FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, May 15, 2026
Contact: Yonah Zeitz: yonah@katalcenter.org • 347-201-2769
Luke Sikinyi: LukeS@rightsandrecovery.org • 518-703-0264
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With Prison Deaths at Their Highest Level in Six Years, Governor Hochul Must Fully Fund and Staff Independent Oversight Agencies
Community Groups Call on Hochul to Restore Essential Oversight Funding to the Correction Association of New York and Appoint Reform-Oriented Commissioners to the State Commission of Correction
New York, NY: As the state prison system remains in a state of emergency, the Hochul Administration has proposed cutting $3 million in funding for the Correctional Association of New York – the nonprofit organization with constitutional authority to investigate conditions in state prisons. Additionally, the governor has yet to nominate new commissioners to the state agency responsible for oversight of prisons, jails, and juvenile detention facilities: the State Commission on Correction. Without new members, the SCOC is immobilized, precisely when oversight is needed most.
Last year, in response to the crisis in state prisons and the brutal murders of Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi, Governor Kathy Hochul and the state legislature approved increased funding in the 2025-26 Executive Budget for the Correctional Association of New York (CANY), a 182-year-old nonprofit organization tasked by state law with overseeing prison conditions. 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, repeated investigative visits is essential for fostering meaningful accountability. But the governor is now proposing to cut this funding entirely, severely hobbling CANY’s ability to fulfill its mandate. The $3 million in CANY funding represents just 0.07% of the multi-billion-dollar DOCCS budget.
In 2025, the legislature and governor also enacted a series of reforms to the State Commission on Correction. The reforms included requiring the SCOC to visit every correctional facility in New York on an annual basis, creating an online portal for families to submit concerns about their incarcerated loved ones, and expanding the number of commissioners from 3 to 5 – with at least one commissioner required to be a formerly incarcerated person.
On Saturday, May 9th, key reforms to the State Commission of Correction took effect – expanding the number of commissioners from three to five. Yet as of today, Gov. Hochul has not appointed any new Commissioners, which leaves the SCOC without a quorum to function.
New York must continue funding the Correctional Association of New York at the increased level provided last year to ensure independent oversight remains strong. With 57 deaths in state custody already reported between January and April 2026, the highest year-to-date total in at least five years, alongside severe shortages in security, medical, administrative, and program staff, conditions inside facilities are becoming increasingly dangerous for both incarcerated individuals and workers. Cutting or weakening oversight now would turn our prisons into even more of a ‘black box,’ limiting transparency and accountability precisely when independent monitoring is most urgently needed to ensure basic standards of care, safety, and human dignity are being upheld.
As New York’s prison system remains 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 save lives. This starts with fully funding CANY and fully staffing the SCOC with reform-oriented commissioners.
Statement from the Alliance of Rights and Recovery and the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice: “At a time when the prison deaths are increasing, and the system remains in crisis, it is inconceivable and shortsighted to end the ability of CANY to increase transparency by visiting and interacting 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. Yet, the state is failing to fulfill this commitment by proposing a budget that decreases oversight, transparency, and accountability. The stakes could not be higher, and the course the state is currently charting will lead to more abuse and more preventable deaths.
To fund the necessary oversight in state prisons, we urge the Governor and the New York Legislature to restore the $3 million for CANY. The Governor must also take swift action to ensure the SCOC can function by appointing reform-oriented commissioners who will work aggressively to meet the SCOC’s mandate.”
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