The Communities Not Cages campaign is advocating for the passage of three sentencing reform bills in the 2026 legislative session: the Second Look Act, the Earned Time Act and the Marvin Mayfield Act. The Second Look Act would allow incarcerated individuals who have served 10 years of their sentence to apply for a sentence reduction, and the Earned Time Act would allow incarcerated people to earn time for rehabilitation to ease their transition upon release.
The Marvin Mayfield Act would eliminate mandatory minimums, which require a minimum amount of prison time for specific crimes. The Communities Not Cages campaign says such laws can pressure people to plead guilty to secure a deal, even if they are innocent.
According to Garrett Smith, a statewide organizer with the Center for Community Alternatives, the bills would help incarcerated individuals transition more easily to life after prison.
“[A] majority of people have a release date, and then they're being released to the community, and with no services, no supports, no way of really moving them, their lives forward,” he said.
Smith said the Communities Not Cages campaign, which launched in January 2022, is advocating for an end to mass incarceration and criminalization in New York.
“I call it personally ‘systemic oppression,’ because it's very organized. It's a lot of arbitrary rules that are really just put in place to keep a person stagnant at whatever level within the socioeconomic system they're in. But we're here to really just try to remove those barriers and instill self-reliance so people can move their life forward as they see fit.”
State Assemblymember Gabriella Romero addressed the impact mass incarceration has on Black and brown communities in the state. Romero told WAMC News she is particularly invested in the passage of the Marvin Mayfield Act, saying it would allow judges to review cases on an individualized basis.
“That bill specifically would end mandatory minimums and make sure that judges are able to have wide discretion, make sure that every single case is treated individualized and based on the facts of that case.”
Advocates also spoke about the prison reform omnibus bill currently awaiting action from Governor Kathy Hochul. The bill, passed by the Legislature in June, would increase transparency in correctional facilities. It was approved following the killing of Robert Brooks, an incarcerated man who died after being beaten by correctional officers at Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County last December, spurring statewide outcry and calls for reform.
Romero said she hopes Hochul will sign the bills without amendments.
“I think that these bills are common sense,” she said. “I think that a lot of these bills — adding that label of moderate, left, right, whatever — these bills, no matter where you are on a political spectrum, add a level of transparency and accountability that's needed within our prison system. They add safety to our prison system.”
In a statement to WAMC News, a spokesperson for Hochul’s office said the governor will review the omnibus bill and that the safety of all New Yorkers is a “top priority,” citing new changes to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision’s policies.
Jaime Bailey Warren, whose husband, Steven Warren, was incarcerated for 28 years on murder and robbery charges, spoke about why she believes incarcerated individuals should have better access to rehabilitation programs. She said she hopes bills like the Second Look Act and the Earned Time Act will allow people who have completed rehabilitation programs to be released earlier.
“We need to bring our people home,” she said. “There's way too many people that are in there serving, you know, 20, 30, 40 years or more. I know wives of two people that are serving like 110- and 120-year sentences. We don't have the death penalty anymore, but that is essentially what you're giving someone when you give them 110 or 120 years. We need to change the sentencing laws. We need to create fair pathways home for people and reduce the number of incarcerated in the state.”
