ALBANY — More than 150 community, prisoner-advocacy and faith-based
organizations sent a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul Wednesday urging her to sign
legislation that its supporters contend will improve conditions and provide more
oversight of state correctional facilities.
“Support for signing this critical legislation continues to grow as individuals and
organizations across the state demand further action in response to the crises unfolding
in local jails and state prisons under your administration,” the letter states, adding that
the legislation is “an important and necessary step to address these humanitarian
problems.”
The groups, which include the Katal Center, Common Cause NY, Innocence Project and
the New York State Defenders Association, are especially supporting of the portion of
the omnibus legislation that would expand the Commission of Correction, which
oversees investigations of deaths in the correctional facilities.
Under the bill, that three-member commission would add six additional members,
including formerly incarcerated individuals, civil rights experts and public health
professionals.
Other measures in the bill package include requiring comprehensive 24-hour audio and
video surveillance in prisons with fixed cameras, and that footage be retained for up to
five years if there is litigation or allegations of misconduct.
The legislation would also expand the powers of the Correctional Association of New
York, an independent organization authorized to monitor prison conditions and report
its findings publicly, to strengthen the organization’s investigative powers.
The murder of 43-year-old Robert Brooks Sr. last December at Marcy preceded one of
the more tumultuous eras for the state prison system, including a 22-day strike by
correction officers earlier this year that crippled operations and led to the ongoing
deployment of thousands of New York National Guard troops inside the facilities.
Nine former correction officers pleaded guilty to criminal charges ranging from
falsifying business records to manslaughter in connection with Brooks’ death. Two
others were acquitted during a criminal trial that ended in October while a third, David
J. Kingsley II, was found guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter.
The violent 10-minute ordeal that preceded Brooks’ death triggered what many
advocates and lawmakers contended was a long overdue reckoning for the state’s
correctional system, which has for decades faced allegations of covering up incidents of
officers systematically beating — or in some cases killing — individuals in their custody.
The death of Brooks has revived efforts by many lawmakers to make legislative changes
to the operations of the state prison system. But many other lawmakers have also rallied
for better working conditions for correction officers, who they say have been forced to
work overtime and endure difficult working conditions amid the ongoing staffing crisis.
In 2023, the correctional association issued a report based on a monitoring visit to
Marcy Correctional Facility; they said 80 percent of the inmates they had interviewed
reported having witnessed or experienced abusive behavior by staff. Nearly 70 percent
of those interviewed reported racial discrimination or bias.
The association said that one person they interviewed described rampant physical abuse
by staff members and was allegedly told by an officer when he arrived that, “This is a
hands-on facility, we’re going to put hands on you if we don’t like what you’re doing.”
On the second day of the association’s October 2022 monitoring visit, inmates told them
that officers had warned them the prior evening that anyone who spoke with the group’s
representatives would face retaliation.