A Year of Tragedy, Tumult, and Transformation

CANY’s annual report for 2025, represented in the form of this timeline, memorializes a remarkably challenging year in New York’s prisons. In 2025, to a greater extent than in recent memory, CANY’s independent oversight informed nearly every discussion about living and working conditions in prisons. When news of Robert Brooks' killing emerged, CANY's 2023 finding that 80% of incarcerated people at Marcy Correctional Facility reported witnessing or experiencing violence from staff offered haunting context, suggesting that the state had failed to take action to address misconduct and prevent further violence. When an unauthorized strike crippled operations in 38 out of 42 correctional facilities, CANY’s map of prisons depicting staffing levels and facility census offered facts not readily available elsewhere. When Messiah Nantwi was killed by officers at Mid-State Correctional Facility, CANY pointed to “overall deterioration of conditions” documented during its monitoring visit just six weeks earlier.

The timeline below is bookended by two events that will define New York’s prison system for years to come: December 9, 2024, the murder of Robert Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility, and December 19, 2025, the signing of the prison reform omnibus (A8871/S8415) bill by Governor Kathy Hochul. Again and again in the events of the past year, CANY’s reporting, data analysis, and recommendations have demonstrated that, when properly empowered and appropriately resourced, independent oversight fulfills an essential function in ensuring a transparent and accountable system. It is the foundation upon which future reform is made possible.

View a mobile friendly version of the timeline here.