Joint Letter Regarding NY's Prison Crisis
August 20, 2025
The Honorable Kathy Hochul
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello III
NYSDOCCS
Harriman State Campus
1220 Washington Avenue
Albany, New York 12226
Hon. Andrea Stewart-Cousins
President Pro Tempore and Majority Leader
NYS Senate
188 State Street
Legislative Office Building, Room 907
Albany, NY 12247
Hon. Carl Heastie Speaker
NYS Assembly LOB 932
Albany, NY 12248
Dear Governor Hochul, Commissioner Martuscello, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Speaker Heastie:
We write as organizations that value human rights and share a deep concern about the ongoing and urgent crisis of racist brutality, medical neglect, and denial of basic dignity in New York State prisons. We urge you to utilize, expand, and create fair pathways home for people in prison, and to rectify acute conditions.
Footage of the unconscionable killing of Robert Brooks exposed the longstanding crisis of racist brutality inflicted by staff in New York’s prisons with impunity for decades. In its wake, New York State promised sweeping changes. Instead, officers waged an illegal strike to distract from this promised change; DOCCS illegally suspended the HALT Solitary Law; and incarcerated people still suffer a deadly crisis. Lockdowns and prolonged solitary confinement remain widespread, and family visits, programming, recreation, court trips, medical call outs, mental health call outs, religious services, showers, meals and other basic operations are still cancelled or curtailed. Over 81 people have died in prison in the roughly eight months since the murder of Mr. Brooks. In a recent legal filing, DOCCS has even openly admitted that it is incapable of running basic prison operations. Meanwhile, local jails across the state are overcrowded, with worsening conditions because DOCCS is not intaking many of those sentenced to prison time, and some parole-eligible people in these jails are not even being interviewed.
The solution to this crisis is executive and legislative action to release people from prison: expansive use of executive clemency, compassionate release, home confinement, and work release, and—critically important—enacting the Fair & Timely Parole Act, the Earned Time Act, the Elder Parole Act, the Second Look Act, and the Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act. The state should also fully abide by and implement the HALT Solitary Law and enact the Rights Behind Bars Act. These measures will improve safety behind bars and in the community. People are suffering and dying, and we urge you to take immediate action to release people and transform the environment inside. 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.
Sincerely,
1. A Little Piece of Light
2. AASEMPOWERMENT LLC
3. Advocates for the Voiceless
4. All Of Us
5. Alliance of Families for Justice
6. Appellate Advocates
7. Archive-Based Creative Arts
8. Beacon Prison Action
9. Beacon Prison Rides
10. Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Long Island Chapter
11. Bend the Arc: Jewish Action: Riverdale
12. Black & Pink NYC
13. Brooklyn Defender Services
14. Bully Proof
15. CASES
16. Center for Community Alternatives
17. Center for Constitutional Rights
18. Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO)
19. Center for Family Representation
20. Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU Law
21. Children's Defense Fund-New York
22. Church of the Overcomer
23. Collaborative Solutions, Inc.
24. Common Justice
25. Congregation Ezrath Israel, The Actors' Temple
26. Crack the walls
27. CUNY Law School Defenders Clinic
28. DFH Paralegal Research
29. EAC Network
30. Equality for Flatbush(E4F)
31. Families For Freedom
32. Families United for Change
33. Family Connections Travel
34. Fifth Christian Church Disciples of Christ
35. finequityorg
36. Franciscan Justice Circle Mid-Hudson Valley, NY
37. Grace Congregational Church of Harlem
38. Grace Congregational church of Harlem
39. Great Works Solutions
40. Greater NYC for Change
41. HALT Solitary Campaign
42. Housing Works, Inc.
43. Hudson Catskill Housing Coalition
44. IamNegrx: Survivors of Sexual Violence
45. Immigrant Defense Project
46. Incarcerated Nation Network
47. Interfaith Advocates for Fair Law Enforcement
48. Intergenerate
49. International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
50. Inwood Indivisible
51. Jails Action Coalition
52. Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club
53. John Brown Lives!
54. Justice for Families
55. JustUs Trusted Partners
56. Kings Against Violence Initiative pka KAVI
57. Laloon Studios
58. Legal Action Center
59. Living Legendary Club LLC
60. Long Island Progressive Coalition
61. Long Island Social Justice Action Network (LISJAN)
62. Mental Health Alternatives to Solitary Confinement
63. MomsRising Together
64. Mothers On the Inside
65. Myras House, Inc
66. NAACP New York State Conference
67. NAMI Huntington
68. National Action Network NYC Chapter Second Chance Committee
69. National Action Network NYC Second Chance Committee
70. National Police Accountability Project
71. NEW ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT
72. New Hour for Women & Children - LI
73. NEW Pride Agenda
74. New York City Against Segregated Healthcare
75. New York City Jericho Movement
76. New York Civil Liberties Union
77. New York Communities for Change
78. New York Doctors Coalition
79. New York State Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare
80. New York State Defenders Association
81. North American Climate, Conservation and Environment(NACCE)
82. NY Working Families Party
83. NYC ABC
84. NYC Metro Raging Grannies
85. NYS Jails Justice Network
86. Office of the Appellate Defender
87. Office of the Genesee County Public Defender
88. Ojala Threads Inc.
89. Onondaga County Assigned Counsel Program
90. Paddling Upstream
91. Parole Preparation Project
92. Partnership for the Public Good
93. Party for Socialism and Liberation, Albany-Hudson Valley Branch
94. Pax Christi Hudson Valley, NY
95. Physicians for a National Health Program - New York Metro Chapter
96. Planning Alternatives for Change
97. Prison Families Alliance
98. PRISONERS ARE PEOPLE TOO, INC.
99. Prisoners Brain Trust
100. Resistance in Brooklyn
101. Restorative Action Alliance
102. Rise and Resist NYC
103. Riverside Sheriff Accountability Coalition
104. Rochester City Council
105. Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) NYC
106. Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock
107. Social Workers & Allies Against Solitary Confinement
108. Stop Torture RI Coalition
109. Suffolk Progressives
110. Suffolk Progressives
111. Surveillance Technology Oversight Project
112. Survivors Justice Project
113. Survivors of the System
114. The Alternative to Economic and Housing Displacement Inc
115. The Bronx Defenders
116. The Legal Aid Society - Criminal Defense Practice
117. The Narrative Change Lab
118. The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls
119. The Release Aging People in Prison Campaign (RAPP)
120. Treatment Action Group
121. Unified Black Caucus, Inc
122. Unitarian Universal Congregation at Shelter Rock, NY
123. Uptown Progressive Action
124. Urban Justice Center
125. Urban Youth Alliance
126. Uri L'Tzedek
127. V-Day
128. VOCAL-NY
129. VOICE Buffalo
130. WE GOT US NOW
131. WESPAC Foundation, Inc.
132. Westchester for Change
133. Witness to Mass Incarceration Inc,
134. Work From Home For Justice
135. Worth Rises
136. Youth Represent
Cc:
Senator Julia Salazar, Chair, NY Senate Crime Victims, Crime & Correction Committee
Assembly Member Erik Dilan, Chair, NY Assembly Correction Committee
Senate and Assembly legislative & policy staff