Press Room

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams called for an end to the practice of solitary confinement today at a New York City Board of Corrections hearing. In testimony before the Board, he argued that "Solitary confinement is a torturous punishment that causes deep and permanent psychological, physical, and social harm." He further states that "It is an ineffective, counterproductive, and unsafe disciplinary practice that fails to address the underlying causes of problematic behavior. We must end solitary confinement in the City of New York now."

While the Board has currently proposed a rule regarding solitary that would reduce the maximum solitary sentence from thirty days to fifteen, among other gradual steps, the Public Advocate and other criminal justice reform leaders believe the practice of solitary must be entirely ended.

The Public Advocate's full testimony is below and can be downloaded here. TESTIMONY OF PUBLIC ADVOCATE JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS

TO THE BOARD OF CORRECTIONS

DECEMBER 2, 2019 Good morning, my name is Jumaane D. Williams and I am the Public Advocate for the City of New York. As the City's watchdog, it is my duty to protect the rights of all New Yorkers, including the roughly 7,000 New Yorkers who are housed in the Department of Correction (DOC) facilities. I'd like to thank the Board for holding this hearing and giving the public an opportunity to have their voices heard on this critically important proposed rule.

A member of my team testified at the Board's October 22nd meeting: Restrictive housing, punitive segregation, separation status, whatever we call it--solitary confinement is a torturous punishment that causes deep and permanent psychological, physical, and social harm. It is an ineffective, counterproductive, and unsafe disciplinary practice that fails to address the underlying causes of problematic behavior. We must end solitary confinement in the City of New York now.

The Board's rule must be revised to reflect this moral imperative. Fifteen days in solitary confinement is fifteen days too many. Through this rulemaking process, New York City has an opportunity to serve as a model for the nation in defending basic human rights. I call on the Board to fully end solitary confinement in New York City by adopting the comprehensive blueprint put forward by The NYC Jails Action Coalition and the #HALTsolitary Campaign.

As this blueprint makes clear, ending solitary confinement does not require a radical overhaul of existing protocols. In order to end this shameful chapter in our City's history, we need to strengthen existing standards and follow the example of previous efforts that have successfully replaced punitive segregation with alternatives that prioritize rehabilitation, health, safety, and basic human rights.

One specific example that I want to raise is the Clinical Alternative to Punitive Segregation (CAPS) program that has already been implemented in New York City jails for those living with serious mental illnesses. Instead of placing folks in solitary units that only exacerbate existing behavioral problems, this program provides intense programming, out of cell time, therapy and recreation activities. This has resulted in improved outcomes and safety, including a significant decrease in self-harm and injury. The success of CAPS should not be confined to those with serious mental illnesses. This approach can and should be applied for all New Yorkers in DOC facilities.

I'll end by saying that the stakes are too high here for this City to be taking half-measures and exploiting bureaucratic loopholes that continue the practice of solitary confinement. Passing emergency variances for so-called "separation status", issuing substitution orders to send young New York City residents to sit in solitary cells upstate, and capitulating to watered down rules like the ones before us today are how we end up with more tragedies like the preventable deaths of Layleen Polanco and Kalief Browder. We can and we must end solitary confinement in New York City, and I implore the Board to revise and pass rules that will make this happen.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Following the Public Campaign Financing Commission's final vote on its controversial plan for implementation of a public financing system in New York State, The Albany Times-Union has published an op-ed by Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams entitled 'Campaign finance reform was designed to fail.'

In the piece, he argues that the Commission's failure to develop a real plan for fairly financed elections, and its success in developing one which damages minor parties, was a deliberate action by those in power- and that legislators need to act to correct "what would be the among the worst public financing systems in the nation."

Text of the op-ed is available below and can be viewed online here.

'Campaign finance reform was designed to fail'  By Jumaane D. Williams

Our state's Public Campaign Finance Commission raised its voices over the shouts of enraged New Yorkers on Monday to finalize its plan for implementing a public financing system. The commission was ostensibly tasked with creating a system of fairly financed elections, and in that mission they failed.  It's not a fairly financed election if contribution limits are still high enough for the wealthiest donors to outbid New Yorkers for a politician's attention. It's not a fairly financed election if it includes a poison pill to destroy minor parties that push for major change. It's not a fairly financed election if donation thresholds are inflated enough that the program functions as an incumbency protection program - defeating the purpose, not the powerful. But the truth is that the commission's failure to implement a fair system isn't a failure at all - it's by design.  Governor Cuomo-- like too many of his allies in office-- knows that a fairly financed election is one they can't win. This planned failure has been seeded from the beginning- by installing his top ally as Chair, Governor Cuomo has been able to abuse this process for political gain, free of consequence.  It's absurd, Trumpian, and largely unseen by the public this system should serve and uplift.  The commission held hearings, but clearly weren't listening. In 2018, the top 100 donors gave more money than 137,000 small donors combined. This plan won't suitably correct that disparity - but, in another move that undercuts and obfuscates the purpose of the commission, it will target the organizations working to fight it.  I wouldn't be in office without public financing. But I also wouldn't be here without minor parties, who are unafraid to take a stance against powers like Governor Cuomo. I wouldn't be here without grassroots individuals with boundless energy but limited funds, whose voices public financing would amplify, who big money wants to drown out. Without those forces I wouldn't be here. And the Governor knows that.  Advocates, legislators, leaders, know we had an opportunity to uplift the voices of all New Yorkers, and we cannot stop raising our voices - and votes - against what would be among the worst public financing systems in the nation.  Legislators need to return to Albany and fight back against entrenched powers, or voters will themselves - because elected officials who don't support fair elections don't deserve to win them. 

The New York City Council today passed legislation from Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams aimed at combating the use of fraudulent parking permits in New York City, alongside a package of eight other related measures. The Public Advocate's legislation, Intro 596-B, would increase the fine for use of unauthorized or fraudulent city-issued parking permits, or placards, from $250 to $500.

"Placard abuse is egregious across New York City, and its damaging impact can be seen on side streets and avenues in all five boroughs," said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. "The effects of placard corruption are not just an inconvenience, but a danger and a misuse of our roadways. While the city has been incredibly concerned with combatting fair evasion, placard abuse amounts to a significant theft in transportation services, and this is an effort to address that beyond just words. Doubling the penalty for such blatant fraudulent actions will serve as a strong deterrent to this abuse."

Placards are intended for usage by qualifying staff of city agencies, non-profit organizations, people with disabilities, and clergy members. In addition to street congestion, abuses of that system result in blocking bus, pedestrian, fire hydrant, and biking passages. There have been over 8,000 complaints to 311 in the last two years, and the use of fraudulent placards is currently punishable with a fine of no less than $250.

This bill, part of a broader package the Council voted on today, would double the penalty for the offense, specifically targeting those who manufacture, purchase, or otherwise use fraudulent permits. Enforcement for this violation is primarily carried out by the NYPD. Among other bills in the package passed today are bills which would create an electronic tracking system for valid parking permits, expand reporting and enforcement on illegal placard and city vehicle usage, and penalize individuals who are misusing otherwise legitimate permits.

Advocates, including those on social media, have long called for reform and enforcement on this issue, in a sustained campaign of sharing photographs and videos of prominent examples of placard abuse and illegal parking with elected officials and the public.

"The Public Campaign Financing Commission's plan voted on today will not empower people through Fair Elections-- instead, it will protect the people in power. The commission may have held hearings, but it's clear they weren't listening.

"In 2018, the top 100 donors gave more money than all 137,000 small donors combined. That's absurd, and the plan that Governor Cuomo and Jay Jacobs have successfully pushed through will not do nearly enough to change a system that gives the wealthiest people control. Many of today's proposals and specific votes appeared to be at the Governor's behest. New York's 'progressive' Governor and his allies are showing their true colors and engaging in a Trumpian abuse of this process.

"Advocates, legislators, leaders, know that we had an opportunity to create a public financing system that uplifts the voices of all New Yorkers, but as it stands, it will instead serve as an incumbency protection program, a clear attack on the progressive left movement in this state which supporters of these actions are complicit in.

"In light of today's outcome, legislators should return to Albany ahead of the deadline to amend the plan that would put in place public financing in letter, but undermine its spirit with one of the worst systems in the nation."

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Council Member Brad Lander released the following statement in response to an Executive Order issued by Mayor Bill de Blasio establishing an Algorithms Management and Policy Officer, tasked with ensuring that city agencies develop algorithms in ways that promote fairness and accountability, but creates a potential loophole for law enforcement agencies.

"Data-driven decision-making has the power to totally transform how government allocates resources and serves people, for better or for worse. The algorithms being used to decide everything from where kids go to school, to who can get public assistance, and which neighborhoods are allocated more police attention must be assessed for equity and bias, else we risk recreating ingrained patterns of discrimination and inequality.

"We know from our work fighting to pass the Community Safety Act that structures for oversight and accountability are critical to reforming ingrained patterns in our policing. That's why we are so disappointed to learn that under the new reporting requirements, law enforcement officials would have the potential ability to exempt certain data without specific justifiable cause.

"Decades of racially discriminatory policing have left us with troves of biased data that continue to inform today's predictive policing algorithms, creating feedback loops that recreate harmful overpolicing in communities of color. Policies like stop, question and frisk taught us that institutionalized bias is hard to shake, and harder still when bias is masked by seemingly neutral calculations.

“New York has the opportunity to lead the way on ensuring equity, fairness, and accountability over algorithmic decision-making. We welcome the creation of the Officer of Algorithms Management and Policy, which can help us ensure that we are taking seriously the need for transparency and accountability in how algorithms work, what data they use to make decisions, and how they impact people. There cannot be an exemption for law enforcement, so we ask the administration to provide clarification and necessary change."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams spoke about the need for transparency in body-worn camera usage today at a New York City Council hearing with representatives of the NYPD. He highlighted the need to reform the department's policy on viewing footage, as well as the need to pass his legislation, Intro 1136, which would require the Police Department to submit quarterly public reports on information regarding the use of body-worn cameras. Additionally, the department would be required to annually publish information on each incident requiring an officer to engage body-worn cameras in accordance to Department policy.

This hearing comes as the NYPD has recently released new policy regarding body-worn camera footage. Video of the hearing can be viewed here.

The Public Advocate's full statement is below and can be downloaded here. TESTIMONY OF PUBLIC ADVOCATE JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS TO THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY OVERSIGHT HEARING ON NYPD'S ROLL-OUT OF BODY WORN CAMERAS November 18, 2019 Good morning, My name is Jumaane D. Williams, Public Advocate for the City of New York. I would like to thank Chairman Donovan Richards and the committee members for holding an oversight hearing on the New York Police Department (NYPD)'s use of body-worn cameras.

In 2013, the City Council passed the Community Safety Act, which established an Inspector General for the police department and eased the path for those with claims of bias-based policing to file claims in court. When my colleagues and I pushed for these reforms, critics and detractors shunned this legislation and claimed our proposals would reverse the drop in crime our City has seen through the '90s and '00s. We were told that the "sky was falling," and that biased-based policing was the best, even the only, way to keep crime down, and that the police needed to continue the abuses of the tactic known as stop-question-and-frisk. We were told that adherence to a 'broken windows' mentality and method of quality of life enforcement was necessary to make our streets safer.

We knew then that those assumptions were not true. We knew that we could have better policing and safer streets at the same time- and we were right. For the past six years, since passing the Community Safety Act, New Yorkers have experienced the lowest crime numbers in the "seven major index crime" categories - such as murder, assault, and robbery - than at any other time since the 1950s. I want to acknowledge that to victims of crimes and their families, those statistics mean nothing. I also want to acknowledge the recent uptick of shootings in certain areas. This of course means we must continue to do more. We must also avoid knee-jerk reactions in favor of advancing the strategies we know work.

The bill being heard today - Intro 1136-2018 - furthers the discussion. The bill requires the police department to submit quarterly public reports on information regarding the use of body-worn cameras. The department would also be mandated to annually publish information on each and every incident requiring an officer to engage body-worn cameras in accordance with department policy. This piece of legislation is essential to ensuring that we have full transparency in the information we get from the NYPD. Since the Inspector General's Office kicked off in 2014, it has had the chance to look further into policing matters than any other office before it, and it has received a tremendous amount of raw data in the form of body-worn camera video. But the millions of body-worn camera videos that the City now has are not public, and there has not been a discussion on how to make those videos available to the public, let alone to the victims and their family members. Intro 1136-2018 would give New Yorkers access to information about these body-worn camera videos.

The need for greater transparency is evident now more than ever. In April of this year, two police officers were responding to a 911 harassment call at Hill House in the Bronx, in which one of them fatally shot a man named Kawaski Trawick. According to NYPD, Trawick charged at them with a knife in one hand and a stick in the other. The entire situation was captured on police body-camera video, and yet, up until now Kawaski's family has not been able to see the footage.

Just two months ago in the Bronx, a police chase resulted in 15 police bullets killing Brian Mulkeen, a plainclothes officer, and Antonio Williams, a civilian whom the police had stopped during a patrol. Officer Mulkeen did not have his body camera on, but the other five officers on the scene had their cameras on. Although Commissioner O'Neill said in October that the NYPD will end up releasing the footage from the body-worn cameras that show the moments leading up to the shooting, no video footage has been released to the public as of yet.  The information reported from Intro 1136-2018 would not only give families like Kawaski's, Williams' and Mulkeen's answers to the questions that remain but also provide them with a small amount of closure. And right now, they have neither.

I also recommend the following departmental body-worn camera policy changes: 1) share footage with CCRB and District Attorneys in the same timeframe as federal and state authorities - 24 hours; 2) reduce the timeframe used to disseminate footage to the public; 3) allow for the release unedited footage to the family and/or the public; 4) provide equal access of the footage to the family and the members of service.

Accountability and transparency are at the heart of Intro 1136-2018. It is important that we respect our men and women in blue, and provide them the tools they need to do their job. We must also ask that they respect the civilians whom they police. Our communities and the police will be better off if we hold our officers to that standard.

I would like to thank Council Member Lancman for co-sponsoring this legislation. I would like to also thank a few staff for helping me prepare for today's hearing, including Nick E. Smith, First Deputy Public Advocate of Policy, Michelle Kim, Director of Legislation, Crystal Hudson, First Deputy Public Advocate of Community Engagement, Rama Issa-Ibrahim, Deputy Public Advocate of Justice, Health Equity and Safety, and Darian Harley, Community Organizer for Justice, Health Equity and Safety. Again, I thank the Council for hosting this hearing today, and would be happy to answer any questions.