2024

MEDIA COVERAGE

Featured
Adirondack legislators raise alarm on potential prison closures

in Adirondack Explorer

New York State can close up to five prisons within the next year

in CBS 6 News Albany

Why thousands of state prison jobs are unfilled

in Adirondack Daily Enterprise

State budget proposal to close five state prisons

in WENY News

In These State Prisons, Addiction Treatment Is Out of Reach

in New York Focus

Auburn museum to host talk on NY prison history

in The Citizen

Seward House & CANY Lecture to Discuss History of Auburn Prison

in Finger Lakes Daily News

Prison jobs used to be sought after in NY. So why are thousands unfilled?

in NCPR

Westchester man dies in N.Y. State prison after nurses fail to treat throat infection: wife

in Daily News

'Going Upstate': Exhibit coming to Auburn explores life in prison towns

in The Citizen

Hochul’s Plan to Close Prisons Faces a Fight

in New York Focus

New York Prisons Bill Would Make It Easier to Fire Abusive Guards

in New York Times

Possible closing of Great Meadow Correctional brings sharp rebuke

in NY VT Media

Prison oversight organization CANY voices support for proposal to close up to five prisons

in CBS 6 News

More Prison Closures Could Be On The Horizon

in Warwick Valley Dispatch

Potential prison closures sparks debate over best solution to staffing shortages

in CBS 6 Albany

New York considers prison closures amid staffing crisis

in Finger Lakes 1

NY proposes closure due to ‘staffing crisis’ DOCCS Chief tells lawmakers

in The Citizen

2023

MEDIA COVERAGE

Featured
Who Watches New York’s Jail Watchdog?

in New York Focus

‘A Waste of Time’: Inside New York’s Broken Jail Accountability System

in New York Focus

2 New York Prisons Get Mixed Review from Watchdog Group

in Times Union

As Overdose Deaths Mount in New York Prisons, Treatment Program Crawls

in New York Focus

Claims of Sexual Assault at NY Prisons Flood in as Deadline Looms

in Gothamist

“Watchdog Warns of Inadequate Prison Grievance System”

in The Capitol Pressroom

“N.Y. prison watchdog report says inmates struggle to voice grievances”

in Times Union

“New Council Bill Would Shine Light on Jail Deaths”

in The City

“The Bronx Social Justice and Anti-Violence Forums | Correctional Association of New York”

in The BronxNet

“Op-Ed: NY's Correctional System Must Embrace Reforms to Solitary Confinement Policy”

in lohud.com

“Human Rights Watchdog Investigates Landlords, Teachers, and Dentists — But Not Cops or Prison Guards”

in New York Focus

“The ‘Disturbing’ Prison Conditions Facing Chanel Lewis”

in The Nation

“Issues flagged at Marcy state prisons by independent monitoring agency”

in the Daily Sentinel

“Prison task force lays out actions to address ‘unprecedented violence’, still implementing HALT Act”

in CBS 6 Albany

“State Prison System Stays Mum on Deaths Behind Bars”

in The City

“Ambitious Efforts to Reform New York’s Juvenile Justice System Fail in the Legislature”

in The Imprint

“New Prison Chief Is a Son of the System”

in New York Focus

“On the Count - The Prison And Criminal Justice Report”

on WBAI

“East Coast Wildfires Put Incarcerated People on Frontlines of Climate Crisis”

in The Appeal

“How a ‘Blue Wall’ Inside N.Y. State Prisons Protects Abusive Guards”

in the New York Times

“Prison Chief Anthony Annucci to Retire”

in New York Focus

“State expands body scanners in NY prisons, targeting visitors and employees”

in the Times Union

“The New York Law Everyone Is Watching”

in The Nation

“Auburn museum to open new exhibit on Sewards, prison”

on AuburnPub.com

“Dangerous summer heat puts people in NY prison at risk, report says. What are its findings?”

on Lohud.com

“New York’s Imprisoned Women Brave Risks to Sue Sexual Abusers Under New Law”

in The Appeal

“Inflation Is Putting Food Out of Reach in New York Prisons”

in New York Focus

“Commentary: Why is New York letting prisons violate the HALT law?”

in the Times Union

“Groups pursue class-action lawsuit to end 'illegal' solitary confinement”

in the Times Union

“Lawsuit seeks compliance from state prisons with HALT Act”

on WIVB

2022

Featured
“Black, Hispanic people more often disciplined in NY prisons, Inspector General says”

on Lohud.com

“'None of us were heard': Adult Survivors Act opens window for formerly incarcerated to sue”

on Lohud.com

“Solitary by Another Name: How State Prisons Are Using ‘Therapeutic’ Units to Evade Reforms”

on New York Focus

“Former NY women’s prison detainees pursue lawsuit over sex assault and abuse by guards at closed Manhattan lockup”

in the New York Daily News

“As summers get hotter, incarcerated people swelter inside NY prisons”

in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

“New Package Restrictions at NY State Prisons Create Financial and Emotional Hardships”

in NowThis

“Prison oversight group offers system recommendations”

on the Capital Pressroom

“'Mental Health Units' in Prisons are Solitary Confinement by Another Name, Activists Say”

in Truthout

“New York Prisons Set to Ban Most Packages from Family and Friends”

from New York Focus

“An Overhaul of Prison Healthcare is Long Overdue”

in The Nation

“The prison context itself undermines public health and vaccination efforts”

from the Prison Policy Initiative

“From Rikers to Bedford Hills (And Back)”

from Examiner+

“Two Years Into Pandemic, Basic Critiques of Prison Covid Policies Remain Unaddressed”

from New York Focus

“Hochul Proposes Bringing Back Private Prison Labor”

from New York Focus

“Vacancies and Zombie Commissioners Leave Opening for Parole Reform in New York”

from Bolt Mag

2021

Featured
“Report: Pandemic response slow and inadequate in prisons”

on the Capital Pressroom

“’People Are at a Breaking Point’ After Transfers from Rikers”

in The Nation

“Women Sent from Rikers to Maximum-Security Prison: ‘They Treat Us Like State Property’”

from New York Focus

“Criminal justice advocates applaud Southport prison closure, others worry”

from WSKG

“The Worst Prison in New York State”

in The Nation

“Rikers Crisis Renews Push for State Bill to Create ‘Correctional Ombudsman’ and Oversight Board”

in the Gotham Gazette

“Rikers Detainees Are Being Transferred From One ‘Hellhole’ to Another”

in The Nation

“Prison Agency Resisting Oversight, Says Lawmakers and Watchdogs”

from New York Focus

“50 years after Attica, lawmakers say grim anniversary is a reminder of needed reforms”

from the Legislative Gazette

“Attica: America’s infamous prison uprising is still a story about all of us”

from FingerLakes1.com

“A Warning at Rikers on the Anniversary of a Deadly Prison Uprising”

in the New York Times

“America is Still Locking People Up for Their Activism, Including Black Women”

from Essence

“But Who Oversees the Overseers?: The Status of Prison and Jail Oversight in the United States”

in the American Journal of Criminal Law

“Inside New York’s Grueling Parole Application Process”

from the New York Focus

“Locked In and Locked Out - Prison Life in a Pandemic”

from Birkbeck: University of London

“595 new COVID cases reported in Monroe County, more than 900 hospitalized”

from Democrat & Chronicle

“COVID-19 in New York prisons: 'Positivity numbers represent a system on fire’”

from Lohud.com

“Prioritizing Prisoners for Vaccines Stirs Controversy”

from PEW

2020

Featured
“Cuomo loosens reins on prison access for oversight group”

in the Times Union

“Latest Coronavirus Update”

in The Highlands Current

“Hundreds of inmates test positive as COVID-19 rips through New York prison”

in CBS News

“Coronavirus in Jails and Prison”

in The Appeal

“Virus threat cited in push for oversight of prison medical care”

in the Lockport Union-Sun Journal

“3 Big Ideas to Fuel an Equitable COVID Recovery”

from WHYY

“Measure enabling unscheduled prison monitoring caught in legislative limbo”

on The Capitol Pressroom

“Report details inconsistent procedures in NY prison during COVID-19 outbreak”

in The Daily Orange

“I Can Kill You In Here and No One Would Know It”

in Stories from Arnold Ventures

“Letter to the Editor: NYSCOPBA’s ploy to keep prisons open”

in the Albany Times Union

“Prison oversight reform in New York? (podcast)”

on Fingerlakes1.com

“Prison officers haven’t been held accountable for violence, but a New York bill could change that”

in Prism

“Prison violence demands attention, too”

in the New York Daily News

“Where Hand Sanitizer Is Contraband: Are NY Prisons Ready For Coronavirus?”

in Gothamist

Commentary: "Security Cameras Can't Keep New York Prisons Safe," op-ed by CANY Executive Director Jennifer Scaife

in the Buffalo News

2019

Featured
“Officials Called It a Heart Attack. Inmates Saw a Bloody Beating,”

in The New York Times

Commentary: “The Medieval World of Incarceration,” letter to the editor from CANY Executive Director Jennifer Scaife

in The Atlantic

“A Better Return for Older Prisoners”

in U.S. News & World Report

Commentary: “Shine a Light on Prisons,” letter to the editor from CANY Executive Director Jennifer Scaife

in The New York Times

“Cuomo’s threat to close three prisons has many up in arms,”

in the Recordonline.com

Commentary: “Demand transparency about what happens in prisons,” op-ed from CANY Executive Director Jennifer Scaife

in the Albany Times Union

2018

Featured
“The Tragedy of Mental Illness in American Prisons”

in The Atlantic

“Advocates campaign against solitary confinement in Eltingville with makeshift cell”

in The Staten Island Advance

“U.S. imprisons too many people,” guest commentary from James Connelly

in the Adirondack Daily Express

“Release prisoners from solitary: This is psychological torture any way you put it,” guest commentary from Roger Clark

in the New York Daily News

“Just Treatment: Exploring Cancer Care for Prisoners”

in Cure Today

“Empty Cribs in Prison Nursuries”

in Type-Investigations

“Cameras Actually Tamed Attica, the Brutal Prison I Used to Call Home”

in Vice

“The Prosecution of Noor Salman, Pulse Shooter’s Widow, Highlights the Criminalization of Domestic Abuse Survivors”

in The Intercept

“Make no mistake, solitary confinement is torture,” guest commentary from Erika Bryant

in the Democrat and Chronicle

“Tampons in the mail? Just the beginning of the change we need”

on CNN.com

“Prison Contraband Seizures Up, Guards Say More Can Be Done”

in U.S. News and World Report

“Cuomo’s prison package crackdown is suspended”

in the Albany Times Union

“NY book ban to make prisons "safer" draws backlash”

in the HuffPost

2017

Featured
“All They Want for Christmas is a Limit on Solitary Confinement”

in The Nation