State Democrats agreed to close up to three prisons over the next year and put at least $500 million toward the continued deployment of National Guard troops to backfill prison guard shifts, in a deal struck as part of the final phase of negotiations for New York’s budget.
The agreement also adopts Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to lower the starting age for a corrections officer from 21 to 18 years-old, with certain stipulations.
The changes to the state’s prison system, made as part of ongoing budget negotiations for Hochul’s $254 billion fiscal plan, come in the wake of a three-week long prison strike in February that deepened existing staffing shortages and further revealed systemic issues in the management of its facilities.
While Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) confirmed the deal regarding the state’s prison system on Monday, Hochul and lawmakers have yet to release a final version of the budget, which was due on April 1.
Hochul’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The unlawful strike, which began in February and ended in early March, led to the firing of 2,000 corrections officers. Blake Washington, the state’s budget director, said the strike has cost the state “hundreds of millions of dollars” as thousands of National Guard members have been filling those vacant posts since Hochul deployed them during the strike.
Washington and state lawmakers have acknowledged that several of the measures, including the funding for National Guard troops, are temporary measures.
"It's critically important that those solutions don't continue, because that isn't their training," Assemblymember Anna Kelles said of troops being stationed in prisons.
Republican lawmakers have expressed concern over the idea of closing more prisons, saying that it would potentially displace corrections officers, and lead to even larger staffing shortages. The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision usually identifies and recommends facilities that would be suited for a prison closure, which is subject to the governor’s approval.
Some Democrats have said they’re alarmed by the move to lower the minimum age requirement for corrections officers, saying that younger individuals are not prepared to enter corrections facilities.
“We’ve already noted that the environment [in prisons] overall is toxic,” said Kelles, who represents Cortland and Tompkins counties.
Lawmakers notably did not greenlight policies that would have allowed more incarcerated people to be eligible for earlier release through expanded earned time programs.
Under state law, only about 20% of incarcerated people qualify for earning merit time, which allows individuals to minimally reduce their sentences through the participation of programming such as education and community service.
Four individuals familiar with closed-door negotiations said while such proposals were under consideration, lawmakers failed to reach a consensus on an earned time framework.
Kelles, who co-sponsored the Earned Time Act, said she was “mystified” by the decision to drop the changes.
“It’s just hard to understand how anybody would be opposed to expanding access to merit time,” Kelles said.
Kelles, a Democrat, said that earned time programs incentivize good behavior in prisons, make facilities safer and individuals prepared to return to their communities upon release.
“Earned time is the most tried and true incentive, that is a carrot incentive,” she said. “The carrot incentives like job training, education, incentives for good behavior, are the only things that have been shown to actually promote rehabilitation and create safer environments.”
Lawmakers will consider the Earned Time Act as part of the state's legislative session, which ends in late June.
