The Marshall Project: Police Arrested Fewer People During Coronavirus Shutdowns—Even Fewer Were White
“Dawit Getachew, a public defender at the Bronx Defenders in New York, says he’s seen the racial disparity in arrests before and after the pandemic, because he represents clients from a South Bronx neighborhood that is primarily home to black and Hispanic residents. While Getachew said he is not surprised to learn about the widening…
She Knows: 4 Things You Can Do Right Now to Demand Justice for George Floyd
“In particular, donating to bail funds allows organizations to do crucial work to provide justice to people who may be incarcerated because they cannot afford cash bail. Activists are also working to ensure that cash bail is not codified as part of the prison system. Other organizations to which you can donate: The Atlanta Solidarity Fund, the Bail Project, the Brooklyn Bail…
New York Daily News: Living with lupus in the time of Trump
“When Trump promoted this drug in March, people all over the world rushed to take it. There was an immediate shortage of the drug. Now that he claims to be on hydroxychloroquine, it will likely spark a new run on the pills, which will directly jeopardize my own health by making it harder for me to…
City Limits: Opinion: Don’t Leave the Vulnerable with Less Defense in NYC Courtrooms
“COVID-19 has upended every aspect of public life. It has also exposed and exacerbated the racial and economic disparities that have long existed in this city. Our legal systems are no different in that regard. Even as some court functions have slowed down, our legal systems continue to target and ensnare low-income New Yorkers. ‘Social…
CityLimits: City’s Courts Seen Lacking in Interpreters
“The situation is complicated when these organizations cannot pay for private simultaneous translation services and the lawyers are not bilingual. If a defendant is in custody, “you can’t talk to the person if you don’t know the language,” explains Alice Fontier, director of criminal practice at The Bronx Defenders. So for those who can’t make…
Aljazeera: Still Here: A story of incarceration and gentrification in the US
“I am the proud mother of four children.” When Tamanika was sent to prison, three of her four children were put in foster care, while her oldest child stayed with her family. “The court tried to terminate my parental rights but I fought hard and it didn’t happen,” she explains. “I had a wonderful team…
The City: Parents Seeking Return of Children First Must Forge Connections On Screens
“At the Bronx Defenders, which is working with the Bronx mother, efforts to reunify families are sometimes cut short by an agency’s insistence that a parent have a longer track record of supervised visits with caseworkers and sessions with therapists and counselors. The pandemic has also had a significant impact on access to services —…
City Limits: Acceso a justicia para quienes no hablan inglés se parece a una sala de emergencia
La situación es complicada cuando las organizaciones no pueden pagar por servicios privados de traducción simultánea y además los abogados no son bilingües. Si un acusado está en custodia, “tú no puedes hablar con la persona si no sabes el idioma”, explica la directora de práctica criminal en The Bronx Defenders, Alice Fontier. Así que…
Talk Poverty: Coronavirus Could Cost Parents Custody of Kids in Foster Care
“In some states, like New York and California, there have been no official statewide orders cutting off all in-person visitation; instead agencies have been directed to make decisions on a case-by-case basis. But those on the ground say this is still leaving many parents without a voice in the decision-making process. Despite state-level guidance that…
Revolt: Lil Tjay partners with The Bronx Defenders to support inmates amidst pandemic
“Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, low-income black and brown communities like the Bronx have been hit the hardest,” Bronx Defenders Executive Director Justine Olderman said in the release. “This is a community that depends heavily on public transportation, encompasses countless essential workers and is over criminalized into a legal system that crams people into jail…
City Limits: Opinion: ICE Detention Facilities Have Failed to Protect People from COVID-19
“As COVID-19 continues to devastate the country, we have witnessed the failure of Immigration Customs & Enforcement (ICE) to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus in our local jails. It is hard to imagine a government agency less equipped to address the COVID-19 pandemic than ICE. Even under “normal” circumstances before the pandemic, ICE proved…
Telegram: Former Wachusett star Jeremy Bennie, now a public defender, experiences New York during pandemic
“I fell in love with the work, I fell in love with the people, I fell in love with being able to represent clients and work so closely with clients and really tell their stories, and I haven’t looked back.” Bennie works for The Bronx Defenders, a nonprofit that represents low-income residents in the New…
New York Daily News: Protecting children in the age of COVID: The Administration for Children’s Services must change its approach
The COVID-19 crisis has forced us to rethink every aspect of American life, revealing that many structures damaging in normal times are now downright catastrophic. This is true in the criminal legal system, where policies that prop up mass incarceration have enabled disease and death to ravage our jails and prisons. It is also true…
Politico: Officials, advocates call for release of transgender, vulnerable inmates amid coronavirus
“Transgender people continue to be moved from facility to facility because the Department of Correction often houses them incorrectly and then needs to move them to another housing area,” Deborah Lolai, supervising attorney of the Bronx Defenders’ LGBTQ Defense Practice, in a statement. “This means that transgender people are going to be exposed to many…
Univision: “No están preparados para la pandemia”: hispano habla de su experiencia en un centro de detención de ICE
“El peruano Carlos Usategui, quien estuvo detenido dos meses en el Orange County Correctional Facility, en Nueva York, asegura que en ese centro penitenciario no se están tomando en serio la crisis desatada por el coronavirus, pues no tienen mascarillas, guantes ni desinfectantes disponibles y los presos están expuestos peligrosamente al virus.” Watch the full…
The Nation: In ICE Detention, Forced to Pay for Soap
“At this point, the coronavirus has infected hundreds of thousands of Americans and killed over 50,000. One of the CDC’s most basic guidelines for avoiding COVID-19 is, of course, frequently washing one’s hands. Robyn Barnard, an asylum attorney in Southern California, says that her client contacted her and asked her to put money in his…
The Chronicle of Social Change: Parents’ Foster Care Placement Challenges Need Quick Resolutions, New York Appeals Court Rules
“During testimony in Albany in November, Emma Ketteringham, managing attorney of Bronx Defenders’ Family Defense Practice said the problems include too few judges and a lack of evening and weekend courtroom hours. “As a result, families are separated needlessly and kept separated for longer than necessary,” she told lawmakers. Pandemic-related court closures have exacerbated those delays for the foreseeable…
MySanAntonio: Advocates call for canceling court fees, fines; reinstating drivers’ licenses
“According to the Driven by Justice Coalition, New York issued nearly 1.7 million driver’s license suspensions for traffic debt during a 28-month period between 2016 and 2018. Nearly 75 percent of those with suspended licenses drive anyway, said Ranit Patel of The Bronx Defenders, a nonprofit public defender organization. The calls to suspend fines and…
Women’s Media Center: Closed courts create anguish for families separated by child welfare system
“In states with shelter-in-place orders, most courts have been closed or able to hear only limited types of cases, with devastating consequences for some families. The lack of access to courts has delayed reunifications for families with children in foster care, and has caused difficulties for child custody arrangements in domestic violence cases. The outsized…
Legislative Gazette: Budget includes compromise on bail reform and judicial discretion
“Now, discovery laws have been extended to 20 calendar days and allowed some information to be non-discoverable. “The [amendments to] discovery provisions will also deny people facing criminal charges access to crucial and potentially exculpatory witness information. These are not small tweaks; they have bludgeoned reform just as it was taking root,” said the Bronx…
NY1: Protesters Demand Release of Queensboro Correctional Facility Prisoners
“Advocates held a rally outside Queensboro Correctional Facility demanding the release all state prisoners who are within one year of their release date. The protest, which included former inmates, prison health experts and advocacy organizations, is part of a larger call to release prisoners in order to save lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Read the…
AMNY: Bronx leaders launch $10M fundraiser for food & small businesses support
“$1,000,000 for equity and justice – In partnership with legal aid groups, such as Bronx Defenders, Legal Aid Society and others, ensures that 2,000 Bronxites are supported through their criminal, civil, child welfare and immigration cases during the New York stay-at-home order” Read the full article here
Trouw: Geen borgsom in New York: vrij spel voor criminelen?
“Maar de New Yorkse media missen een nog veel sensationeler verhaal, zegt advocaat Eli Northrup, die regelmatig verdachten bijstaat bij hun eerste voorgeleiding na arrestatie. “Dat is het verhaal van iemand die geen borgtocht krijgt opgelegd die hij niet kan betalen, terug mag gaan naar zijn gezin, zijn baan niet verliest. In plaats van pas…
NY1: ICE obligado a liberar 5 inmigrantes en riesgo de contraer Covid-19
“En su decisión, la magistrada indicó que como no se aseguran los protocolos de higiene y salud en medio de la pandemia, los inmigrantes son expuestos a un alto riesgo de enfermarse gravemente o morir. Lo cual, dijo, equivale a una pena o castigo extremo bajo las normas del debido proceso. La demanda fue presentada…
Amsterdam News: Five medically vulnerable immigrants are released from ICE detention, but thousands still detained during pandemic
“Many attorneys and legal offices continue demanding that all immigrants be released. Releasing people from immigration detention can protect their lives, the lives of staff, and public health. A growing number of courts around the country have ordered the immediate release of medically vulnerable individuals. Courts are recognizing both the enormous risk of harm that…