An abridged list with links when available.

For a selection of more in-depth interviews, check out this page.

November 13, 2025 – The City, “Rikers-Reform Fight Awaits Mamdani as Advocates Release Jails ‘Blueprint,’” by Reuven Bleu

March 11, 2024 – City & State New York, “Jeffrion Aubry, Voice of the Assembly, Is Leaving It After 30 Years,” by Rebecca C. Lewis

December 17, 2024 – Gothamist, “NYC Mayor Adams Pledges to Close Rikers Island but Wavers Again over 2027 Deadline,” by Elizabeth Kim and Jessy Edwards

August 5, 2023 – The Marshall Project, “Federal Judge Eyes a ‘Last Resort’ Fix for New York City’s Jails,” by Beth Schwartzapfel

May 23, 2023 – CT Insider, “CT Uses Probation More Aggressively Than Other States, New Data Shows,” by Alex Putterman

May 17, 2023 – PIX 11 News, “Another Prisoner Has Died While in Custody at Rikers Jail,” by Matthew Euzarraga

December 29, 2022 – THE CITY, “City Hall Still Planning for Shutdown of Rikers Island Jails, But Is Mayor All-In?,” by Reuven Blau, Haidee Chu, Stephon Johnson           

June 2, 2022 – WGXC 90.7 FM (Upper Hudson Valley, New York), featured guest on All Together Now, “Update on Criminal Justice Reform in NYS Legislature”

April 27, 2022 – Bronx News 12, featured guest in report “Federal Takeover of Rikers Island Possible Amid Facility’s Problems”

March 10, 2022 – New York Focus, “Parole Reform Squabble Has Left Hundreds Sitting in New York Jails,” by Chris Gelardi

June 22, 2021 – QNS, “Bill That Would Reduce Re-Incarceration Due to Minor Parole Violations Awaits Cuomo’s Signature,” by Julia Moro

June 14, 2021 – THE CITY, “Another Man Died at Rikers as Lawmakers Voted on Parole Bill that Might Have Saved Him,” by Reuven Blau

June 3, 2021 – THE CITY, “Death of Two Men at Rikers – One Held on Shoplifting Rap – Amplifies Push to Overhaul Parole Rules,” by Reuven Blau

January 28, 2021 – Albany Times Union, “Leadership Questions Remain for Albany LEAD Arrest-Diversion Program,” by Eduardo Medina                           

January 14, 2021 – Manhattan Neighborhood Network, featured guest on Both Sides of the Bars, “2020 Year in Review: Criminal Justice Reform in the Age of COVID,” hosted by Andre Ward        

January 4, 2020 – WBAI 99.5 FM (New York City), with Taryn A. Merkl of the Brennan Center for Justice, on On the Count, hosted by Andre Ward, in a segment on bail reform in New York State

October 15, 2019 – New Thinking podcast, featured guest for the episode “Ending Bail, Closing Rikers: How Change Happens,” hosted by Matt Watkins of the Center for Justice Innovation

April 14, 2020 – CT News Junkie, “State Reports First Inmate Death from COVID-19; Advocates Demand Meeting,” by Lisa Backus                 

March 19, 2020 – New York Daily News, “Coronavirus Should Drive State Lawmakers to Pass Parole Act: Lippman Commission,” by Chelsia Rose Marcius             

October 4, 2019 – City & State NY, “No New Jails Now Has AOC on Board, but Opponents See a Fatal Flaw,” by Jeff Coltin                  

June 12, 2019 – THE CITY, “Two Days After Death of Transgender Woman in Jail, Another Detainee Died,” by Reuven Blau and Rosa Goldensohn                   

February 7, 2019 – Politico, “Bill Would Ease Parole Violation Penalties, with Support from Prosecutors,” by Emilie Ruscoe

April 6, 2018 – BRIC TV, 112BK, “Top Advocate Says Cuomo, de Blasio Both Can Do More to
Close Rikers,” segment hosted by Jarrett Murphy, City Limits

February 20, 2018 – National Public Radio, “ ‘Decarcerating America’ Is a Powerful Call for Reform,” by Martha Anne Toll

January 29, 2018 – Associated Press, “Reports: Changes Needed to Parole and Probation System,” by David Klepper

January 8, 2018 – City & State NY, Slant podcast, “Akeem Browder and gabriel sayegh Talk Cuomo’s Criminal Justice Reforms”

January 2, 2018 – WNYC News, “City Takes First Step Towards Shuttering Jails on Rikers Island,” by Cindy Rodriguez      

June 7, 2017 – WNYC News, “Albany Lawmakers Reach Compromise on Faster Trials,” by Beth Fertig         

April 6, 2017 – New York Amsterdam News, “Kalief’s Legacy: Rikers Closure Set, yet Could Prove to Be Long, Grueling Process,” by Cyril Josh Barker and Nayaba Arinde

March 29, 2017 – Gotham Gazette,“State Electeds Insult City Criminal Justice While Reform in Albany Is Minimal at Best,” by Brenden Beck             

January 13, 2017 – WNYC 93.9 FM, The Leonard Lopate Show, interviewed with Peter Goldberg of the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund and Wes Caines, board member of the fund, by Jonathan Capehart guest-hosting        

January 11, 2017 – The Alternative Historian, Feeling Political podcast, “Episode 6 – gabriel sayegh: Democracy Is messy,” hosted by Daniel Horowitz Garcia

December 5, 2016 – City & State NY, “Held Indefinitely: Will Anything Ever Change at Rikers Island?,” by Jeff Coltin                   

October 25, 2016 – The New York Times, “Don’t Lock ’Em Up. Give ’Em a Chance to Quit Drugs,” by Caroline Preston                           

October 13, 2016 – BRIC TV, BKLive, “Violence in the City Jails and the Push to Close Rikers,” interviewed with Elias Husamudeen of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association and Herbert Murray of CLOSErikers, by Jarrett Murphy, City Limits

June 13, 2016 – NewsOne, “ ‘Kalief’s Law’ Aims to Reform Pretrial Detention After Honoree Spent 3 Years in Rikers Awaiting Trial,” by Charise Frazier           

June 10, 2016 – Bennington Magazine, “House vs Arrest” by Alex Dery Snider                  

June 9, 2016 – New York Amsterdam News, “State Assembly Passes ‘Kalief’s Law’ to Reform Pretrial Detention,” by Stephon Johnson

April 11, 2016 – Associated Press, “Low-Level Drug Offenders Find New Source of Addiction Help,” by Gene Johnson

March 31, 2016 – Albany Times Union, “Albany Launches LEAD Diversion Program,” by Paul Grondahl         

February 26, 2016 – Ithaca Journal, “The Ithaca Plan Follows a Tried History of Drug Strategies,” by Kelsey O’Connor                      

November 17, 2015 – Politico, “Criminal Justice Reformers Split with de Blasio on Bail, Diversion,” by Colby Hamilton

August 6, 2015 – BuzzFeed News, “Despite What the NYPD Says, Synthetic Pot Will Not Turn You into The Hulk,” by Nicolás Medina Mora   

June 25, 2015 – Albany Times Union, “Albany Program Would Divert Low-Level Criminals from Jail,” by Jordan Carleo-Evangelist

April 8, 2015 – Associated Press, “Seattle Attempt to Keep Addicts out of Jail Shines in Study,” by Gene Johnson 

April 3, 2015 – Spectrum News – NY1, Capital Tonight, with host Liz Benjamin

March 21, 2015 – Oneida Daily Dispatch, “Caz Forum Speaker Says War on Drugs ‘Not Over,’ ” by Jolene Cleaver

March 3, 2015 –HuffPost, “Critics Say Bratton’s Marijuana Remarks Are Dangerous ‘Reefer Madness’ Propaganda,” by Christopher Mathias

January 29, 2015 – Associated Press, “Pot Arrests Plunge in NYC After Policy Change,” by Jennifer Peltz         

November 18, 2014 – BRIC TV, BKLive, “Pot Arrest Policy,” interview with Scott Levy, The Bronx Defenders, and Shapriece Townsend, VOCAL-NY; hosted by Charisma Troiano, Brooklyn Daily Eagle

November 10, 2014 – AM New York, “NYPD Will Stop Arresting People with Small Amounts of Pot in Most Cases,” by Alison Fox

June 26, 2014 – The Daily Beast, “The NYPD’s Racist War on Pot,” by Abby Haglage                      

May 28, 2014 – Brooklyn Reader, “Jeffries Calls on NYPD to Address Ongoing Racial Disparity in Marijuana Arrests”

May 15, 2014 – MSNBC, The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, “Study Shows Racial Disparity in NY Pot Arrests,” interviewed with Mark Thompson, by Ari Melber guest-hosting

April 28, 2014 – New York Daily News, “Medical Marijuana Could Be Legalized in New York This Spring: Advocates,” by Glenn Blain                             

April 25, 2014 – AlterNet, “Activists Rally as Brooklyn DA Throws a Wrench in Bratton’s Racial ‘Broken Windows’ Policing,” by Aaron Cantú

April 16, 2014 – The Village Voice, “New York State’s Long-Running War on Weed,” by Tessa Stuart         

April 3, 2014 – New York Daily News, “Eric Schneiderman Announces New Program to Equip Cops with Heroin Antidote to Treat Overdose Victims,” by Ken Lovett                     

April 3, 2014 – Poughkeepsie Journal, “Prison Population Falls 2 Percent in 11 Years; Drug Convicts Down 62 Percent,” by Mary Beth Pfeiffer  

February 19, 2014 – WABC 770 AM (NYC), The Geraldo Rivera Radio Show, debate on marijuana policy, with former NYPD Commissioner Howard Safir and Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino

January 8, 2014 – Bloomberg TV, Lunch Money

December 17, 2013 – BuzzFeed News, “7 Advocates Working to Change Marijuana Laws in New York City   ,” by Rachel Zarrell

December 2, 2013 – Just Publics@365, CUNY Graduate Center, “Special Interview with gabriel sayegh on Municipal Drug Strategies,” by Heidi Knoblauch

October 26, 2013 – Just Publics@365, CUNY Graduate Center, “Interview: Academic-Activist Partnerships for Social Change,” with Harry Levine, by Jessie Daniels

October 25, 2013 – The Wall Street Journal, “In Brooklyn, Move to Alter Policy on Pot,” by Sean Gardiner   

October 1, 2013 – WNYC 93.9 FM, The Brian Lehrer Show, “30 Issues: The Future of Marijuana Laws in NYC”

September 13, 2013 – Colorlines, “A Unique Alternative to a Prison Economy,” by Von Diaz

April 24, 2013 – WAMC Northeast Public Radio, “Blueprint Report Addresses NY Drug Policy,” by Dave Lucas

March 20, 2013 – Global Grind, “Say What?! NYPD Spent 1 Million Hours Making 440,000 Marijuana Arrests Over Last Decade,” by Christina Coleman

January 7, 2013 – AM New York, “5 Questions in 5 Minutes . . . All About NYC,” by Sheila Anne Feeney

October 19, 2012 – The Atlantic, “ ‘Good Samaritan’ Laws Could Help Overdose Victims – If Only People Knew They Existed,” by Julie Turkewitz                           

June 19, 2012 – The Village Voice, “Weed Fans: Senate Republicans to Blame for ‘Public View’ Marijuana Buzz-Kill,” by James King                   

June 18, 2012 – Albany Times Union, “Bureaucracy Stalls Medical Marijuana,” by Rick Karlin     

June 9, 2012 – Fox News, Weekend Fox & Friends, debate with Bishop Ron Allen on drug policy

June 6, 2012 – Time, “New York to Decriminalize Marijuana?,” by Madison Gray              

June 5, 2012 – CNN, “N.Y. Governor Proposes Decriminalization of Small Amounts of Marijuana,” by Chris Boyette      

June 4, 2012 – The Guardian, “New York Mayor and NYPD Back Marijuana Decriminalisation Proposal,” by Ryan Devereaux   

February 1, 2012 – Salon, “Pot Arrests Top 50K in 2011 Despite NYPD Order,” by Jennifer Peltz, Associated Press 

November 4, 2011 – The Hour, “A Little Pot Is Trouble in NYC: 50k Busts a Year,” by Colleen Long and Jennifer Peltz, Associated Press  

October 13, 2011 – Gothamist, “NYPD Narcotics Detective Admits Cops Regularly Plant Drugs On Perps,” by John Del Signore         

August 21, 2011 – WWRL 1600 AM (NYC), All Things New York, hosted by Rennie Bishop, interview about the drug war in New York

March 26, 2011 – WBAI 99.5 FM (NYC), On the Count, interview by Eddie Ellis, with Kyung Ji Rhee and Chino Hardon of the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions

February 10, 2011 – Gothamist, “Welcome to NYC, ‘Marijuana Arrest Capital of the World,’ ” by John Del Signore

October 28, 2010 – WNYC 93.9 FM, The Brian Lehrer Show, “30 Issues: Marijuana,” debate with David Evans of the Drug Free America Foundation

August 3, 2010 – WXXI AM 1370 (Rochester, NY), Connection with Bob Smith, interview about drug war in New York 

June 20, 2010 – The New York Times, “Litmus Test in Primary: Overhauled Drug Laws,” by Nicholas Confessore

May 3, 2010 – Gothamist, “Mayor Denies Pressuring Billboard Company to Drop Pro-Pot Ad,” by John Del Signore

March 3, 2010 – WWRL 1600 AM (NYC), Morning Show with Errol Louis, interview about the drug war in New York

April 2, 2009 – The Nation, “Noted,” by the editors

March 25, 2009 – The New York Times, “Albany Reaches Deal to Repeal ’70s Drug Laws,” by Jeremy W. Peters

February 5, 2009 – Gotham Gazette, “Trying – Again – to Change the Drug Laws,” by David King

February 3, 2009 – Ithaca Journal, “Panel Recommends Changes to Sentencing, Drug Treatment Laws,” by Cara Matthews

February 3, 2009 – New York Daily News, “Drug Reform Advocates Have Ally In Silver,” by Elizabeth Benjamin

January 7, 2009 – WBAI 99.5 FM (NYC), Evening News, interview about Rockefeller Drug Laws and reform in Albany

December 31, 2008 – WWRL 1600 AM (NYC), All Things New York, interview about drug policy reform in New York by Rennie Bishop

December 31, 2008 – WZTQ 1560 AM (Southern Alabama),The Morning Show, interview about prisons and the drug war in Alabama

October 10, 2008 – WWRL 1600AM (NYC), All Things New York with Rennie Bishop, interview about the drug war in NY

September 18, 2008 – WABI 1070 AM (Alabama), Matt Murphy Radio Show, guest with Pastor Kenneth Glasgow and Sheila Smoot, about restoring voting rights in Alabama

September 16, 2008 – 98.7 Kiss FM (Alabama), guest with Pastor Kenneth Glasgow, about voting rights tour in Alabama

June 7, 2008 – WWRL 1600AM (NYC), All Things New York with Rennie Bishop, interview about Rockefeller Drug Laws

January 18, 2008 – AM 1600 WWRL (New York City), All Things New York with Rennie Bishop

January 16, 2008 – AM 1210, WQLS (Ozark, Alabama), The Tom, Wayne, and Carolyn Show

November 26, 2007 – New York Law Journal, “Sentencing Panel Confronts Drug Issues,” by Joel Stashenko

May 11, 2007 – Drug Truth Network, Cultural Baggage, with Eric Sterling of Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, on U.S. drug laws, hosted by Dean Becker

May 1, 2007 – Prison Action Network, Voices from the Prison Action Network

March 19, 2007 – 101.1 FM The Source – (Alabama), The Matt Murphy Radio Show, interview about prisons and criminal justice reform in Alabama

March 29, 2006 – AlterNet, “Awaiting Real Rockefeller Reform, by Anthony Papa              

March 3, 2006 – WBFZ 105.3 FM (Selma, Alabama), interview about felony disfranchisement, voting rights, war on drugs, and prisons; guest with Pastor Kenneth Glasgow

December 15, 2005 – The New York Times, “Few State Prisoners Freed Under Eased Drug Law,” by Leslie Eaton

September 14, 2005 – Gay City News, “Another Small Step on Drug Reform,” by Nathan Riley        

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