JustLeadershipUSA Stands with President and CEO DeAnna Hoskins in Her Role as NYC BOC Member Filing Litigation Against the NYC Department of Correction

This morning, in her role as a member of the nine-person New York City Board of Correction (BOC), JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA) President and CEO DeAnna Hoskins, along with four other members of the BOC, filed an Article 78 proceeding in Bronx County Supreme Court requesting a preliminary and permanent injunction against the New York City Department of Correction (DOC) and the City of New York, stating:

“On January 9, 2023, DOC unlawfully terminated the Board’s long-standing and unfettered access to DOC’s video footage systems and implemented a series of unworkable restrictions on the Board’s access to DOC video footage.

“The Board has engaged in multiple good-faith efforts with DOC and the New York City Law Department over the last seven months in order to restore BOC’s access to DOC’s video footage systems. Those efforts have been unsuccessful. DOC has demonstrated no willingness to restore access on fair and reasonable terms.”

DeAnna also co-authored with her BOC colleagues an op-ed in the New York Daily News calling for Rikers Island to be placed into federal receivership, ahead of a critical hearing on the matter before a federal judge on Thursday, August 10.

In response, JLUSA Executive Vice President of Strategic Partnerships Ronald Simpson-Bey has issued the following statement:

“JustLeadershipUSA stands with our President and CEO, as she—along with other courageous members of the New York City Board of Correction—have taken this historic and unprecedented action today to take back the authority entrusted and standing firm.

“As the lead organization in the #CLOSErikers campaign—which began in 2016 and resulted in a successful vote by City Council to shutter Rikers—JLUSA continues to sound the alarm as lives are literally hanging in the balance. Rikers must go into federal receivership now.”