RAPP Campaign
Release Aging People in Prison Campaign
Noah Powelson, Queens Daily Eagle — Gov. Hochul vowed to reform the clemency process and grant executive clemency on a rolling basis, a promise many advocates accused her of walking back...
Nick Encalada-Malinowski, NY Daily News — With multiple delays and policy maneuvering, Gov. Hochul bullied the Legislature into the budget of her liking....
Tandy Lau, Amsterdam News — Legislation supporting parole reform in New York State is gaining momentum, signaling good news for advocates who are seeking to reduce deaths through releasing incarcerated people before their maximum sentence if they can demonstrate their rehabilitation. As the Amsterdam News reported recently, 2026 marks the deadliest start in Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) facilities in the past six years and how some advocates are fighting to ensure recent oversight laws are enacted....
Johan Sheridan / NEWS10-Nexstar — A coalition of advocacy groups has accused New York's Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) of ongoing staff violence and systematic violations of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Law (HALT Act). The groups cited several deaths in state-run prisons, including the 2022 waterboarding death of Ladale Kennedy at Upstate Correctional Facility and the 2024 beating and death of Robert Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility. The coalition also condemned visitation restrictions and a ban on family care packages...
New York Times / Wesley Parnell — Women hoping to visit their loved ones at New York prisons are being turned away after scanners pick up what they say are menstrual products. Some have had their visitation rights suspended...
7 News WWNY / Lexi Bruening, 7 News Staff — WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) - A recent New York Times investigation claims Robert Brooks may not be the first inmate in New York’s prison system to have died at the hands of corrections officers, reporting that others met a similar fate at state facilities years before...
Graham Rayman, NY Daily News — Gov. Hochul has ordered the closure of an upstate prison but opted not to close two more prisons, as had been previously approved in the state budget, managing to anger both correction officers union officials and prison reform advocates...
Nick Reisman / Politico — CLEMENCY PLEA: Left-leaning advocates are pressuring Hochul to use her clemency powers amid a backlog of 1,600 applications...
Noah Powelson / Brooklyn Daily Eagle — A week after Governor Kathy Hochul enacted her first round of clemencies this year, 135 organizations co-signed and published a letter to state leaders demanding more be done to address “the urgent crisis of racist brutality, medical neglect and denial of basic dignity in New York State prisons.” ...
During the summer of 2025, the Ulster County Legislature and more than 135 organizations submitted open letters advocating passage of the Fair & Timely Parole and the Elder Parole Bills, full implementation of the HALT Act, and more . . .
Bobbi Cobaugh / Inquest — When I entered prison, I followed the rehabilitative trail of breadcrumbs set out for me. I was repeatedly told to maintain a clean disciplinary record, obtain an education, sign up for industry jobs, pet the trauma pony, and train a bomb-sniffing dog. Correctional employees encouraged me to embrace these programs so I could honor my victim and redeem my life. I was told, “New Yorkers believe in second chances.” ...
Rebecca C. Lewis / City & State NY — Criminal justice advocates are chafing at the exclusion of measures they say are necessary to respond to Robert Brooks’ death in a truly meaningful way...
