The Legal Aid Society, LGBTQ+ advocates, elected officials, and others, in a recent letter to New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) and New York City’s five District Attorneys, request the immediate release of transgender, gender non-conforming, non-binary, and intersex (TGNCNBI) people and all other vulnerable populations from jail and prison custody, as reported by POLITICO.

The letter’s signatories include members who serve on a Task Force directed to review the New York City Department of Correction (DOC) policies related to TGNCNBI people in custody.

“The truth is that the prisons and jails cannot keep vulnerable people safe right now. No one detained or incarcerated has been sentenced to die,” said Mik Kinkead, Staff Attorney at The Legal Aid Society’s Rikers Island Civil Practice Re-entry Project.