Jim Ketcham, co-chair of the Council’s Criminal Justice Reform Task Force, attended an End Mass Incarceration advocacy day in the capitol at Albany on March 16. The coalitions held a rally at the Legislative Office Building, a press conference in the “War Room” of the Capitol, and made multiple visits to legislators. Other groups participating included Communities Not Cages, VOCAL-NY, Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP), Center for Community Alternatives (CCA), New Hour, Parole Prep, HALT Solitary, Families and Friends of the Wrongfully Convicted, Jails Justice Network (JJN), National Action Network NY/Second Chance, and others.

Many of the bills listed below were already supported by the NYS Council of Churches Social Justice Commission and the Criminal Justice Reform Task Force. Why is the Council supporting bills such as these? Here’s an excerpt from a statement Rev. Jim Ketcham makes often when advocating for criminal justice reform:

As people of faith, we understand the meaning of repentance, of redemption, of restoration. We understand the meaning of justice – and the meaning of mercy.

As people of faith, we believe even those who have committed crimes remain children of God, remain our brothers, our sisters, our children. No one should be judged forever by the worst decision they have ever made.

As people of faith, we know that people can and do turn their lives around in prison. Any chaplain can give you a dozen or more examples.

As people of faith, we condemn the use of violence and the torture of solitary confinement in our prisons and jails.

We condemn the systemic racism in our society, our policing and our justice system that leaves so many people of color behind bars.

The vicious brutality we all observed in the video of the murder of Robert Brooks cannot be written off as an isolated incident, a matter of a few bad apples. Robert Brooks did nothing that could possibly explain his unrelenting beating. He was helpless, cuffed with his hands behind his back. 

The pictures from those body cameras reveal that the years of rumors of unrestrained violence in NYS prisons and jails are more than just made-up stories. The murder of Messiah Nantwi and the deaths of over 130 while in state custody over the past year only add to our sorrow and deep concern.

We are people of faith. We will stand for justice. And we will stand for mercy.

Earlier this year, NYS Senator Julia Salazar issued a scathing report on the NYS Department of Corrections titled “Built on Brutality: How a system founded on violence, racism and cover ups continues to maim and murder with impunity.” 

https://www.nysenate.gov/sites/default/files/file/2026-01/built_on_brutality_report_2026.pdf

This report is a shocking litany of unending brutality in our correctional facilities, of denial of basic human rights, of constant punishment, with little or no opportunity for redemption and release. It lays out, in painful detail, why we must advocate on behalf of those caught up in the criminal justice system.

The group's priorities on Monday March 16 focused on bills such as “Fair and Timely Parole” (S159-Salazar/A127-Welprin). This bill would ensure that people have a meaningful opportunity to demonstrate their rehabilitation and be released. It would provide more rigorous parole reviews for those already eligible for parole by focusing the Parole Board’s decisions more on the individual’s rehabilitation while incarcerated and their current risk of violating the law. It does not take away the parole board’s discretion and still requires the Parole Board to consider the nature of someone’s crime and victim impact statements in their release decisions. It restores the original purpose of parole: to identify a person’s readiness for release.

‍“Elder Parole” (S454-Hoylman/A514-Davila) would make people in prison aged 55 or older who have served at least 15 years of their sentence, to be eligible for parole board consideration. It does not require release, but gives people who have transformed themselves an opportunity to demonstrate their transformation before the Board of Parole, and, if approved, be reunited with their families and communities to live out their final years with dignity.

Other bills included the “Marvin Mayfield Act” (S1209-Myrie/A1297-Meeks) which would eliminate mandatory minimum sentences often used by prosecutors to coerce guilty pleas to lesser charges. 98% of convictions in NYS are the result of plea deals, not trials. Judges in NY courts have often complained of not being able to consider individual factors and mitigating circumstances regarding crimes with a mandatory minimum sentence. 

The “Second Look Act” (S158-Salazar/A1283-Walker) would provide an opportunity to incarcerated individuals to demonstrate to a judge that they have changed after years or decades in prison or that, given changed laws and norms, the sentence is no longer appropriate. NYS has the third-largest population of people serving terms of life imprisonment in the country. Every year, nearly 1000 people in NYS are sentenced to 10 or more years in prison. More than 10% of New Yorkers in prison are currently serving life sentences. No matter how much they have transformed themselves, they currently have no way to have a judge reconsider their original sentence.

The “Earned Time Act” (S342-Cooney/A1085-Kelles) would provide incarcerated people with meaningful opportunities to earn release and take away DOCCS’ unlimited discretion to deny earned good time and merit time credits – even after years of good conduct.

The “Challenge Wrongful Convictions Act” (S6319-Myrie/A7422-Walker) would overhaul Criminal Procedure Law 440 to ensure all New Yorkers have a working pathway to exoneration. More than 300 people have been exonerated (found not guilty) in NYS since 1989, resulting in a collective 3,068 years of life lost to wrongful convictions. Only Texas and Illinois have higher rates of wrongful convictions. Over 2/3 of these overturned convictions were the result of official misconduct in the prosecutors’ office or police misconduct. Although each prosecutor’s office has a Conviction Integrity Unit, only 10 counties in NYS reported exonerations through these units. 56 Conviction Integrity Units in NYS have never called for an exoneration. Other reasons for exoneration include mistaken witnesses, new DNA evidence, perjury or false accusation and inadequate legal defense.

‍“The Compassion and Reproductive Equity Act” (CARE Act) (S4583a-Salazar/A4879a-Kelles) establishes a statutory policy relating to the human rights of incarcerated pregnant or postpartum individuals and their babies in NYS correctional and county jail facilities. It would require appropriate medical care during labor and delivery, based on recommendations of professional medical associations, as well as appropriate hydration and nutrition for pregnant individuals. It would ban the segregated confinement of pregnant individuals and of those who have given birth in the last three months, ban the shackling of pregnant individuals and those who have given birth in the last three months. It sets a standard of care for children born to incarcerated individuals and for postpartum care of the incarcerated parent, again, according to standards recommended by professional medical associations.

The “Rights Behind Bars Act” (S3763-Salazar /A1261a-Forrest ) creates heightened standards to prevent brutality, falsified records and cover-ups. It would also address flagrant and systematic violations of the HALT Solitary Confinement Act. It would restore the ability of families to send or bring family care packages. It would forbid current DOCCS policy, which allows visitation rights to be taken away for any minor rule violation. Visitors are now required to pass through body scanners, in addition to metal detectors and drug-sniffing dogs. Visitors are often denied visits because of “anomalies” on scans - including tampons in normal use. Denial of visits often happens, even when no contraband is found. Denials are often not just for the day, but for 30 or 90 days – or even 6 months. Since the illegal strike by corrections officers, facilities have often eliminated weekday visits, leading to longer wait times on weekends and some families being unable to visit entirely.

Contact your legislators and ask about how they plan to vote on these bills. Encourage them to support the rights of the incarcerated. And remember the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 25:36-50:

“I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you as a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

And he will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”