NEW YORK — Advocates are urging New York’s prison watchdog to take immediate action over what they describe as a growing crisis of medical neglect and preventable deaths in state correctional facilities, arguing that the State Commission of Correction has failed to fulfill its oversight responsibilities.
The State Commission of Correction, a nonpartisan watchdog agency, met Wednesday for the first time since Commissioner Alexander Dockery became the first formerly incarcerated member of the commission’s board.
The monthly meeting focuses on “maximum facility capacity, proposed changes in regulations, construction projects, and mortality investigations” in state and local correctional facilities, according to the commission’s website. However, this month’s meeting left advocates concerned that insufficient time, funding and other resources are being devoted to the medical needs of people in custody, contributing to a high mortality rate, according to a June 24, 2026, press release from the Katal Center for Equity, Health and Justice.
“As jails and prisons across New York face crises and dangerous conditions, the State Commission of Correction, New York’s independent watchdog agency, must use its wide-ranging power to address the conditions behind bars,” Melanie Dominguez, organizing director of the Katal Center, said in the press release. “No longer can this agency sit idly by while incarcerated people face death, violence, medical neglect, and abuse behind bars. The SCOC must fulfill its oversight mandate, lives are at stake. At a time when greater oversight is needed, Gov. Hochul has hamstrung the state’s watchdog agency by leaving two vacancies on the commission. The governor must rectify this situation by filling these vacancies with reform-oriented people to ensure this failing agency meets its constitutional mandate.”
As of June 1, 2026, there had been 77 deaths in New York prisons, the highest number recorded during the same period over the past six years, according to Spectrum News. Of those 77 deaths, 14 involved alleged lapses in medical care, or a lack of medical care, while another 53 remain classified as “unknown,” Spectrum News also reported.
People incarcerated in New York prisons have reported not receiving timely or adequate medical care, unsanitary conditions and other concerns, according to Spectrum News. The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision disputed those claims.
“All incarcerated individuals receive the community standard of care, have the opportunity to see a medical professional through the facility’s sick-call procedure, and are transported to a local hospital when their medical needs are beyond the scope of what can be provided in the facility,” a spokesperson for the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said in a statement to Spectrum News. “DOCCS has agreements with healthcare providers and specialists at major hospitals across the state, as well as agreements with several smaller hospitals in close proximity to its facilities to ensure the medical needs of incarcerated individuals are met.”
People who are incarcerated, their family members and advocates maintain that the rights of those in custody are being violated, according to the Katal Center, and that significant action is needed to improve conditions in correctional facilities.
“As someone who has been incarcerated, I know how urgent it is to address the ever growing crisis in New York jails and prisons,” Lah Franklin, a member of the Katal Center, said in the organization’s press release. “In NYC at the Rikers Island jail complex we have seen an increase in preventable deaths, medical neglect and violence. Far too many people have died and in order to save lives the State Commission of Correction must act now. They must work to shutter Rikers once and for all.”
In 2018, the State Commission of Correction supported closing Rikers Island, New York City’s notorious and large-scale jail complex. There have been reports of sexual abuse, medical neglect, deaths and other problems at Rikers.
“Given the city’s inaction and protracted 10-year proposal, it is now time for the commission to examine steps to expeditiously close Rikers and to ensure that the constitutional rights of inmates and staff are protected,” the commission’s 70-page report from 2018 stated.
The Katal Center has accused the commission of not taking “any meaningful action to achieve the aim, even as the toll of deaths rises and conditions worsen,” according to its press release. However, the organization also acknowledged that the commission has been “immobilized” because two seats on its board remain vacant.
“As the city’s closure plan remains significantly off track, this year’s city budget fails to provide a clear, reconfigured plan that includes a definite date for when Rikers will be closed,” the press release stated. “This further highlights the gross inadequacy of this oversight agency.”
Rikers Island is legally required to close by 2027, according to The Marshall Project, and be replaced with four smaller jails. However, because construction of the replacement facilities has been delayed, Rikers may remain open until 2032, the organization also reported.
The Marshall Project reported that many advocates believe the delay was caused by former Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, which reversed its position on the closure in 2025 when Adams said the jail complex should remain open.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani also shifted his position, although on whether to build the smaller jails. Since his election, he has agreed to continue the plan to close Rikers by building “four modern, more humane jail sites in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx,” according to the NYC Roadmap to Closing Rikers website.
The smaller correctional facilities are intended to serve as part of broader systemic reforms to the prison industrial system, according to the website. In New York City, Black New Yorkers make up about 58% of the jail population, according to the Vera Institute. The Prison Policy Initiative attributes that disparity to overpolicing and profiling of Black people, socioeconomic factors, and racism in education and the medical field.
The four smaller jails are being designed to support “quality education, health, and therapeutic programming,” according to the Roadmap website.
“The borough-based system will strengthen connections to families, attorneys, courts, medical and mental health care, and faith and community-based organizations,” the site stated. “Being closer to home and transit will enhance the network of support systems for people who are detained and help prevent reincarceration.”
Organizations such as the Katal Center are urging the city, the state and watchdog agencies such as the State Commission of Correction to improve medical care and living conditions for people currently incarcerated, reduce the mortality rate, and ensure adequate access to health care.
“I have family members who are incarcerated and I know that all they want is to be treated with dignity. Incarcerated individuals want to live to see another day, but because of the medical neglect, violence, and abuse, they worry daily about their lives,” Khadeeja Salahuddin, a member of the Katal Center, said in the organization’s press release. “That is why we attended the State Commission of Correction monthly meeting to push them to address the conditions in jails and prisons across New York and keep our incarcerated loved ones safe.”
Follow the Vanguard on Social Media – X, Instagram and Facebook. Subscribe the Vanguard News letters. To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit davisvanguard.org/donate or give directly through ActBlue. Your support will ensure that the vital work of the Vanguard continues.
