Procarceral forces rooted for disaster in this case, but instead it shows reforms working. “Just yesterday a person w/ a mental health condition would be on a bus to Rikers facing violence, solitary confinement & sub-par medical treatment.” Today shes getting help at a hospital. 
They tried to use Tiffany Harris in the days leading up to new bail laws in effect today in NY to scare the public into demanding more bail & pretrial detention. Into believing that a horrific, costly ($925/nt), & violent jail was the solution for a woman in mental health crisis.
Instead, she was released to “supervised release”—A program that provides services & reminders about court dates & will be a critical part of the new system. And a judge, who specializes in drug & mental health treatment referred her to a hospital to be assessed & helped.
Two of my amazing colleagues— public defender (Jackie) & social worker (Mary) at @BklynDefender—worked tirelessly today on New Years Day, both of them 8 months pregnant (!!)—to provide support, counsel, & advocacy to a person in need. Proud to work with them.
As ED of @BklynDefender put it: “This is exactly what the new bail laws were designed to do and this shows they are already working.”
Read this NYT editorial for more on the desperate effort by police & prosecutors to defeat bail reform:
nytimes.com/2019/11/17/opi…
Read this NYT editorial for more on the desperate effort by police & prosecutors to defeat bail reform:
nytimes.com/2019/11/17/opi…
