By NICK REISMAN / POLITICO (PLANET ALBANY)
CLEMENCY PLEA: Left-leaning advocates are pressuring Hochul to use her clemency powers amid a backlog of 1,600 applications.
The NAACP New York Conference, Release Aging People in Prison and other groups will rally outside the governor’s Manhattan office today to press her over the issue.
Hochul has used her clemency powers sparingly this year, only granting the benefit to two incarcerated women.
Stanley Bellamy, who was granted clemency by Hochul in 2022, urged the governor to act in more cases.
“There are many others behind bars who are equally deserving of this second chance, and we’re holding this rally to call on her to act,” Bellamy said.
Hochul has been caught in the political crosscurrent of the criminal justice reform movement. The moderate Democrat has scaled back measures approved by her predecessor like the controversial bail law and a provision that governed how defense counsels access evidence in criminal cases.
She also hasn’t ruled out changing the state’s juvenile justice law, approved in 2019.
Hochul pushed for those changes amid Republican attacks over public safety and following a spike in crime, which coincided with the pandemic.
But advocates have not stopped their efforts to change the criminal justice system — pushing measures that make it easier to release people in prison, including older inmates.
Complicating the matter are the conditions within New York’s prison system. Several inmates have died this year, including the high-profile killing of Robert Brooks after he was beaten by corrections officers. A month-long wildcat prison strike added to the stress on the prison system.
Hochul’s office in a statement touted the “systemic changes” within the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in recent months meant to improve safety.
“The Governor is committed to continue working with the Legislature to reduce recidivism, enhance reentry services for previously incarcerated individuals, and improve the prison system through recruitment efforts and policy reforms,” spokesperson Jess D’Amelia said.