FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 4, 2026
Contact: Yonah Zeitz: yonah@katalcenter.org • 347-201-2769
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With New York’s Prisons in Crisis, Governor Hochul Must Strengthen and Fully Fund Independent Oversight Agencies
The Katal Center Calls on Hochul to Restore Essential Oversight Funding to the Correction Association of New York and Fully Implement the Prison Oversight Omnibus Bill
New York, NY: Last year, in response to the crisis in state prisons and the brutal murders of Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi, Governor Kathy Hochul approved increased oversight funding in the 2025-26 Executive Budget for the State Commission of Correction (SCOC), the state’s independent jail and prison watchdog agency, and the Correctional Association of New York (CANY), a 182-year-old nonprofit organization tasked by state law with overseeing prison conditions.
Even though the state prison system remains in a state of emergency, Governor Hochul, in her proposed FY26-27 Executive Budget, has eliminated $3.127 million in funding for the Correctional Association of New York (CANY). This additional funding was used to hire staff and schedule multiple investigative visits to 6 of the more troubled state prisons. This type of intensive and repeated investigative visits is essential to foster meaningful accountability.
The only other agency responsible for prison oversight is the SCOC, which is newly required to visit every jail and prison once a year. Yet the agency is not fully staffed with new investigators, and the SCOC has only an Acting Chairperson and one full-time Commissioner (with one vacant Commissioner position). Two new part-time gubernatorial appointees to the SCOC are mandated by the Prison Oversight Omnibus bill, which was finalized on February 17, 2026. This makes CANY’s oversight role essential to bringing external scrutiny and transparency to the state’s prisons.
As New York’s prison system remained embattled with preventable deaths, violence, and overuse of isolation and lockdowns, it’s clear that greater oversight, not less, is needed to improve conditions and safe lives.
Statement from Yonah Zeitz, advocacy director of the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice: “At a time when more oversight is needed, is it inconceivable and shortsighted to end the ability of CANY to visit and interact with incarcerated individuals and staff at state prisons. With last year’s expanded funding to oversight agencies and the enactment of the Prison Oversight Omnibus bill, Governor Hochul has already acknowledged the dire need for greater oversight. It would be a travesty of justice if she did not effectively implement these reforms and make them permanent.
To fund the necessary oversight in state prisons, we urge the Governor to restore the $3.127 million for CANY. The Governor must also effectively implement reforms to overhaul the SCOC by appointing reform-oriented commissioners who will work aggressively to meet the SCOC’s mandate.”
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