This year marks the deadliest start for state prisons in at least six years, according to findings recently reported by the watchdog Correctional Association of New York (CANY). The findings account for the 57 deaths as of April 30 — since then, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision’s (DOCCS) mandated reporting points to at least 12 more deaths so far in May.
Exactly what caused this uptick remains unknown, according to Sumeet Sharma, CANY’s director of policy and communications. The numbers indicated spikes in the maximum security Green Haven Correctional Facility, along with three times the suicides in the women’s maximum security Bedford Hills Correctional Facility compared to last year. CANY’s findings also point to three homicides in North Country upstate prisons within a single week last month.
“The numbers that we’re seeing so far this year, where we have 57 deaths in custody, really outpaces the numbers that we’ve seen in 2024-2025 and even going back to the COVID years,” said Sharma over video call. “We don’t know the cause and manner of each of these deaths at this stage. But the number of prison deaths and the way that people are dying is like a ground zero, where it gives us insight into how things are operating in the state prison system overall.
“So, seeing an increased rate and increased pace of people dying in New York state’s prisons [in] 2026 is very concerning.”
New York State tasks the nonprofit CANY to investigate its prisons, and last year’s Omnibus Prison Oversight Bill passed by the legislature allows the organization to show up at correctional facilities with just 24 hour notice, rather than the previous 72 hours.
The legislation also expanded the State Commission of Correction, which also oversees the city’s jail system, to five commissioners and mandates the governor to appoint at least one person who is formerly incarcerated (the agency is traditionally staffed with law enforcement backgrounds). The bill also ensures DOCCS notifies the public when someone dies in prison.
These measures followed increased public scrutiny over video footage showing Marcy Correctional Facility staff beating incarcerated Black man Robert Brooks to death in Dec. 2024. State prisons remained in the news throughout the first half of last year after an illegal prison guard strike. Meanwhile, staff allegedly beat to death another man, Messiah Nantwi.
But this year, Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed cutting $3 million from CANY. Sharma says the nonprofit is making the most of the current reforms. Incarcerated individuals told CANY that a wide body-worn camera rollout is increasing safety. However, most facilities still lack stationary cameras despite a $400 million investment to expedite the process.
“The strength of change in law or resources given to either the department or the oversight entities really depends on the implementation of those laws and what happens with those resources,” said Sharma. “We’d like to see that the spirit of what was in the prison omnibus bill [is] really brought out to its full effect.”
A DOCCS spokesperson cautioned against speculation and pointed to an annual review process by official and unofficial watchdog groups to break down the department’s mortality numbers and to determine root causes. The State Commission of Correction reviews all deaths, and several investigatory bodies, including the Office of Special Investigations, New York State Police and State Attorney General, into all deaths “that appear to be from other than natural causes or known medical condition.”
“As in the general population, there are many reasons people pass, including natural causes, old age and disease,” he said. “The approximately 34,000 individuals within our custody are not immune to any of these and the majority of deaths in custody reflect this reality. Without a thorough understanding of the causes, locations, and circumstances surrounding these cases, the raw data simply provides an incomplete picture, and sweeping generalizations or conclusions made concerning deaths in custody are ill-advised.”
But many prison reform advocates believe that state prisons continue to face the same unresolved issues, including Derrick Hamilton, co-founder of Families and Friends of the Wrongfully Convicted. Last year, the former jailhouse lawyer spearheaded the End Prison Violence campaign alongside the likes of former State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Brooks’ father Robert Ricks to successfully pass the omnibus bill.
“I know what’s going on, I spent over 30 years of my life in prison,” said Hamilton. “And what’s going on is that you have racist prison guards from these areas upstate who are killing us and it’s being covered up. As we seen [sic] in Robert Brooks. This didn’t just happen then, it just was recorded for the first time.”
Yonah Zeitz, the director of advocacy for the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice, pointed to how the two new part-time SCOC seats remained unfilled since the new law came into effect on May 9. He blamed the killings of Brooks and Nantwi on “an utter disregard for incarcerated people” and called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to appoint a formerly-incarcerated person onto the commission, as per law.
“This governor has said she is committed to increasing oversight accountability,” said Zeitz. “Her actions speak louder than words. She is not restoring the CANY funding and she has not put reform-oriented commissioners on the SCOC.”
Other reforms to the SCOC from the omnibus bill include the agency annually inspecting every prison, jail and juvenile detention center, as well as launching an online complaint portal for families to file written complaints.
“New York prisons have had a systemic pattern of violence and abuse for decades, with little to no oversight,” said State Senator Julia Salazar in a statement. “The SCOC was designed to provide oversight, but has not had the capacity or diverse expertise to do so. The Prison Reform Omnibus Bill rightfully expanded and diversified the Commission to address this problem.
“Current vacancies must be quickly filled with reform-oriented commissioners so that the SCOC can more adequately fulfill its constitutional mandate of ensuring all local jails and state prisons are safe, stable, and humane.”
A spokesman for Gov. Hochul says the SCOC positions must be confirmed by the State Senate and cannot be appointed unilaterally.
“Governor Hochul has been clear that the safety of all staff and incarcerated individuals is a top priority, which is why she has implemented and continues to invest in fundamental, systemwide changes to improve oversight and ensure the State’s correction system prioritizes safety, accountability and transparency across all facilities,” she said. “This administration began working diligently to identify candidates for the Commission prior to the effective date for the new law, and will continue to coordinate with the Senate to schedule confirmation hearings to fill these new roles.”