Solitary Watch: Seven Days in Solitary
The following roundup features noteworthy news, reports and opinions on solitary confinement from the past week that have not been covered in other Solitary Watch posts. The American Civil Liberties Union released 26 reports alleging extensive abuses in Arizona’s prisons, including claims that individuals are being placed in solitary confinement because prison beds elsewhere are…
Village Voice: Solitary Confinement at Rikers Island is Torture and “Inexcusably Extreme,” Bronx Defenders Say
Inmates are placed in solitary confinement at Rikers Island for “inexcusably extreme” amounts of time, a new report charges, “egregiously disproportionate” to the infractions they are alleged to have committed. While in solitary, it can be difficult for inmates to get access to the most basic of services, including food, showers, and phone time. That’s…
NY Daily News: Rikers Island ‘box’ counts as ‘torture’ for jail inmates: defense attorneys
‘The interviews expose a systemic practice that is unquestionably inhumane,’ concludes the report by The Bronx Defenders. Of the 59 inmates interviewed, some were as young as 16 — and their median age was 20. The “horrific conditions” endured by inmates in solitary confinement at Rikers Island are exposed in a report released Thursday by a…
WNYC: In Solitary, Inmates Languish, Despair and Attempt Suicide: Report
The Otis Bantum Correctional Center has the largest solitary confinement unit on Rikers Island. It holds roughly 400 inmates, according to the Board of Correction. The Otis Bantum Correctional Center has the largest solitary confinement unit on Rikers Island. It holds roughly 400 inmates, according to the Board of Correction. (Brigid Bergin/WNYC) A new report…
Associated Press: NYC immigrant public defender system breaks ground
NEW YORK (AP) — When Curtis Edmund first heard that a government official had come by his Bronx home looking for him, he couldn’t figure out why. But he agreed to a meeting early this year, and when he arrived, he was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Edmund, a longtime U.S….
The Intercept: America Without the Makeup: Artez Hurston’s Ferguson
A highlight of the challenging and important work that the Arch City Defenders, one of The Bronx Defenders Center for Holistic Defense Training and Technical Assistance Sites, is doing in Missouri: Artez Hurston is curled up on a concrete bench in a Missouri jail cell, fast asleep. He snoozes peacefully, despite the fact that just…
An important legislative step to bring transparency to the use of solitary confinement
The Bronx Defenders was at City Hall yesterday where Mayor de Blasio signed into law Intro-292A, which will bring increased transparency to the use of solitary confinement in New York City jails, an important first step toward ending this torturous practice. Under this law the Department of Corrections will be required to publish four reports a…
Times-Ledger: Wills’ bill seeks to protect jailed voters’ ballots
The Bronx Defenders Policy Organizer Kamau Butcher quoted in local news article about newly introduced legislation regarding voting while incarcerated. Although jail detainees are kept behind bars, City Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica) says their votes should not be. Wills introduced a bill at last week’s Council meeting outlining a process for the city Department of Correction…
Defending families in the Bronx: A collection of portraits celebrating family reunification
Families are the building blocks of every community. They are a primary source of identity and support for individuals in American society. However, in the Bronx – home to some of the poorest, most-under-resourced neighborhoods in the country – parents often struggle to retain the right to make basic decisions about their children, and families end…
El Diario: Exigen que se termine el maltrato de reos en las cárceles de NY
Activistas y concejales municipales exigieron a viva voz reformas en las prisiones de la ciudad. El grupo se congregó el lunes en las escalinatas de la alcaldía en donde, de paso, se entregaron más detalles de un proyecto de ley que quiere que los Departamentos de Correccionales y de Salud publiquen información detallada sobre los…
Bronx Defenders Social Workers Represent Holistic Defense at This Year’s National Organization of Forensic Social Work Conference
Last month, The National Organization of Forensic Social Work (NOFSW) held its annual conference, which took place this year in New York at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus. Several social workers and one attorney from The Bronx Defenders attended the conference, including four staff members who presented. Participation in the conference not only presented an exciting learning and…
The Bronx Defenders responds to US Attorney report on deplorable conditions facing adolescents at Rikers Island
The Bronx Defenders condemns the conditions adolescents at Rikers Island are being held in and the treatment they are subjected to as outlined in the August 4, 2014 report by United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Barara. For too long, the city of New York has neglected adolescents involved in the…
The New York Times: Ill and in Solitary at Rikers
Read The Bronx Defenders’ Skylar Albertson’s “Letter to Editor” published in The New York Times in response to their recent article on mental illness among inmates at Rikers Island: To the Editor: “Where Mental Illness Meets Brutality in Jail” (front page, July 14) paints a horrifying but accurate picture of the abuse that mentally ill…
New York Daily News: Bronx Freedom Fund seeks to show other groups how to post bail for needy defendants
The difference between being saddled with a criminal record and keeping one’s profile clean often comes down to a person’s ability to come up with bail money, a new report from The Bronx Freedom Fund shows. The fund, launched in 2007 and reopened in October 2013, four years after a judge ordered it to cease…
Rise Magazine: ‘I Feel Good that I Never Gave Up!’: At National Reunification Month events, parents reflect on the long road home
For June’s National Reunification Month, organizations around the country celebrated the perseverance and resilience of parents reunifying with children from foster care and of the professionals who support them. On June 13, the family defense organization The Bronx Defenders hosted a reunification celebration, with food, face painting, performances, and families coming together to celebrate the…
New York Times: New York City Council Expected to Approve 2 Plans Aiding Immigrants
Building upon the pilot project implemented by The Bronx Defenders, together with Brooklyn Defender Services, over the past year, The New York City Council announces approval for renewed funding to provide legal representation to undocumented immigrants in New York City at Varick Street in Manhattan as well as in Newark and Elizabeth, N.J. A long-sought…
A Celebration of Families!
Last week we hosted our annual Celebration of Families night to honor our clients who have been reunited with their children after arduous battles in Bronx Family Court. The evening provided our clients and their families an opportunity to share their stories, connect with one another, and take a moment to celebrate their perseverance after a difficult and…
The Bronx Defenders Joins Rally to Demand Justice in Housing Court!
The Bronx Defenders joined Council Member Mark Levine and the Coalition for Justice in Housing Court on the steps of City Hall on Thursday, June 11th, to rally for the “Right to Counsel” in Housing Court. A total of 246,864 New Yorkers were served with eviction papers in 2013. Nearly 99% of these tenants were…
Annual Celebration of Families | June 13, 2014
On June 13, 2014, The Bronx Defenders will host our Fourth Annual Celebration of Families, honoring our clients who have reunited with their children after being separated by foster care. In the spirit of National Reunification Month, a time designated by the American Bar Association to reflect upon the innumerable value of reunifying fragmented families, the Celebration of Families is…
Focus on Fathers’ Family Night Out at Yankee Stadium
On Friday, May 30, 2014, 100 Bronx Defenders clients who are fathers visited Yankee Stadium together with their children to see the New York Yankees host the Minnesota Twins. The tickets were donated to The Bronx Defenders’ Focus on Fathers program by the New York Yankees organization. The evening offered a chance for these Bronx…
The Bronx Defenders Completes its 2014 Defenders’ Academy Spring Training Program!
Today wrapped up the sixth and final day The Bronx Defenders 2014 Defenders’ Academy Spring Training! Over the course of the past week, 78 participants from over 20 different organizations – ranging from public defender offices to private firms to the U.S. military – have participated in an intensive trial skills program designed to strengthen…
Huffington Post’s The Blog: Posting Bail for the Poorest of the Poor
Former Bronx Defenders Trial Chief, David Feige, writes about bail challenges and the successes of The Bronx Freedom Fund in Huffington Post’s The Blog: $500 makes all the difference. For thousands of indigent criminal defendants in New York City, $500 is all that stands between weeks on Riker’s Island and being branded with a criminal conviction,…
WNYC: Bailing Out Those Who Can’t Make Bail
WNYC interviews The Bronx Defenders’ Robin Steinberg about bail inequity and the work of The Bronx Freedom Fund. (more…)
The Bronx Defenders Hosts Its Second Annual Youth Justice Summit!
This week The Bronx Defenders hosted our 2nd Annual Youth Justice Summit! The Summit brought together at our Justice Campus over 100 students from 5 different schools to participate in a series of 12 workshops facilitated by our allies at The Point, Drug Policy Alliance, the Juvenile Justice Project, and the Justice Committee. Students from…
Advocates from Across the U.S. Gather to Discuss Holistic Defense
Last week The Bronx Defenders invited fellow public defenders and advocates from 24 organizations – including 18 public defender offices – across the U.S. to its first Holistic Defense round table. The two-day gathering represented the first opportunity to convene in one room a group of innovators and trailblazers who are challenging traditional criminal justice…