Bernadette Rabuy

Bernadette Rabuy is a Senior Policy Counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union, focusing on criminal legal system reform. Bernadette joined the New York Civil Liberties Union after six years as a Trial Attorney in the Homicide & Major Crime Defense Unit at New York County Defender Services where she represented indigent clients charged with crimes and trained defense attorneys on discovery and speedy trial.

Bernadette has long been committed to criminal legal system reform. During law school, she worked at the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Prison Law Office, improving conditions of confinement in immigration detention centers and correctional facilities. Before law school, Bernadette worked at the Prison Policy Initiative, Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), and Voice of the Experienced (VOTE). Her advocacy prevented local jails from replacing in-person visits with video calls, jurisdictions from constructing new jails, and employers from discriminating against those with criminal records. While at the Prison Policy Initiative, Bernadette authored several reports, including Screening Out Family Time: The for-profit video visitation industry in prisons and jails; Detaining the Poor: How money bail perpetuates an endless cycle of poverty and jail time; and Prisons of Poverty: Uncovering the pre-incarceration incomes of the imprisoned. She is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley, and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law.