June 6, 2025

Here’s a blog entry from Dan Clark from Capitol Confidential looking at a package of 24 bills unveiled this morning by the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus in the NYS Legislature, to overhaul the state’s correctional system.  The information includes a very brief description of each bill and where it stands (in terms of forward progress in the waning days of the legislative session). 

Caucus members say ‘overdue’ Robert Brooks package is starting point

I told you yesterday that a package of 21 bills would be released Friday to overhaul the state’s correctional system.

It turns out there are actually 24 bills in that package, which was unveiled this morning by the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus. It’s in response to the deaths of Robert L. Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility and Messiah Nantwi at Mid-State Correctional Facility.

The package doesn’t represent an agreement between the two chambers on what they’ll approve on prisons before the end of session. This is what the caucus is putting on the table.

“This is just a blueprint,” said Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages, who chairs the caucus. “Conversations are being had. As I said before, our leaders are responsive and we’ll see what happens.”

Leadership in the Senate is expected to decide over the weekend what will make the cut for a separate package proposed by Democrats in that chamber next week. They’re also working with the Assembly on joint efforts.

Solages said they whittled several dozen bills down to form the package, ultimately choosing bills they believe could have prevented Brooks’ death. He died after being severely beaten by correction officers in a medical treatment room.

“That was our initial guiding light,” Solages said. “But I just don’t want us to lose sight that there’s so much more we can do on this topic and that this is just the beginning of the conversation.”

I’ll tell you what’s in the caucus’ package in a moment. But first, it’s worth noting how several members said the Legislature shouldn’t leave Albany without acting, in some way, in response to Brooks’ death.

“This is overdue. This is urgent,” said Senate Corrections Chair Julia Salazar. “We need to take legislative action to prevent this from happening to another New Yorker.”

It’s Salazar’s top priority through the end of session, though she’s been outspoken on the need for legislation for months now.

Assembly Corrections Chair Erik Dilan said he expects lawmakers to return to the issue next year, regardless of what they pass before they leave Albany.

“I think we have the opportunity in this session and the next few succeeding sessions to really shake the prison system and the criminal justice system for the next 50 years,” Dilan said.

Some members delivered some pretty powerful remarks to express their anger over how more hasn’t been done at the Capitol since Brooks’ death in December.

“Had that been done to an animal, more compassion and action would have happened,” said Sen. Cordell Cleare. “But this is a Black man and this has been happening to Black and brown people for decades.”

She’s — literally — not wrong. Less than a week after officers with the Department of Environmental Conservation facilitated the euthanizing of the internet-famous squirrel Peanut, a bill had been introduced to prevent a repeat scenario.

Assemblyman Al Taylor said there would’ve been more interest from lawmakers to move forward if Brooks hadn’t been Black.

“If this were any other nationality, this wouldn’t be a conversation,” Taylor said. “It would actually be so swift.”

And Assemblyman Demond Meeks referred back to the hearing held by lawmakers in May, when the head of the the state’s prison system said there had already been 46 deaths this year in those facilities, where about 33,000 people are incarcerated.

“Could you imagine if the neighborhoods in which we live in, for every 33,000, 46 dead?” Meeks said. “We would probably lock ourselves in the house and hide until we knew what was going on.”

It was clear that, if the Legislature leaves Albany without considering part of the package, that’s not going to sit well with caucus members.

What’s in the package

The bills are separated into four categories. I’m going to list each one below and whether it’s passed either chamber already. Most haven’t moved. I’ll put a * next to those that have.

Accountability

• DOCCS discipline (S1671/A5355): This would allow the commissioner of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to fire correction officers for serious misconduct. (Passed neither chamber)
• Excessive force (S1403/A4735): A requirement for police officers and correction officers to intervene when they see another officer using excessive force. (Passed neither chamber)
• Prison complaints (S1707/A6322): This would create an independent state office that would receive and investigate complaints made in correctional facilities. (Passed neither chamber)
• Correctional Association (S651/A3781): The Correctional Association of New York, which is allowed by law to inspect state prisons, would be able to visit facilities without notice and expand their access to records. (Passed neither chamber)
• Notice of death (S5680/A1010A): This would set a strict deadline for when public notice is given of the death of someone in state custody. (Passed neither chamber)
• Video of incidents (S3653/A4028): Video footage related to a death in prison would have to be disclosed to the attorney general’s office. (Passed neither chamber)
• Body cameras (S6366/A336): This would require correction officers to wear and use body cameras, though a similar item was in this year’s state budget. (Passed neither chamber)
• Surveillance cameras (S7312/A7014): Prisons would be required to have surveillance cameras in all areas of the facility except cells, showers and medical treatment rooms under this bill. (Passed neither chamber)
• Commission of Correction  (S856/A2315): The Commission of Correction would be expanded from three to nine members and some would have to come from specific backgrounds. (Passed the Senate)
• Autopsy reports (S5210/A5424): This would require autopsy reports to the Medical Review Board to include photographs, microscopic slides and post-mortem x-rays. (Passed neither chamber)
• Torture reporting mandate (S7865/A8286): This would explicitly prohibit health professionals from participating in, facilitating or failing to report acts of torture in prison. (Passed neither chamber)
• Department of Health  (S360/A2149): The Department of Health would be more involved in investigating and evaluating access to health care in prisons. (Passed the Senate)

Justice

• Fair & Timely Parole (S159/A127): This would require the Parole Board to grant parole to someone eligible unless doing so would present an unreasonable safety risk or if they’re likely to reoffend. (Passed neither chamber)
• Elder Parole (S454/A514): This would make people who are at least 55 years old and have served at least 15 years in prison to be eligible for parole. (Passed neither chamber)
• Merit Time (S342/A1085): Incarcerated people would be able to earn good time and merit time allowances against their sentence. (Passed neither chamber)
• Second Look Act (S158/A1283): This would allow people to ask a judge to reconsider the length of their sentence. (Passed neither chamber)
• Program waivers  (S3974/A206): A requirement for an incarcerated person to complete certain programs would be waived if that’s due to circumstances beyond their control. (Passed the Senate)
• Tolling the statute of limitations (S844/A649): This would suspend the statute of limitations for people while they’re incarcerated to ensure that any legal claims they have aren’t forfeited. (Passed neither chamber)

Safety

• Staff standards (S3763/A1261): This is a very large bill that sets guardrails for how staff should treat people in prisons, including those incarcerated there and any visitors. (Passed neither chamber)
• Medical care (S1138/A5359): This would prohibit the obstruction of medical care for people in prison. (Passed neither chamber)
• Expanded visitation  (S5037/A4603): Visitation would be expanded to require night and weekend hours under this bill. (Passed the Senate)
• Medical examiner (S8106/A6599A): An independent Office of Chief Medical Examiner would be created by this bill to investigate deaths within state prisons. (Passed neither chamber)

Rehabilitation

• Diversion programs (S4547/A4869): This would expand treatment programs for people with mental health and substance use issues to divert them from prison. (Passed neither chamber)
• Mental health care (A1956): This would require new mental health services for incarcerated people to help address post-traumatic stress. (Passed neither chamber)

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IN WASHINGTON:PROPOSED REORGANIZATION OF HHS

Speaking of which…As we have noted previously, the Trump Administration is making major changes to the organizational chart of federal Agencies, Offices, Departments, Centers, Institutes etc. that are currently housed under the Department of Health and Human Services.  

Recently, the White House released a FFY26 budget proposal document that offers insight into future plans for HHS.   

See attached document.