State senators in Albany voted Tuesday to triple the number of people tasked with inspecting New York’s prisons.
The bill — which now moves to the Assembly for debate — marks the first major legislative step lawmakers have taken in response to the beating deaths of two Black men incarcerated in upstate correctional facilities.
Robert Brooks, 43, and Messiah Nantwi, 22, died in separate beatings at different prisons.
Brooks’ death in early December was captured on body-worn camera video, which showed offers punching and stomping him while he was handcuffed to a gurney in a prison medical unit.
The case resulted in criminal indictments against the officers and staff, and sparked calls for greater accountability for guards who abuse incarcerated individuals or are found guilty of other misconduct.
Those calls only grew louder with Nantwi’s death three months later and more indictments.
“If our prisons had proper oversight and accountability, it is possible that Mr. Nantwi and Mr. Brooks would still be alive today,” said state Sen. Julia Salazar, D-Brooklyn, the bill’s co-sponsor. “Their preventable deaths are a stain on the state of New York.”
Lawmakers had not voted on legislative proposals in response to the deaths and an unsanctioned strike by corrections officers earlier this year until after a joint legislative hearing last week.
“As last week’s hearing made clear, it’s vital to pass meaningful legislation to increase oversight and prevent this type of tragedy from happening again,” said Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, D-Brooklyn, who cosponsored the bill with Salazar. “We must pass this bill and show incarcerated people that their lives have value and New York state is committed to protecting all of its residents from torture, harm and death."
The State Commission of Correction, which currently is a three-person board, is responsible for providing oversight to New York’s 42 prisons, including through regular inspections, conducting investigations and shutting down facilities.
The bill would allow the governor to continue appointing three commissioners, but give the Senate, Assembly and the watchdog group Correctional Association of New York the authority to appoint two commissioners each. The legislation also requires that commission members have different expertise and backgrounds besides law enforcement careers, such as public health or criminal defense.
The state created the commission at the end of the 1800s as a nine-person board, but funding cuts since reduced it to three members.
Salazar said that a three-person “skeleton crew” makes it impossible for the commission to "fulfill its obligations.”
The bill, which would expand the number of people on the board to nine, would give the commission “the more robust capacity it once had,” Salazar said.
