The New York City Council Committee on Criminal Justice, chaired by Councilmember Selvena N. Brooks-Powers, held an oversight hearing on June 25, 2026, to examine how court operations, discovery compliance, scheduling practices, and interagency coordination affect the jail population. The hearing focused on reducing pretrial detention and improving case processing efficiency to meet the legal mandate to close Rikers Island. Panelists included Chief Administrative Judge Joseph Zayas, representatives from the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ) and the NYPD, public defenders, and community advocates. District attorneys did not attend, and their absence was noted.
Good morning. Welcome to the committee on criminal justice. Please place your phone on solid or vibrate mode at any time during the hearing. Do not approach the dais. Chair, we are ready to begin. Good morning. I am Councilmember Sylvina Brooks Powers, Chair of the Committee on Criminal Justice. I want to welcome everyone to today's hearing on improving court operations to reduce the jail population. At the outset, I would like to extend my gratitude to Judge Zayas on his superb staff and team and for participating in today's conversation. Judge Zayas has demonstrated his commitment to changing the status quo and to creating a legal system that promotes community safety by reducing reliance on incarceration. I am joined by committee members Brewer and Murano. The pace at which cases move throughout courts is a critical factor in determining how New York City will achieve its legal mandate to close Rikers Island and transition to borough based jails. At present, more than 80% of the people in city jails are pretrial detainees, individuals who have not been convicted, but are held while their cases are pending. When those cases are delayed, people remain in custody longer than necessary. The jail population is inflated, and questions are raised as to whether the plan capacity of the borough based jails will be sufficient. As context for this hearing, it is important to recognize the real world consequences of prolonged pretrial detention in our city jails. The experience of individuals like Khalif Rowder, who spent years at Rikers Island without a conviction, while his case was repeatedly delayed, underscores the human costs of a system where case processing breaks down. His story is a reminder that delays in court proceedings are not abstract administrative problems, but have profound and lasting consequences. Those consequences are felt not only by people unnecessarily detained, but also by crime victims and their loved ones. When someone is victimized, especially by an act of violence, we should expect swift accountability. When justice is delayed, especially in communities where immediate consequences for minor offenses are frequent and highly visible, people rightly lose confidence in the criminal justice system, the criminal legal system. As a result, we are all left less safe. Today's hearing will examine the operational factors that contribute to case delays, including discovery compliance, court scheduling practices, evidence production, and interagency coordination between the Office of Court Administration, the NYPD, and the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice. Also, the committee will hear testimony from legal service providers, community organizations, and other stakeholders about how these systems function in practice and where breakdowns continue to occur. We will focus in particular on how discovery obligations are being implemented following the initial 2019 statutory reforms and subsequent amendments, and how those requirements are affecting trial readiness and case resolution timelines. We will also examine how court operations, such as the timing of hearings, the resolution of discovery disputes, and the availability of court resources shape the length of pre pretrial detention. I would like to thank my staff and committee staff for their hard work. Jeremy Whiteman, Senior Counsel to the Committee, who is serving in his very final hearing with the city council, and I just want to thank you for the work that you've provided to the committee all of these years. Also, we have Chad Benjamin, policy analyst, Casey Lajesky, Financial Analyst. Julian Martin, my deputy chief of staff, who also is serving in his last hearing before departing, to go on to his next chapter. And we like to thank Julian for all of his amazing work, both on the Committee on Criminal Justice and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. My communications director, Kiara Powell, and of course my chief of staff, Renee Taylor. I look forward to a productive discussion about how we can strengthen court operations to enhance fairness and accountability across the board. So now we'll quite call Judge Zayas up to the days, please. And counsel will sway you in. Do you affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing towards the truth before this committee and respond honestly to council member questions? I do, noting for the record, it was answered affirmatively. You may begin your testimony. Now, my light is red here. Should it be green? Okay. Great. May I begin? Yes. Alright, good morning, uh Chair Brooks Powers. Uh thank you and the other members of this committee for organizing uh today's hearing on a truly important subject, the processing of criminal cases in New York City. Uh as you said in your opening remarks, which I I really appreciated, the efficient management of criminal cases is something that I care deeply deeply about, having served for many years as a trial judge and an administrative judge. Now, as the chief administrative uh judge of uh overseeing the operations of all of New York State's trial courts, one of my highest priorities is the implementation of policies and procedures that help minimize the delays that often impede the swift resolution of criminal cases. Let me start by explaining why this issue is so important. For our criminal justice system to be effective and credible, serious criminal cases cannot routinely languish in the courts.