Trinity Church to Launch Bail is Broken Campaign to Drive Criminal Justice Reform in Albany

Trinity Church Wall Street
Posted Feb 12, 2019

Serving as an iconic member and moral religious leader of the downtown community for over 300 years, Trinity Church is launching a campaign to bring an end to a bail system that fuels discrimination and mass incarceration across our state.

Over the coming weeks and months, Trinity Church is partnering with other religious institutions to spearhead a citywide interfaith campaign to ensure that bail reform makes its way into the final State budget. The initial plan includes a robust series of rallies, seminars, convenings of affected individuals, elected officials and activists to help drive criminal justice reform in Albany.

“We welcome anyone who wants to join us, as the fight to end the racist practice of cash bail grows across our state and across faiths and identities,” said the Rev. Winnie Varghese, Director of Justice and Reconciliation. “It our moral imperative to support the effort to eliminate cash bail as a social justice issue and an economic one that ricochets across communities.”

The campaign’s current roster of public-facing educational and take-action criminal justice events are listed as followed:

• ENDING CASH BAIL AND THE ROAD TO CLOSING RIKERS
On January 31, Honorable Jonathan Lippman, former Chief Judge of New York and Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, led a powerful breakfast session at St. Paul’s Chapel that discussed the role that faith leaders and communities can play in driving criminal justice reform in Albany this coming legislative session. Church leadership, elected officials and impacted people convened to develop a faith-based approach to drive criminal justice in reform in Albany.

• ARRAIGNMENT 101 SESSION
Concluded by a massive walk-out of faith leaders over to the New York Criminal Court at Foley Square, the Arraignment 101 session serves as a platform for religious institutions and larger community to discuss and watch the process of a typical arraignment. On February 23, leadership will crowd the court during a live arraignment in protest to show that religious communities are united and have taken a stance on bail reform.

• ALBANY LOBBY DAY
On February 26, Trinity Church leadership is set to lobby with fellow activists and religious communities to voice their stance on bail reform and publicly urge Albany to take this seriously.

Trinity Church Wall Street has a long-held commitment to social justice, beginning with the founding of the Trinity Charity School in 1709 and including a wide variety of outreach programs over its history. Trinity continues to promote justice and reconciliation today, with ministries rooted in the local community that confront racism and inequality, fight hunger, build community, and more.

For more information on Trinity’s social justice ministries and programming, please visit here.


ABOUT TRINITY CHURCH WALL STREET

Trinity Church Wall Street is a growing and inclusive Episcopal parish that seeks to serve and heal the world by building neighborhoods that live Gospel truths, generations of faithful leaders, and sustainable communities. The parish is guided by its core values: faith, integrity, inclusiveness, compassion, social justice, and stewardship. Members come from the five boroughs of New York City and surrounding areas to form a racially, ethnically, and economically diverse congregation. More than 20 worship services are offered every week at its historic sanctuaries, Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel, the cornerstones of the parishes community life, worship, and mission, and online at trinitywallstreet.org. The parish welcomes approximately 2.5 million visitors per year.