By Robert Harding
The Citizen, Auburn, N.Y.
NEW YORK — Following the beating death of an inmate and another record year of violence in New York prisons, Gov. Kathy Hochul is proposing more than $425 million in her 2025-26 state budget proposal to boost security at correctional facilities.
A bulk of the funding ($400 million) is to expedite the installation of fixed cameras in the state’s 42 correctional facilities. There is also $18.4 million for additional body-worn cameras and $7.2 million to revamp the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision’s Office of Special Investigations.
Although the funding is included in Hochul’s budget proposal, the concepts are not new. The governor announced plans to speed up the installation of fixed cameras after visiting Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, where Robert Brooks — an inmate at the prison — was beaten to death by correctional officers.
Hochul, who ordered the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to fire staff involved in the incident, directed the agency to implement several changes, including installing fixed cameras and distributing body-worn cameras in all facilities.
The reforms also include adding staff to the DOCCS’ Office of Special Investigations and expanding the partnership between the department and the Correctional Association of New York, which is an independent watchdog.
“I told both Marcy leadership and the incarcerated individuals that I met with that every single individual who enters a DOCCS facility deserves to be safe, whether they are employed there or serving their time,” Hochul said in December. “The system failed Mr. Brooks and I will not be satisfied until there has been significant culture change.”
The killing of Brooks highlights the violent environment in New York prisons. DOCCS and state officials have struggled to handle the growing problem, with record numbers of assaults on incarcerated individuals and staff reported in 2024.
According to DOCCS, there were 2,976 assaults on incarcerated individuals and 2,067 assaults on staff last year.
The New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, a union representing state correction officers, has complained for years about the increasing violence in prisons. NYSCOPBA urged the state to take action after attacks on staff in Auburn and other correctional facilities.
Hochul’s 2025-26 budget proposal will be reviewed by the state Legislature, with the goal of finalizing the spending plan by the beginning of the new fiscal year in April.
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