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Chris Gelardi is a reporter for New York Focus investigating the state’s criminal-legal system. His work has appeared in more than a dozen other outlets, most frequently The Nation, The Intercept, and The Appeal. He is a past recipient of awards from Columbia and Northwestern universities to cover immigration enforcement, US militarism, contemporary colonialism, and county jails. His investigations into the use of a police gang database in Washington, DC, have spurred lawsuits and legislation. He’s based in Queens.
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A surprise plan to shutter a jail in Syracuse’s Onondaga County spurred a chaotic political skirmish — and left local incarcerated people in the lurch.
![Assemblymember Harvey Epstein at a podium](https://imgproxy.gridwork.co/gpIVZilNSc2FLhVqmacpdK9JYGVYUpQTRgLtj0DnBWg/w:600/h:400/rt:fill/g:fp:0.5:0.5/q:90/f:jpg/el:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy51cy1lYXN0LTIuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9ueXNmb2N1cy9lcHN0ZWluLWhhcnZleS5qcGc.jpg)
The assemblymember wants to unseat Nico Minerva, right hand to party boss Keith Wright. The Manhattan Democrats vote on Thursday.
![Keith Wright at a parade](https://imgproxy.gridwork.co/yiWeW-Zpi53yORmXbtnLza6_H85SanLAqlo0GAQUs_s/w:600/h:400/rt:fill/g:fp:0.5:0.5/q:90/f:jpg/el:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy51cy1lYXN0LTIuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9ueXNmb2N1cy9rZWl0aF93cmlnaHRfMjAyMy0wOS0yMC0yMjU2MjBfenh1bi5qcGc.jpg)
A group of Manhattan Democrats wants to force County Leader Keith Wright to choose between working for the party and working for a lobbying firm.
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A raucous emergency meeting featured escalating alarm, bewilderment, a hot mic, dueling accusations of conflicts of interest, and a dramatic vote with two surprise twists.
![CCRB chair Nairobi Vives, Mayor Kathy Sheehan, and Police Chief Eric Hawkins against a police car](https://imgproxy.gridwork.co/ZYXvefaa9EyBBDiAIUHkIYAgOXjiHzLWqg_op9ycPSY/w:600/h:400/rt:fill/g:fp:0.5:0.5/q:90/f:jpg/el:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy51cy1lYXN0LTIuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9ueXNmb2N1cy9BbGJhbnktQ1BSQi5qcGc.jpg)
Albany empowered its community oversight board. But the police department and the city’s top attorney are stonewalling.
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It was hard enough to get back on Social Security and Medicaid after incarceration. Then Eric Adams slashed reentry services.
![A headshot of acting prison commissioner Daniel Martuscello III overlayed on a group of corrections officers standing in a row.](https://imgproxy.gridwork.co/EJ89ls83jFBLIPxUfjqs9w6WCna3Kt7JW6v9jmCqOwU/w:600/h:400/rt:fill/g:fp:0.5:0.5/q:90/f:jpg/el:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy51cy1lYXN0LTIuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9ueXNmb2N1cy9tYXJ0dXNjZWxsby1kb2Njcy0yLmpwZw.jpg)
For Daniel Martuscello III, New York prisons are a family business.
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The policy and its sudden reversal will be among Acting Commissioner Anthony Annucci’s last acts.
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New York prisons may have effectively banned journalism behind bars.
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Budget legislation released Monday night includes eight pages of bail law markups — significantly more than the governor announced last week. A vote is imminent.
![Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz speaks at a holiday celebration in Queens on December 19, 2021.](https://imgproxy.gridwork.co/gorxLXm_24X0m8tmEuj0jheir64oITMhiE81FJuJW7s/w:600/h:400/rt:fill/g:fp:0.5:0.5/q:90/f:jpg/el:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy51cy1lYXN0LTIuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9ueXNmb2N1cy9rYXR6LURBLTIwMjEuanBlZw.jpg)
Police will receive photos of defendants with curfews and report alleged violations to District Attorney Melinda Katz.
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A new legal challenge takes aim at the New York prison department for locking hundreds of people up in solitary over offenses that should be exempt.
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With budget talks at a stalemate, Hochul offered the legislature new draft language on bail. It would accomplish largely the same result as her previous plan: a dramatic expansion in judges’ ability to set bail.
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So-called “de-escalation units” were supposed to help people cool off after violent encounters. But months after their implementation, Rikers staff still use the old brutal methods.
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Nearly a year and a half after they were supposed to fix their system, jail officials still don’t know how long they’re keeping people in notorious intake pens.
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After months of ignoring reforms, the corrections department published new rules. They look a lot like the old rules.
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The governor proposed an outsized boost worth tens of millions for prosecutors — drawing comparisons to New York’s history of public defense neglect.
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A recent hearing was legislators’ chance to have acting prison commissioner Anthony Annucci explain himself. They didn’t make him.
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Long before 2019, New York law mandated that judges setting bail consider only a person’s likelihood of returning to court. Hochul’s proposal would strip that limit.
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The controversial units have been responsible for high-profile killings and civil rights abuses in cities nationwide. Hochul doubled their state grant funding in New York — and wants to double it again.