Corey Stoughton, Attorney-in-Charge of The Legal Aid Society’s Special Litigation Unit for the Criminal Defense Practice, was profiled in the New York Law Journal for her role in achieving the release of hundreds of people from NYC jails amidst the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.

Stoughton has personally signed 10 mass writs which have resulted in the release of at least 208 people, while other attorneys at The Legal Aid Society have filed dozens more individual writs.

The need for mass writs for clients incarcerated on Rikers Island became apparent at the start of the pandemic. “Very quickly, as we started gathering information about our clients and their medical vulnerabilities … we realized that there were just absolutely hundreds and hundreds of people in Rikers who, by virtue of their age or other underlying medical concerns, are in that category of people who face a possible death sentence if they catch this virus,” Stoughton said.

“And so we realized that doing individual writs wasn’t going to get people out fast enough. And we also realized that we needed to send a wake up call to the mayor and the governor and the Department of Correction to start releasing people,” she continued.

Legal Aid and other defender organizations continue to advocate for the release of vulnerable inmates throughout the pandemic, leading to a substantial reduction in jail populations for those being held for minor offenses.

“The fact that we have that many people in prison who can be released without any demonstrable impact on public safety … really is something to reflect on,” Stoughton said.

Read the full piece here.