Amanda Masters Email & Phone Number

Work across bureaus on criminal justice, police and correctional misconduct, conditions of confinement in local jails, and government oversight.

• Agency head of the NYC agency that monitors jail operations, conditions of confinement, access to health care, and mental health care; and promulgates the regulations setting minimum standards for jail conditions. Reported to an independent nine-member board nominated by three branches of city government. Responsible for operations and supervision of all staff. Managed budget of $3.3 million. • Published reports, including three covering 25 of the jail-related deaths in 2021-2022 and lockdown trends. Successfully advocated for removal of interior cages in “day room” areas and showers, use of Narcan by correction officers to reduce overdoses, and use of “de-escalation” areas to reduce abuse and neglect after violent incidents. • Hired new leadership team and implemented strategic plan to increase promotional opportunities within the organization for field staff, redirected budget to field office.• Expanded 23 person staff to 31 by rapidly filling vacancies. Implemented new staff development program, increased staff participation in briefing board members regarding jail conditions and created new plan for systematic audits of compliance with regulatory standards. • Managed monthly public meetings where Board Members, Department of Correction, Correctional Health Service, and the public (including, for the first time, currently incarcerated people) exchanged information on recent developments in the crisis on Rikers Island and advocated for reform of practices.

• Advised the Office of the Mayor, agency heads, and general counsels. The Legal Counsel division is analogous to a general counsel group, in that it renders opinions and guidance to agencies. • Negotiated and drafted City Council bills on behalf of the Office of the Mayor and agencies. Negotiated final bill language on "aging nights". Advised agencies on compliance with changes in law. • Supervised agency rule-making pursuant to the City Administrative Procedure Act (CAPA). Advised on compliance with regulations. • Counseling portfolio: First Amendment, government speech; proper use of government resources, anti-gift clause; conflict of laws and preemption; city human rights law; housing, homelessness, and city housing vouchers; development of new public benefits; emergency management during COVID-19 pandemic; and extensive work on mayoral emergency orders.

• Advised the Public Advocate on criminal justice, corrections, and disability rights issues.• Successfully petitioned BOC to implement the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) with local regulations and negotiated final rule.• Served as counsel to the Public Advocate and City Council members as amici in class action lawsuit on behalf of sexual abuse victims at Rikers Island. • Litigated case concerning the Public Advocate's legal capacity to bring affirmative litigation.

• As Interim Executive Director at BOC, coordinated with the Board Members, Department of Correction, community stakeholders including unions and people in custody, subject matter experts, Office of the Mayor, and the Law Department to promulgate first-ever regulations limiting the use of solitary confinement. • Achieved new and nationally unprecedented rules limiting solitary confinement to a maximum of 30 days in all instances, and categorically prohibiting the placement of people in solitary confinement who are 21 years old or under; have serious mental illnesses, disabilities, or health contra-indications; and those who committed low-level infractions. • Successfully advocated to reduce solitary confinement beds or capacity from a high of more than 1000 beds in 2012 to a few hundred, largely by advocating for the closure of the Mental Health Assessment Unit for Infracted Inmates (MHAUII) and moving from consecutive to concurrent sentencing.

• As Deputy Executive Director, also served as General Counsel and was responsible for operations and direct supervision of all staff. • Increased budget from under $1 million to $1.8 million, by advancing proposals to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to re-align capacity to meet the agency’s City Charter mandated responsibilities, including publishing reports for the first time in decades. • Led effort to publish first set of public reports in decades and ground-breaking regulation of punitive segregation; recruited staff who created qualitative and quantitative reports analyzing solitary confinement on Rikers Island—the first reports of their kind published by BOC.• Managed budget and purchasing; performed Human Resources, Equal Employment Opportunity Officer, and Freedom of Information Law Officer roles; developed press relationships; and was liaison to several city agencies.

• Served as Of Counsel to civil rights litigation firm, and Cooperating Attorney with a non-profit organization, the Fair Housing Justice Center (FHJC). • Created new housing anti-discrimination practice, focused on race, disability, and source of income discrimination cases, and representing people with mental illness to avoid homelessness. • Commenced and settled housing discrimination cases in federal and state courts for injunctive relief and damages, successfully changing the practices of real estate brokers and landlords. • Received the FHJC Acting for Justice Award, “Outstanding Fair Housing Attorney of 2010.”

• As Director, engaged in supervision of teams while maintaining a litigation docket and creating special projects.• Director of Disability Rights Program—Represented the Willowbrook class members and provided oversight to ensure that thousands of people with developmental disabilities received their entitlements to high quality and appropriate medical and habilitative services, shelter, food and clothing under a permanent injunction. • Monitored conditions in residential facilities for people with developmental disabilities throughout New York State. • Director of Access to Health Care Program—Obtained multiple temporary restraining orders to delay implementation of statewide hospital closures, while successfully advocating for the replacement of key medical services in underserved parts of New York City. • Police Oversight— Litigated cases concerning police interactions with people with mental illness and other disabilities. Created program in collaboration with Columbia Law School to provide free representation to indigent people alleging police misconduct to the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB). Formed the NYC Policing Roundtable, gathering the city’s top litigators to share best practices.

Ba, English, Political Science

Jd

Activities and Societies: Law Review