Speaker Heastie Publicly Commits to Ending Money Bail; Advocates & Survivors of New York’s Jail Crisis Call For Action

Contact: Alexander Bryden, JustLeadershipUSA

Cell: 908.400.7056; alexander@jlusa.org

“Speaker Heastie Publicly Commits to Ending Money Bail; Advocates & Survivors of New York’s Jail Crisis Call For Action”

February 1, 2019  – The #FREEnewyork campaign – a statewide coalition led by directly impacted people, endorsed by over 150 organizations across the state, and dedicated to overhauling New York’s unjust bail, discovery, and speedy trial laws – issued the following statement:

“Yesterday, New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie announced that he “100% supports” ending money bail. As a statewide coalition led by people who have been directly impacted by New York’s jail crisis, we commend Speaker Heastie for taking a clear stance in opposition to a system that criminalizes poverty and drives race- and wealth-based incarceration. Now, we call on Speaker Heastie to move forward legislation that not only ends money bail, but guarantees pretrial liberty for the vast majority of people, strengthens due process safeguards, and protects against mass community surveillance including electronic monitoring. New Yorkers have made clear the principles that must drive bail reform efforts. We expect bail legislation that dramatically reduces the number of people incarcerated pretrial and protects the presumption of innocence.”

Speaker Heastie’s full remarks available here: https://www.trinitywallstreet.org/social-justice/bail-reform