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Advocates rally to protest Hochul's 'betrayal' on proposed bail reform changes

Marvin Mayfield, an organizer with the Center for Community Alternatives, speaks at a rally on Monday, March 21, at the New York state Capitol in Albany.
Karen DeWitt
/
WSHU Public Radio
Marvin Mayfield, an organizer with the Center for Community Alternatives, speaks at a rally on Monday, March 21, at the New York state Capitol in Albany.

Governor Kathy Hochul’s proposal to roll back portions of the state’s landmark bail reform laws were the subject of an angry rally at the state Capitol on Monday, with some speakers comparing the plan to other civil rights setbacks, including the creation of Jim Crow laws in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The protesters gathered at the Capitol, chanting “Hell no to Cuomo 2.0.”

A memo that Hochul confirmed came from her office proposes that the state budget include 10 changes to the state’s 2019 criminal justice reforms, which included an end to most forms of cash bail.

The plan makes some offenses, including all gun-related crimes, once again eligible for bail. If someone is released without bail after being accused of a crime and is arrested for a second offense, then they would have to post bail to avoid being incarcerated until their trial date. Hochul is also proposing that judges be allowed to incarcerate defendants before trial if they deem them to be dangerous.

Marvin Mayfield, an organizer with the Center for Community Alternatives, said advocates were caught unawares.

“Surprised doesn’t even cover the emotions that we felt,” said Mayfield. “Blindsided, bamboozled, betrayed — all of those came to mind.”

Mayfield, spent 11 months in Rikers Island jail because he could not meet bail, charged with a robbery he said he did not commit. Mayfield, who said he suffered mistreatment including a broken leg while incarcerated, said he took his attorney’s advice and eventually pled guilty to time served to put an end to his suffering.

He said Governor Hochul said earlier this year that she was waiting for more data before attempting to change the laws, but so far been no new or conclusive evidence has linked the criminal justice reforms to rising crime rates. Crime is also up in other states across the country that have not changed their bail laws. He said the criminal justice reforms in New York are being “scapegoated.”

“We want to let the public know that bail reform is working,” Mayfield said. “There is no data that says that it has contributed to any uptick in crime.”

Jared Trujillo, with the New York Civil Liberties Union, compared the governor’s proposed changes to the Jim Crow laws enacted after Reconstruction in the aftermath of the Civil War, and the Rockefeller Drug Laws, which were passed following voting rights advancements in the 1960s.

“Is this governor going to use her budget to roll back some of the most important civil rights victories in New York’s history?” Trujillo asked.

Hochul has been the target of negative TV ads from Republican and Democratic challengers in the 2022 governor’s race, who link the rising crime rates to the reforms.

The rally was delayed by an hour after Hochul’s Lieutenant Governor, Brian Benjamin, met privately with many of the lawmakers who were scheduled to be at the rally. Benjamin left the meeting by a side door and did speak to the media. Some of the legislators did not attend the rally, saying the later time slot presented a scheduling conflict.

Hochul, at a COVID-19 briefing, said she and her aides came up with the proposals but said they were not the ones to leak it to the media. But Hochul said she will not negotiate details of the budget in public, and is instead trying to seek consensus with lawmakers around the issue.

“The public is aware that I share their concerns about public safety,” Hochul said. “And that’s why we’re working with my team and working with the legislators to craft a position and a policy ... that I believe will respond to the needs of what’s going on right now.”

Hochul did not say how she planned to convince the state’s legislative leaders, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who championed bail reform, and who oppose revising the bail reform laws, to change their minds.

Karen has covered state government and politics for New York State Public Radio, a network of 10 New York and Connecticut stations, since 1990. She is also a regular contributor to the statewide public television program about New York State government, New York Now. She appears on the reporter’s roundtable segment, and interviews newsmakers.