Criminal justice reform groups call on Hochul to commute prison sentences

Over 130 groups have signed on to a letter shared with City & State to state leaders urging an expansive use of clemency to help reduce the state’s prison population amid concerns about the safety of incarcerated people after a number of high-profile deaths.

The already tenuous situation in state prisons, which tend to be chronically understaffed, came to a head late last year following the beating death of Robert Brooks at Marcy Correction Facility at the hands of guards. Prison guards were accused of beating another inmate at Mid State Correctional Facility to death earlier this year, shortly before a statewide wildcat strike by corrections officers.

The letter cites Brooks’ death and the ongoing suspension of key provisions of a state law meant to ban the use of solitary confinement as key reasons that Gov. Kathy Hochul should use her clemency powers for the safety of incarcerated people. “(Department of Corrections and Community Supervision) Commissioner Martuscello III himself has described the state prison system as being in crisis, and the state government must act accordingly – and bring it to an end,” the letter reads. Its signatories include the NAACP New York Conference, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Release Aging People from Prison coalition and the Working Families Party.

When she first took office, Hochul promised to reform the clemency process that the governor uses to issue pardons or commute sentences. She has made good on her pledge to issue clemency on a rolling basis rather than simply at the end of each year, but so far she has not greatly expanded the number of commutations issued. Hochul issued her first clemencies of the year last week, none of which commuted sentences. Last year, she issued only three commutations. Since taking office, she has only commuted a total of 17 prison sentences.

This isn’t the first time that criminal justice reform advocates have called on Hochul to grant more of the over 1,000 clemency applications for commutation. During the prison guard strike, some advocates said she should commute the sentences of people who had already served decades in prison, in order to reduce the prison population amid the staffing crisis. Hochul chose not to do that.

In addition to the use of clemency, a power only the governor has, the letter also calls for other measures to reduce the prison population, including compassionate release, home confinement and work release. It also mentions the need to pass several parole and sentencing reform bills that criminal justice reform advocates have pushed for years. “We urge you to utilize, expand, and create fair pathways home for people in prison and to rectify acute conditions,” the letter reads.

The groups have support from state Sen. Julia Salazar, who chairs the Senate Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee. “Having visited facilities across the state, I have heard from incarcerated people about the endless – and unlawful – lockdowns in extraordinarily hot cells, the suspension of college and other programming, visiting limitations and the deprivation of basic necessities like medical and mental health care,” she said in a statement. “I agree with the signers of this letter – now is a moment for bold action.”