ALBANY – Governor Kathy Hochul has signed legislation that she said would provide a series of “transformational changes” in the state’s prisons and local jails.

There are a number of state prisons in the Hudson Valley and Catskills.

The bill will improve the safety and security of all incarcerated individuals and employees in prisons and jails, while also increasing accountability through reporting and greater oversight.

The legislation follows the murder of Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi in state prisons, after which the governor directed the state corrections department to implement immediate changes and then worked with the legislature to provide additional funding for cameras and investigational staff.

The legislation signed Friday will:

  • Require State and local correctionalfacilities to disclose video footage related to deaths to Office of the Attorney General (OAG) within 72 hours, or within 24 hours if it is belatedly discovered.
  • Require complete audio/visual camera coverage in all Department of Correction and Community Supervision (DOCCS) facilitiesand transport vehicles, extended storage of videos, and quick disclosure of the videos to incarcerated individuals and their counsel.
  • Require DOCCS post online within 48 hours of notifying next of kin of an incarcerated individual’s death.
  • Require the State Commission of Correction to conduct a study on DOCCS deaths over the past ten years.
  • Require copies of autopsy reports of individuals incarcerated in state or local facilitiesto include copies of the photographs and x-rays.
  • Provide for designation of a Deputy AG when OAG has a conflict.
  • Require DOCCS Office of Special Investigation (OSI) to quarterly report data.
  • Increase the number of SCOC commissioners from three to five total, including three full-time and two part-time members, with at least one of the commissioners being a formerlyincarcerated person.
  • Give the CorrectionalAssociation of New York (CANY) more access to DOCCS facilities and data and give incarcerated individuals more avenues to privately access CANY.

Provide a window post incarceration for individuals to file claims arising from harms caused during incarceration



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