A push to expand the state’s independent prison oversight body appears to have stalled in the Assembly.
The effort comes after Robert Brooks was killed last December while incarcerated at Marcy Correctional Facility.
Progressive lawmakers have re-surfaced legislation first introduced four years ago that would triple membership of what they say is the underfunded and understaffed State Commission of Correction, or SCOC. The commission has the authority to inspect and close any correctional facility deemed unsafe, unsanitary or otherwise inadequate.
But those same lawmakers say some of their Assembly colleagues have been stalling the measure since February.
The bill is one of several being considered as the state’s correction system has seen weeks of turmoil with an unlawful corrections officers’ strike, during which at least seven incarcerated people died. It’s not clear if their deaths were connected to the strike. Some 2,000 corrections officers were fired for participating in the unlawful strike.
Other proposals would establish an independent agency to investigate incidents at prisons. Another would allow the state’s prison commissioner to fire corrections officers without going through arbitrators selected by corrections officers’ unions — which is the current system in place.
Assemblymember Emily Gallagher said lawmakers have not passed a single bill this session to increase accountability and oversight in prisons. But Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said he wants the Legislature to convene special hearings on the correctional system before considering individual pieces of legislation.
“After Mr. Brooks' murder, there was a moment that felt as if there was momentum to do so, but that was quickly overtaken by the illegal wildcat strike," Gallagher wrote in a statement.
At a rally Tuesday at the state Capitol, she and criminal justice advocates put part of the blame on the Assembly Correction Committee. Legislation must first clear a committee vote to be considered. But this bill is not on the agenda. Gallagher charged that committee chairman Erik Dilan, a fellow Brooklyn Democrat, had left the proposal in limbo for almost two months.
“It was meant to be on the correction agenda (again) this week, and it was removed,” said Gallagher, who is co-sponsoring the bill with state Sen. Julia Salazar, D-Brooklyn, Queens. “Answer me, why was it removed?”
Dilan was not present at the rally. His office did not respond to a request for comment. Heastie, though, pushed back on the idea that some in the party are slow-walking reform and instead highlighted the need for a holistic assessment.
“This is an opportunity for us to do an entire look at how the correctional system works in New York state,” the Bronx Democrat said. “So no one's stalling. We want to kind of take an entire look and, you know, and do it in partnership with the Senate.”
Advocates from the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice, who joined Gallagher and Salazar at the rally, support the SCOC bill because they say the committee needs more help to do its job.
“For the past 20 years, they have failed to meet their mandate due to lack of funding and staffing reduction,” said Melanie Dominguez, organizing director for Katal. “There is no time to waste when people's lives are at stake.”
Salazar and Gallagher want the new members to come from different career backgrounds, including public health, behavioral health, prisoner’s rights, and those who were formerly incarcerated.
