New York’s jails and prisons are in crisis. The brutal killings of Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi at Marcy and Mid-State prisons underscore the violence and abuse incarcerated people face in New York State’s prison system. Local jails are no better. In NYC, the crisis at Rikers is also worsening. This year, at least 13 people have died in city jails, and at least 46 people have died in DOC custody since Eric Adams became mayor in 2022.
Over the last two years, we’ve organized across the state to overhaul the State Commission of Correction and increase oversight of jails and prisons. Through rally’s, press conferences, lobby days, attending SCOC monthly meetings, legislative meetings, phone calls, and more we’ve gotten so close to overhauling this failing independent watchdog.
In June, facing pressure from directly impacted people and community groups, the New York Legislature passed a Jail and Prison Oversight Omnibus Bill, S.8415 (Salazar)/A.8871 (Dilan), that includes overhauling the government watchdog—the State Commission of Correction—with authority over local jails and state prisons, including Marcy Mid-State, and Rikers. But Gov. Hochul has yet to take action on the legislation.
Yesterday,we organized more than 150 community, advocacy, and faith-based organizations to sent a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul urging her to swiftly sign the Jail and Prison Oversight Omnibus Bill (S. 8415 – Salazar / A.8871 – Dilan) into law. The letter featured groups come from across the state, including Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, the Hudson Valley, NYC, Long Island, and more. They represent a diversity of sectors, constituencies, and perspectives, including faith-based groups (Christian, Jewish, and Muslim organizations), unions, academic institutions, re-entry providers, legal groups, mental and physical health care organizations, immigrant rights organizations, LGBTQ+ groups, small businesses, youth organizations, and more. We issued this press release in response to the letter featuring quotes from our members and the organizations in response to the letter.
Support for signing this critical legislation into law continues to grow as individuals and organizations across the state demand action in response to the crises unfolding in local jails and state prisons under the Hochul Administration.
Over the last two weeks, multiple news articles and investigations have come out about the gross medical neglect and widespread abuse in New York State prisons, and growing calls for Hochul to sign the Jail and Prison Oversight Bill. Here’s a summary of them:
- Monday, November 24th: Last week, The New York Times published a major 2-part investigative report, Why Are Guards Using Force More Often in New York’s Prisons? and Restrained, Beaten, Asphyxiated: New York Prison Guard’s Brutality Grows, showing egregious assaults and abuse on incarcerated people at the hands of correctional officers has significantly increased over the past three years.
- We issued this press release in response to the NY Times investigation.
- Friday, November 28th: Following up from their investigation at the beginning of last week, the NY Times published an article where the Senate Majority Leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, calls on Gov. Hochul to sign the Jail and Prison Oversight Omnibus Bill.
- Sunday, November 30th: The Times Union published an article featuring interviews with Robert Brooks’s father and son. As the first anniversary of the murder of Mr. Brooks approaches, they both call on Gov. Hochul to sign the omnibus bill.
- Wednesday, December 3rd: Yesterday, The Marshall Project published an investigative report, In New York Prisons, Lack of Medical Care Led to Preventable Deaths showing that over the last decade, more than 30 incarcerated people have died in New York State prisons due to preventable or treatable ailments such as infections, obstructed bowels, and asthma attacks.
- In response to this report, we issued this statement calling on Hochul to overhaul the SCOC and sign the omnibus bill.
- Wednesday, December 3rd: For months, we have urged the Black, Puerto Rican, Asian, & Hispanic Caucus to weigh in and call on Gov. Hochul to sign the oversight. Last night, POLITICO’s New York Playbook reported that the Caucus responded to our demand and sent a letter to Hochul.
- Thursday, December 4th: This morning, the Times Union wrote an excellent article about the letter we sent to Gov. Hochul yesterday, calling on her to sign the Jail and Prisons Omnibus Bill into law.
Gov. Hochul has until the end of 2025 to sign the Jail and Prison Oversight Omnibus bill into law, which will overhaul the State Commission of Correction. With 27 days left in the year, we need Gov. Hochul to sign the bill now. Lives are at stake, and there’s no time to waste. We’re hitting the streets this Tuesday, December 9th, outside Gov. Hochul’s NYC office to demand that she sign this bill into law immediately.