Legal advocates decry conditions at New York’s only maximum-security prison for women

BEDFORD – A coalition of nonprofits this week joined a growing chorus of concern over what advocates consider “dangerous and deteriorating” conditions at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, the state’s only maximum-security prison for women.

Advocates from 30 organizations, including the Legal Aid Society, the New York Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts, sent a letter to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision on Wednesday calling for an independent investigation into the facility’s operations, especially its treatment of transgender and nonbinary inmates.

The letter’s signatories criticized what they described as a recent increase in “hostile and derogatory treatment from staff” and a greater number of instances where workers displayed “unjustified” and excessive force against inmates. Additionally, Bedford Hills – which houses about 600 people on average – is subjecting its population to discriminatory policies that cause distress, anxiety and depression among inmates, the letter claimed.