CASE FOR BAIL REFORM: The @NYDailyNews thinks this latest attempt to fearmonger makes case for more jail. Does the opposite. Profile a 56 y/o desperate man. 138 arrests. None violent. 6x in prison. Keeps getting arrested. Yet their "solution" is more jail?nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-c…
@NYDailyNews As a public defender, when I see someone with 40, 60, 100, let alone 138 arrests, the RAP sheets tell a familiar story. They expose more than the complete failure of the criminal legal system & jail to solve societal ills. They show how criminalization exacerbates the problems.
@NYDailyNews Often, a person's RAP sheet will show a felony early on & a prison stint. Followed by pages of "crimes of poverty." Petty theft. Stealing subway fares. Drug possession. Trespass. They're arrested. Jailed on bail for days. Plead guilty. Released. Arrested again. A revolving door.
@NYDailyNews You cannot deter poverty, substance abuse, mental health issues, homelessness, unemployment, & desperation w/ arrest, charge, jail, prison. You can, however, make the problem worse. And the case of Charles Barry--that's his name, not "crook," @NYDailyNews--underscores just this.
@NYDailyNews The @NYDailyNews take its time going thru Mr. Barry's RAP sheet & his 100+ arrests. It must have been leaked to them by NYPD. At no time does the reporter pause to consider that maybe, just maybe, Barry's story exposes the lie that jail stops people from "committing crimes."
@NYDailyNews It's not just jail. It's the trauma of arrest. Violence of cages. Family separation. Unaffordable fines/fees then bad credit. How criminal records (even just 1 arrest) further marginalizes. Excluded from jobs, housing, benefits, loans. On other side: little investment to help.
@NYDailyNews NY bail reform-mandating release w/ investment in services for people charged w/ misdemeanors & nonviolent felonies-recognizes the folly of continuing to throw jail at complex problems. Proposes a modest fix. One that saves money. Helps instead of hurts. Increases public safety.
@NYDailyNews This time, bc of new bail law, Mr. Barry was released to supervision w/ services instead of jail at a cost of $925/night. This time, instead of hauling him into court only to spit him back out days later MORE damaged than when he came in, he'll have a chance. NYC might just too.
@NYDailyNews All of the above is why I screamed outloud when at the response from Second in Command of NYPD's Transit Bureau, Gerald Dieckmann. “At least before, he’d be remanded & be behind bars for a couple of days. He wouldn’t be able to victimize people." The definition of shortsighted.
@NYDailyNews Read this again by the Assistant Chief of NYPD's Transit Bureau. Lamenting the new inability to jail a man in need for a couple of days. "At least before, he’d be remanded & be behind bars for a couple of days. He wouldn’t be able to victimize people." But once released w/o help?
@NYDailyNews Real-time replies to this thread are mirroring the NYPD's short-sighted view of jail. "Being in jail should stop them for the time being." Right. "Them." But what if there was a different way. A way instead to help people & communities in a *lasting* way?
@NYDailyNews Most people don't realize this, but 95% of people in jails & prisons are ultimately released. 600k people a year. Roughly the populations of Boston or Seattle. Those held on bail in NY, especially on misdemeanors & nonviolent felonies, are generally in for only a couple of days.
@NYDailyNews Mr. Barry's lawyers said it: “His case underscores need for economic stability & meaningful social services, not rollback bail reform. Locking up Barry on unaffordable bail or worse, remanding w/o bail, does nothing to protect public & fails entirely to address his actual needs.”
@NYDailyNews Bail reform in NY is just one modest step toward an actual solution. One that rejects the failed & racist experiment of trying to jail our way to public health & safety. Bail reform creates space & frees up resources for thoughtful, reasoned approaches far more likely to work.
@NYDailyNews So to @NYDailyNews: Just stop. The person you deride as a "career criminal" in your cynical attempt to perpetuate mass incarceration, actually underscores the need to reform the very system that contributed to him being arrested 138 times & continues to marginalize him.
@NYDailyNews To @NYSenDems: Just stop. Don't cave to the sensationalized, racist, fearmongering of media like @NYDailyNews, police, prosecutors, & white supremacists out of political expediency. You know you can't continue jail your state out of mass incarceration. You know better.
@NYDailyNews @NYSenDems To everyone else: Please visit JusticeNotFear.Org to learn the truth about bail reform and demand that politicians reject fear.
