Gov. Hochul Seeks to Water Down NY Prison Oversight Bill, Advocates Say

By Jimmy Vielkind/New York Public News Network

Gov. Kathy Hochul is trying to water down legislation that would bulk up oversight of New York’s corrections system, advocates said, just as three correction officers stand trial for the beating death of a prisoner.

Hochul, a Democrat, has been negotiating with state lawmakers to change several provisions of an omnibus bill passed in June, state officials said. Former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has been briefed on the talks, said the governor wants to amend proposed changes to the Commission on Correction, a state watchdog.

“What we’re struggling over right now is trying to get the governor to sign it without amending us to death,” said Schneiderman, a leader of the End Prison Violence campaign.

The negotiations are unfolding as three former guards at the Marcy Correctional Facility are on trial for the killing of prisoner Robert Brooks. Ten men were charged in connection with Brooks’ death last December. Footage from body-worn cameras shows corrections officers punching and kicking Brooks in the prison infirmary. He died at a nearby hospital in Utica.

Jurors in the case spent Thursday weighing testimony and reviewing the exact definitions of second-degree murder, manslaughter and gang assault. Deliberations will continue Friday.

Hochul condemned the officers’ actions at the start of their trial this month, but she declined to say how she would act on the bill.

“We’re committed to significant prison reforms,” Hochul said. A spokesperson for the governor said the state has already implemented several changes in the wake of Brooks’ death.

The End Prison Violence campaign represents a return to activism for Schneiderman, who was elected attorney general in 2010 and resigned in 2018 in the face of multiple allegations of intimate partner abuse. Prosecutors declined to bring charges. Schneiderman started attending AA meetings and apologized for his actions.

He and activist Rosemary Rivera, who was formerly incarcerated, recently traveled to Syracuse to speak with a group of prison chaplains. The faith leaders spoke about conditions in state correctional facilities as they sipped coffee from cardboard cups at a hotel near the airport.

Rafael Marte, a Plattsburgh minister who also volunteers as a prison chaplain, said the culture behind bars needs to change. But the law would be a first step.

“More laws and more regulation cannot change your heart,” he said. “However, there are ways to bring accountability.”

The omnibus bill would triple the size of the three-member Commission on Correction. Legislative leaders would appoint new members, which would include someone who was formerly incarcerated as well as a public health professional. Hochul’s team has proposed reducing that to an additional two part-time members, Schneiderman said.

The legislation would also increase the amount of time that prisoners have to file lawsuits against the state related to their incarceration. It would require the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to release more data on internal investigations as well as install more cameras throughout the prison system.

Corrections Commissioner Dan Martuscello said this year’s state budget included $400 million for cameras that are already being put in place. Martuscello declined to comment on the omnibus bill, but said he and the governor are committed to transparency.

“We want to run a prison system that is based on transformation, redemption, and returning people to their communities as better versions of themselves,” he said.

Indictments related to Brooks’ death coincided with the start of an illegal three-week walkout last winter by corrections officers. Striking officers said they were protesting violent conditions in state prisons. The officers blamed the 2021 HALT law, which restricted how officers could place incarcerated people in solitary confinement.

Prisoners and advocacy groups said corrections officers started the strike to change the subject from Brooks’ death.

The strike forced prisons into lockdown, depriving incarcerated people of academic programming, visitors and hot meals. At least seven prisoners died during the strike, including Messiah Nantwi. Another 10 corrections officers were charged in connection with his death.

Martuscello and unions representing prison employees last month proposed changes to the HALT law that would give guards more discretion on the use of solitary. Rivera and other supporters of the HALT law say it was never fully implemented.

Assemblymember Phil Palmesano, a Republican from Corning, visited corrections officers on the picket line. He’s pushed for changes to the HALT law and voted against the omnibus bill because it didn’t do anything to address solitary confinement.

“We wanted to see a comprehensive approach that also took care of the challenges and problems going on inside our correctional facilities and the violence going towards the corrections officers,” Palmesano said.

The New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association doesn’t have a position on the omnibus bill. Spokesperson James Miller said the union objected to other proposals that lawmakers considered this year before settling on the bill that passed.

Schneiderman says the End Prison Violence campaign is looking to advance more bills when the state Legislature reconvenes in January. He’s planning rallies around the state, including one next week in Albany, to keep pressure on Hochul. He said Brooks’ father Robert Ricks won’t support a watered down version of the bill.

“I’ve told her people that I would love to have Robert Ricks at a bill signing with her,” he said. “But it’s not going to happen if the bill is no good.”

Image: The Woodbourne Jail located in Woodbourne, NY. (Credit: Creative Commons )

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