Space is limited in each Supper Club and requires a separate sign-up. There is no fee, but you will be responsible for your own food and drink.
Click here to sign up.This Supper Club will take place at the
Pratt Street Ale House, 206 W Pratt Street.
As a result of years of advocacy and organizing, New York City is on the verge of an achievement that very few thought would happen in our lifetime--the closing of Rikers Island. In order to make it possible to close Rikers and move to smaller, borough-based jails, however, the jail population must be drastically reduced and sufficient support garnered in each borough for the successful implementation of the borough-based plan. To further our commitment to decarceration and the closure of Rikers, The Bronx Defenders has launched the BxD Liberty Project, which aims to use our experience as a holistic, client-centered, and community-based public defender office to ensure that this new vision of criminal justice becomes a reality. Advocates will lay out our work to date and lead a discussion about the opportunities and challenges presented by the Liberty Project. The discussion will focus on advancing decarceration strategies in the court house, in the state house, and in the community, and will highlight some of the challenges we've faced, including balancing calls for jail abolition with incrementalist approaches to change; defending the presumption of innocence while contending with political realities; and reconciling our role as a public defender office with our role as a Bronx community member and stakeholder. Finally, we will offer recommendations about how to effectively center our clients' voices in criminal justice policy reform debates.
