Decarceration

The United States has the largest prison population in the world. We’ve gotten to this point because we treat poverty, addiction, and mental illness like they’re criminal offenses. We subject working people and people of color to over-policing and a racist war on drugs. I’ve seen these policies up close in Crown Heights, where stop and frisk was a daily reality for my friends and family.

As a union nurse, I know that we must help people live healthy and safe lives by investing in their communities and offering them the care they need, not by putting people behind bars. I support the DSA Slate’s Decarceration Platform. I will fight to:

• Invest in Communities, Not Prisons:
  • Redirect spending for prisons and policing to finance community investment, health care, housing, and jobs.
• Respect the rights of incarcerated people:
  • End the use of cash bail.
  • Limit the use of solitary confinement.
  • Make all incarcerated elders eligible for parole.
  • Restore the right to vote to all incarcerated New Yorkers.
• Eliminate cruel sentencing:
  • End mandatory minimum sentences.
  • Reduce sentences for those currently imprisoned under mandatory minimum sentencing laws.
  • Repeal “bump-up” laws that allow misdemeanors to be treated as felonies based on past convictions.
  • Establish a Sentencing Reform Commission to reduce New York’s incarcerated population.
• End the racist war on drugs:
  • Legalize marijuana.
  • Decriminalize simple drug possession.
  • Establish safe injection sites.
• Sex Work Decriminalization:
• End criminal penalties for sex work.
• Repeal the “walking while trans” law.