State Democrats get behind NY prison reforms in legislative session’s final days

Democrats in the state Senate and Assembly agreed late Monday on a set of prison reforms that would increase oversight in New York correctional facilities, months after the beating deaths of Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi at the hands of corrections officers while incarcerated.

The omnibus bill, which lawmakers hope to pass in both chambers with just days before the legislative session’s end, is the first major prison accountability bill that is close to a vote after Brooks’ death last December at Marcy Correctional Facility near Utica.

While Democratic lawmakers are praising the package, the omnibus bill is facing some criticism from both the left and right…