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Currently, our prison system focuses only on punishment without considering its long-term consequences. Instead, we need to find ways to enable incarcerated people to grow and change. As chair of the Senate Mental Health Committee, I recognize that when we help individuals heal, we make our communities safer places to live.
We must support New Yorkers with mental health crises by connecting them to programming and treatment, acknowledging their positive transformation, and enabling them to rejoin their communities once they’re ready.
Not to mention incarceration is expensive, leaving less money for research-backed solutions: access to housing, mental health and substance use treatment, education, and employment.
As the brutal deaths of Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi make clear, incarceration can be traumatizing and deadly. People often come out worse than they went in, making all New Yorkers less safe.
Our policies must deliver safety and accountability, giving incarcerated people tools to positively change their lives and stop further harm.
Passing the Earned Time and Second Look acts will give people the opportunity to earn time off their sentences for participation in work programs, mental health or substance use treatment, vocational training, and more. Incentivizing participation will better prepare people for release while reducing violent incidents in Department of Corrections and Community Supervision facilities and lowering the prison population—all while improving community safety.
Passing the Fair and Timely Parole Act will prompt commissioners to evaluate who a parole-seeker is now—the ways they have taken accountability for their actions and prepared to return to society—rather than who they were years or even decades ago. That means more safety and justice for New York.
These bills are also essential to making our system more rehabilitative. As of 2021, 24 percent of incarcerated New Yorkers had some form of mental illness—that number has likely increased since. Yet some leaders are condemning efforts to safely shrink the prison population or to make our criminal justice system fairer. They are using fearmongering to keep people behind bars, even when doing so no longer serves New Yorkers’ safety.
New York needs to follow the evidence and invest in what works. When we double down on punishment, we miss the opportunity to invest in our communities, promote healing, and encourage the rehabilitation and growth that keeps New Yorkers safe.
Samra Brouk represents the 55th District in the New York State Senate.
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Reform of the criminal justice system in this state was driven by multiple unfortunate and tragic events on Rikers Island in New York City. I grew up in that city and I can attest to the fact that the need and wants of that metropolitan area are very different from the other ‘big” five cities that are often held legislative hostages to the needs of the city, being lumped together for now obscure justifications.
I agree that the corrections system at every level is under staffed and under-funded and inadequately managed. I don’t have ready answers but I suggest that the Governor and legislative leaders examine other industrialized nations for guidance and alternative approaches. Especially when dealing with incorrigible youth who are part of a revolving door of committing crimes, being arrested, adjudicated, and released only to offend again.
It’s disingenuous to stereotype all incarcerated offenders as afflicted with mental health issues. There are myriad reasons for being institutionalized in our corrections system. Some individuals would benefit from on-going counseling, drug rehabilitation and skills training. But let’s not forget that many are dangerous hardcore psychopaths who should never be allowed back into society.
Judges need more latitude and training when it comes to sentencing or holding people over for trial, or granting bail or ROR. we need more secure juvenile beds. We also need much better screening of people before trial to determine not only their competence but also any underlying mental health or addiction issues that could have contributed to their being arrested in the first place. I understand that over the years some pre-trial diversion programs have been successful, but suffer from lack of support.
Senator Brouk is part of the party in power in Albany and has the ability to influence her caucus and their leaders to ensure more funding and oversite of the Department of Corrections and that it has the highest priority in the on-going budget negotiations.
Let’s not forget that it was Democratic Governor Cuomo who advocated for closing multiple prisons and condensing populations, while reducing the inmate count to save money. There are plenty of progressives who also argue that we need better housing, better education, and support for families with absent fathers. All of this costs money, and it is incumbent on the legislative leaders to make these decisions on behalf of their constituents.
I ask the Senator, how feasible, even with strong community support for her goals, is it that the Governor and Legislature will be willing or able to find the necessary funds, not only this year but for decades to come to make it happen?
A much higher hill to climb is to work for a change in how the big five cities can be decoupled from New York City requirements, especially with all the demographic changes we’ve experienced during the past two decades. Not to mention all the setbacks we all must endure with the current administration in Washington.
Passing these bills in a way that focuses on real rehabilitation . Why are personal biases specifically those that show the belief that not all people can change? Why exclude certain people. Isn’t rehabilitation about correctness and self change. Can we believe rehabilitation is possible beyond what individuals are convicted of? My husband/ partner of over 30 years has been incarcerated 20 years for a first time felony offense that he got sentenced to 25 to life. He has completed every program offered, obtained his GED, Associate and Bachelor degrees. No tickets, no behavior tracker, works, house in honor block, and participates in the Family Reunion Program. But unfortunately, he may not benefit if these bills don’t include those with a murder conviction. This means to me that there is a belief that not all people can rehabilitated which is an issue to me. Rehabilitation is possible for people who want it and put the effort and time. Being selected of who can rehabilitated based on a conviction is a stereotype that has gotten in the way for generations.
Agreed, we also need to look at the conditions of our prisons. We can hardly expect corrections officers to be humane when they are working 16 hour shifts sometimes weeks at a time. No one should be surprised when they lash out at inmates.
I agree with the Senator. I have heard from corrections officers over the years that prisons are used more than ever as a substitute for the treatment of mental illnesses. It endangers the officers and others. When their sentences are complete and they are released without these conditions having been treated, the parolee and the public may be at risk and the chances of success on the outside for the ex-prisoner are diminished.
It is past the time to explore new avenues, instead of the same failed policies over and over.