Emergency Release
@release_fund
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We are a volunteer-run nonprofit lender providing interest-free loans, focused on NYC communities who can't afford to pay the bail/bonds of their loved ones.
New York City
Joined September 2019
In 2022, Emergency Release continued its mission of liberating neighbors from NYC jails and detention centers—provided $1.1m in bail support and freed 201 people, including 21 community members that identified as TGNC. Link in bio to apply for a loan, get involved, or donate!
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Help stop the "silent rollback" of bail reform by helping ensure judges follow the law and families are no longer mistreated. Become a volunteer with PSB Family Advocates. https://t.co/BMlt4fLhPy
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For anyone who cares about the many human beings locked in cages in America, this ritual is a painful one. There's a backlog of more than 17,000 federal clemency petitions waiting on Pres Biden to act. His clemency grant record is abysmal. But, sure, focus on two turkeys.
Pres. Biden introduces Liberty and Bell, the two turkeys named for the iconic Philadelphia structure who will receive this Thanksgiving's presidential pardon. “These birds have a new appreciation for the words, ‘Let freedom ring.’” https://t.co/F8bF2DPp6E
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🚨Opportunity for early-career / freelance investigative reporters! @nysfocus is seeking a reporting assistant for a document-based investigation into county jails. 🧵 of details:
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When we talk about Rikers and bail and crime and incarceration, fear dominates the conversation, so since I visited Rikers today here are some facts. Because we in the assembly are supposed to legislate based on facts, not fear-mongering and lies
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Deaths in prisons more than doubled in some states during the first wave of the pandemic. Covid drove the spike, but so did suicide and violence.
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Kids at Angola have been locked in their cells for days, only allowed to leave to shower, according to a teen who was held at the former death row unit. The power often goes out when it rains. When it's cold, there's no hot water. My latest for @theappeal. https://t.co/d4cl9GWOdY
theappeal.org
Last year, the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice began transferring children to Angola prison's old death row. The ACLU is now suing.
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So much of mass incarceration relies on the invisibility of incarcerated people to society. We warehouse poor black & brown people, mentally ill people, people w addictions, in disgusting cages, & call it “justice.” Out of sight, out of mind.
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Another person has died on Rikers Island, now the 19th this year alone. Edgardo Mejia was accused of stealing perfume. Now he’s dead. The gall it takes for DAs to continue asking for bail, and judges setting it. Blood is on their hands.
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It has gotten almost no attention that ICE is creating a degrading, terrifying, & life-destabilizing circus at the NYC field office—scheduling 100s or 1000s of check-ins daily, turning most people away, telling them to queue by 4 AM or overnight, etc. https://t.co/4tG2wlkI56
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CW: State violence Corrections staff ignored Herminio Villanueva as he lay dying on RIkers Island, leading other people detained in his housing unit to carry him to the clinic, where they were refused entry. They carried him back to their unit where he died half an hour later.
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I’m proud to represent the Garcia family and grateful for the community advocates who came together to get this absurd ban lifted. But this story by @macfathom is representative of the abusive & capricious DOC visitation system—it’s a feature not a bug.
hellgatenyc.com
Gilberto Garcia's family say they were turned away from Rikers and told they can't come back for 45 days.
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Yesterday, Rikers Island killed an 18th person this year. Today, ~6,000 people remain trapped amidst the same deadly conditions. 26 year old Gilberto Garcia had awaited trial for 3 years; 80% of people detained at the jail haven’t been convicted of a crime. #CLOSErikers
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The Constitution & New York law give people accused of crime “the right to a speedy trial.” Yet 100 people on Rikers Island — a pre-trial detention facility, a place meant to *temporarily* hold the accused until their trial — have been locked up for 4 to 10 years. Staggering.
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PSA: ALL INCARCERATION IS FOR-PROFIT Not just private jails and prisons. Bail fees, court fees, property seizures, service contracts, monitoring services, slave labor—private or public, profit is embedded. It’s the reason the U.S. has the world’s highest incarceration rate $$$
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16 people had died by Sept. 2022, as many as died in all of 2021 — raising the possibility that this year might become @CorrectionNYC's deadliest since 2013, when 2x as many people were being held in the jail system. The @nytimes tracker has been updated: https://t.co/CiroxXLetw
nytimes.com
Another man died after being held on Rikers Island, the ninth death in the city’s jail system this year. Last year was the deadliest in nearly a decade.
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Back in December, I made a sobering prediction: If a judge doesn't soon seize control of Rikers, "needless human suffering, even death" will persist. Turns out, sadly, I was right. Today, 9 months later, 14 people have died preventable deaths.
nydailynews.com
It has been more than six years since Kalief Browder killed himself. His suicide galvanized the public, the press, activists, experts, advocates, politicians and others to demand the closure of Rik…
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