to rein in police abuses, advocates and prisoners say. Rebecca McCray
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Is Fresh Off His Book Tour, But Activists Say He Doesn’t Live Up to His National Reputation Progressive lawmakers and activists say Cuomo has failed to adequately protect those who are out of work, at risk of losing their homes, or living behind bars, where the virus has spread rapidly. Tara Francis Chan, Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Prison Labor Is on the Frontlines of the COVID-19 Pandemic States like California, New York, and Arizona have relied on prisoners to continue working, with little pay and in precarious conditions, during the coronavirus pandemic. Eliyahu Kamisher
Isolation, Death, And Grief at a New York Women’s Prison Coronavirus infections climb at the state’s only maximum-security facility for women, and those held there fear for their safety. Lyra Walsh Fuchs
Advocates Push New York Governor for More Releases From Jails and Prisons The governor’s requirements for release are too narrow in light of the threat from COVID-19, they say. Bryce Covert
The Carceral Kings of New York As COVID-19 spreads, Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio are slashing budgets, but leaving funding for police and prisons largely untouched. Ross Barkan
New York Lawmakers Push for Real Rent Relief Amid COVID-19 Outbreak Their proposals move beyond Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 90-day eviction moratorium and call for suspending or forgiving rent payments longer term. Bryce Covert
Avoid Austerity To Prevent A State And Local Coronavirus Depression Local budget cuts enacted a decade ago left states and cities dangerously unprepared for COVID-19. We shouldn’t make those same mistakes again. Nathan Tankus
Policing Coronavirus As infections and deaths mount, state leaders and law enforcement are turning to tough-on-crime tactics in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak. Jessica Pishko
Lessons from Hurricane Katrina For The COVID-19 Recovery To Come Powerful interests exploited Katrina to enrich themselves and transform the city. As a reporter who covered the fallout explains, our government’s lax oversight means the same could happen now, leaving those who most need help behind. Gary Rivlin
New York Retreats on Bail Reform Amid Coronavirus Outbreak The state, which accounts for roughly one-third of all positive COVID-19 cases in the country, is facing a rapid spread of the disease in its jail and prison systems. Bryce Covert
Coronavirus Has Come to Rikers, and the People Inside Are Fighting to Survive The island’s Communicable Disease Unit is already overflowing with quarantined people. Kim Kelly
Pressure Builds on New York Governor To Address Coronavirus Impact on Prisoners Andrew Cuomo, who recently announced the state would employ prisoners to make hand sanitizer, must prepare for the particular vulnerabilities of the state’s prison population to COVID-19, advocates say. Bryce Covert
Clemency Gave Him A Second Chance. He Won’t Forget His Friends Who Haven’t Been As Lucky A year after Alfonzo Riley returned from prison, he’s helping to vet innocence claims. Kira Lerner
Why Keeping People With Sex Offense Convictions Off Social Media Sites Does Little To Make Those Sites Safer New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposal purports to take sexual violence seriously, but it aggressively ignores reality in favor of lazy solutions. Guy Hamilton-Smith
Manhattan D.A. Suggests He Nudged The Governor To Fix A Loophole In New York Rape Law. It’s A Bit More Complicated. Cyrus Vance says he sent Governor Cuomo a letter about the issue in April 2018; Cuomo's office says it never got it. In the intervening months, critics say Vance's messaging on the issue discouraged survivors of rape from coming forward. Meg O'Connor
New York Subway Police Make Us Less Safe Recent violent arrests in the city subways should make New Yorkers question the push by Governor Andrew Cuomo and the MTA to hire 500 new transit police. Jonathan Ben-Menachem
‘It Will Certainly Save Lives’: A Q&A About Medicaid Coverage For People Preparing For Re-entry Vaidya Gullapalli
For New York’s Police Union, Any Accountability For Eric Garner’s Death Is Too Much Vaidya Gullapalli
Indefinite Solitary Confinement in New York Is Finally Put to the Test Court challenges and a sweeping reform bill are offering hope to men trapped in isolation for decades. Joshua Manson
New York Lawmakers Want To Ban Sex Offenders From The Subway. That Won’t Solve Anything. Banishing people from the subway will only marginalize them without addressing the problem. Guy Hamilton-Smith
Showtime’s ‘Escape at Dannemora’ Left Out Torture and Abuse The miniseries depicting a New York prison escape fails to show what happened to the men left behind. Katie Rose Quandt
In New York, Most Parolees Can Now Vote—But Many County Websites Say They Can’t As Thursday's election approaches, confusion reigns. Emma Whitford
New York Woman Imprisoned For Defending Herself From Abuser Seeks Mercy Jacqueline Smalls was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing a boyfriend whose ‘hands were his weapons.’ She now joins the ranks of criminalized survivors seeking clemency from Governor Cuomo. Victoria Law
Here Are the Criminal Justice Issues Andrew Cuomo and Cynthia Nixon Should Debate From policing to parole, this election could be pivotal for reform. Emma Whitford
Why Rooting Out Rogue Prosecutors Isn’t Enough Experts say New York’s Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct is an important first step, but the problem isn’t just misconduct—it’s the way prosecutors wield their discretion every day. Maura Ewing
Will Governor Cuomo Give Roy Bolus a Second Chance? Bolus is one of thousands of New Yorkers sentenced to life in prison who are waiting for the governor to keep his clemency promise. Max Rivlin-Nadler
Cuomo the Merciless New York's Democratic governor has granted only a trickle of commutations, fewer than many of his Democratic and Republican predecessors. Victoria Law
As Reform Stalls in New York, Defendants Plead Out Because They Can’t Afford Cash Bail Max Rivlin-Nadler
