“The system is set up to grab literally every piece of information it can from these conversations,” said Elizabeth Vasquez, a lawyer with Brooklyn Defender Services. “We end up with a searchable database that has incredibly intimate information from largely Black and Brown people. It’s incredibly concerning.”

On behalf of incarcerated New Yorkers, as well as the community members they speak with on the telephone, The Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, New York County Defender Services, and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP filed a class action lawsuit Monday evening against the New York City Department of Correction (“DOC”) seeking to end its unlawful mass surveillance.

“We will be there,” said Nila Natarajan, associate director of policy and family defense at Brooklyn Defender Services. “We will start talking to someone right away, learning about them, asking them questions, explaining what’s happening, and doing our best to triage, often in emergency and crisis situations.”

Attorneys Call on Albany to Address Years of Underfunding and Crushing Workloads for Attorneys Serving Children Throughout New York State

The Legal Defense Fund (LDF), advocacy organizations, and a number of New York City elected officials sent a letter to New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, condemning her five-point plan that includes the deployment of National Guard and state law enforcement personnel to conduct searches in New York City subway stations, legislation expanding judicial discretion to ban New Yorkers from public transit, and expansion of co-responder models that utilize New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers as part of a mental health crisis response team.