Arrests for Minor Crimes Should Not Carry a Death Sentence: A Call on Our Elected Officials
Adopted May 12, 2026 by the ALAA Joint Council
Members of ALAA want to alert elected officials about ongoing issues in Kings County Criminal Court and New York County Criminal Court, and extend an invitation to observe conditions firsthand.
Since the start of 2025, nine individuals have died in central bookings while awaiting arraignment. On March 24th, 2025, Soso Ramishvili died in custody after being arrested on misdemeanor charges. On March 26th, 2025, Ibrahim Diallo died in custody after being arrested on misdemeanor charges. On August 29th, 2025, Christopher Nieves died in custody after being arrested on misdemeanor charges. On March 22nd, 2026, Vincent Thoms died in custody after being arrested on misdemeanor charges. On April 13, 2026, Zamiqua Miller died in custody after being arrested on misdemeanor charges. This is a humanitarian crisis.
These deaths are the result of continuous, ongoing, and increasing problems in arraignments. Earlier this year, hundreds of Brooklynites were detained after arrest for more than 24 hours before seeing a judge, a violation of their rights under New York law. Many of our clients spent 48-72 hours in pre-arrraignment detention. A significant number of these individuals were legally entitled to immediate release. Those accused of low-level violations or misdemeanors should never have been detained in the first place.
The NYPD’s reported “crackdown” on people in the subway has only exacerbated this issue. We frequently represent individuals in pre-arraignment detention on charges that criminalize poverty, like taking up two seats on the subway. Rather than being taken into NYPD custody, many of the individuals were entitled by law to a Desk Appearance Ticket (DAT) or a summons ticket; their incarceration was entirely discretionary.
By law, everyone in New York City is guaranteed the right to an arraignment within 24 hours of a custodial arrest. This due process right exists to ensure that people do not languish for days in jails without knowing their charges and without seeing a judge. A single arrest has reverberating consequences that adversely affect individuals and their communities. But, because of over-policing, over-prosecution and mismanagement, New Yorkers have been forced to miss work, childcare obligations, and vital medications.
Beyond the delays, the conditions at 120 Schermerhorn in Brooklyn, one of the busiest courthouses in the country, and 100 Centre Street in Manhattan are patently unacceptable. People awaiting arraignment are placed in dirty, cramped cells for hours, sometimes days, at a time. They have no access to a private bathroom, toiletries, clothes, blankets, or phones. Access to food and water are entirely up to the discretion of the police officers on duty. Crucially, central bookings has no medical staff on site to provide life saving care to individuals in acute health crises. Under the law, arrestees are presumed innocent; many accused of low-level charges resolve their cases with non-criminal dispositions at the first appearance. Spending more than 24 hours in bookings is an obscene and disproportionate punishment for low-level offenses. No matter how serious the charge, no one deserves the disgusting squalor of central bookings, where people in medical or psychiatric distress are chained to benches, and bodies are squashed together on filthy benches.
As just one step towards addressing these issues,we encourage Mayor Mamdani and any other elected official to come see the conditions at 120 Schemerhorn and 100 Centre Street firsthand- where we work 365 days a year from 8am to 1am advocating for New Yorkers, and where over nine New Yorkers have lost their lives waiting to see a judge. Without systemic change, these violations will continue. When even one New Yorker's rights are violated, all of our rights are violated. We demand accountability.