Prison Reform: The Second Look Act
a rejected letter to the NY Times
Had it passed in Albany this session, the Second Look Act, which Mr. Oreskes does not specifically outline in his recent article, would, in short, have allowed those with lengthy sentences to apply for a sentence reduction sooner than the options currently available in New York State. Usually, these approvals are based upon the successful completion of required programs - often including a choice program like higher education degrees but also others related to a trade or even puppy training. These offer a six-month reduction in prison sentences. That's a short amount of time on 10 or more years behind bars. Political push back from prosecutors or Republicans on community safety concerns enforces a blanket misconception that anyone applying for release would be let out, scot-free no questions asked, the moment the approval date arrived. But even with such a law, the process would likely be onerous and require the work of several parties involved along with approval from superintendents and other prison administrators. In its current form, the process requires heavy bureaucratic advocacy from someone on the outside willing to work, essentially, as the incarcerated individual's de facto project manager. To help a friend gain his early release, I communicated tirelessly with deans, the office at SUNY Higher Education in Prison, and in-house prison counselors to ensure that Albany received all the correct paperwork within our small window of application time. And just to be sure he was even being considered for early exit, I asked my state senator, Brad Hoylman-Sigal and his team, to check that the file wasn't just collecting dust. With almost painstaking timely precision between coordinated parties worthy of any blockbuster suspense film, my incarcerated friend was approved by the State for release, reducing a three-year determinate prison sentence to two and a half. Why does this matter? Within his gained six months, he's already enrolled in university for the fall, returned to working his business, and is currently involved in a Princeton Prison Initiative STEM summer internship. He's also able to go to doctor's appointments on his own and get prescriptions filled in a timely manner. Most importantly to me and his family, he's alive. These laws should be passed next round. Incarcerated individuals with such proven good records and enduring determination to better themselves are an instant, energetic asset to our society. It's one of the best ways we have for Commissioner Martuscello to reduce the prison population while saving NY State millions of dollars. And it surely will not be the safety menace many would wish voters to believe.
Below you can find a portion of the original article:
In response to crises inside New York State’s prisons, Gov. Kathy Hochul said this winter that swift action in Albany would hold corrections officers accountable and keep inmates safer.
In the legislative session that ended Wednesday, the governor directed $400 million to increase camera coverage in prisons. She replaced the head of the prison where an inmate had been savagely beaten to death and ordered reviews of “safety gaps” in several lockups and assessments of their operating cultures.
But she has not committed to signing a package of bills meant to increase prison oversight that originated with reform-minded lawmakers. Criminal justice advocates and some legislators were also left disappointed that she has not championed measures that would increase the chances for inmates to gain early release and make it easier to discipline officers.
They accuse Ms. Hochul of prioritizing expedient and incremental policies to court moderate voters as she gears up for re-election next year.
“As public servants, we have to lead with a great deal of courage and moral clarity,” Emily Gallagher, a Democratic assemblywoman who represents parts of North Brooklyn, said of the governor.
“There is a tension between good policy that protects all residents of New York State,” added Ms. Gallagher, who has been endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America and supported the prison bills. “And the fear of this right-wing political moment that we’re in.”
Inmates have complained for years about poor treatment and conditions in New York’s prisons. In December, days before legislators returned to work in Albany, footage surfaced of corrections officers fatally beating a handcuffed prisoner, Robert Brooks, at Marcy Correctional Facility near Utica.
The graphic video infuriated Ms. Hochul. She wanted the 13 corrections officers and nurse involved fired and said she was resolved to improve the prison and to holding everyone “fully accountable.”
“I’m willing to make the investments,” Ms. Hochul said after visiting Marcy. “I just need the people to understand that this could also be a place we could turn a tragedy into something that is more positive.”
The state’s $254 billion budget, finalizedlast month, was the venue where Ms. Hochul accomplished her broad policy goals this year. She focused on cutting taxes for middle-class New Yorkers and sending residents rebate checks. Her other priorities were altering rules for how evidence is shared with defense lawyers before trials and making it easier to remove people in psychiatric crisis from public spaces to be evaluated for treatment.
Those measures were backed strongly by prosecutors and law enforcement leaders. They dovetailed with a concern from Ms. Hochul that New Yorkers’ sense of safety could influence her re-election chances.
The prisons were not far from Ms. Hochul’s mind as well. Over the past decade, the number of state corrections officers has dropped by 42 percent, to about 11,000. To address this staffing shortage, Ms. Hochul placed in the budget a measure allowing corrections officers to be hired from out of state and lowering the minimum age to 18 from 21.
But discussions about reducing more sentences for good behavior went nowhere. Thomas Gant, a community organizer at the Center for Community Alternatives, said that Ms. Hochul’s budget priorities showed how politics were overtaking good policy.
Even though attempts to shorten sentences for good behavior have “extensive support and would address the crisis in New York’s prisons, the governor’s eyes were on her Republican challengers,” he said.
Lawmakers and state officials note that the state prison population has dropped to about 31,000 in the past decade from about 52,000. In 2024, Ms. Hochul ordered the closure of two state prisons. During the recent budget talks, she initially asked for the power to close five more but later scaled that back to three.
In an interview, Daniel F. Martuscello III, commissioner of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, said he would be interested in finding ways to reduce the prison population further.
Nearly three-quarters of the remaining inmates have been convicted of violent felonies, and the Corrections Department’s officers are not distributed evenly among the state’s prisons.
The work force is deeply disgruntled, and an increase of assaults against officers has made them feel unsafe. Rolling wildcat strikes began in mid-February just before 10 corrections officers were charged in connection with Mr. Brooks’s death. The work stoppage led Ms. Hochul to activate7,000 National Guard members, some of whom are still working in the prisons.
Ms. Hochul applauded the indictments of the 10 officers and took a tough line on striking guards, firing more than 2,000 for refusing to work. During the strike, which featured regular protests by guards at the State Capitol, another prisoner, Messiah Nantwi, was killed. That led to the indictments of two officers on charges of second-degree murder. So far two of the officers involved in the killing of Mr. Brooks have pleaded guilty in exchange for reduced sentences, while the eight others have declined plea offers.
Mr. Martuscello said the system was still recovering from the strike. Programming in many facilities has not returned, and Mr. Martuscello said that state officials had to make the prisons safer for guards and inmates alike.
“The strike is over. The crisis is not,” he said. “We will build back stronger and better to make sure we restore those programs that are so vital to the success of incarcerated people.
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