Open Government Week: CANY Launches Legislative Tracker to Spotlight Priority Reforms for New York Prisons
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
May 19, 2025
Contact: media@correctionalassociation.org
Brooklyn, NY – To mark Open Government Week, the Correctional Association of New York (CANY) has launched a new Legislative Tracker. This resource will spotlight key bills that improve conditions and treatment within New York’s prisons, drawing directly from CANY's on-the-ground oversight and monitoring.
The tracker provides in-depth information on priority bills from CANY’s Policy Agenda, including information about their sponsors, current progress in the legislature, committee assignments, and any amendments. The tracker will be updated on a regular basis to provide accurate and timely information.
Highlights from CANY’s Policy Agenda:
A3781 (Weprin) / S651 (Salazar): Authorizes the correctional association to visit correctional facilities at any time and without advance notice and grants access to certain records and data of correctional facilities.
A1010A (Epstein) / S5680 (Salazar): Mandates the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), publish a notice on their website after notifying next of kin of the death of an incarcerated individual or any other individual in the custody of the department.
S360 (Rivera) / A2149 (Gonzalez-Rojas): Expands the Department of Health's oversight of prison healthcare and mandates a biennial review of healthcare staffing in DOCCS facilities.
“As the legislative session nears a close, lawmakers are weighing hundreds of bills — including several measures that could meaningfully improve conditions inside the state’s prisons,” said CANY Executive Director Jennifer Scaife. “By spotlighting key reforms from CANY’s Policy Agenda and providing updates on each bill’s sponsors, committee actions, and amendments, our new legislative tracker makes it easier for New Yorkers to follow the progress of these important proposals.”
Explore the Legislative Tracker: https://www.correctionalassociation.org/data/legislation-tracker
About the Correctional Association of New York:
CANY, under §146, of New York’s Correction Law, is charged with visiting and examining the state's correctional facilities to identify and report on prison conditions, the treatment of incarcerated individuals, and the administration of policy promulgated by the executive and legislature. Founded in 1844 by concerned citizens of the state and deputized by the state to provide monitoring and oversight of the state’s prisons in 1846, CANY is one of the first organizations in the country prescribed to administer civilian oversight of prisons.
