ALBANY – Democrats in the state legislature released a package of bills late Monday night meant to increase oversight of state prisons after two high profile deaths over the last year.

The bill includes proposals that would require cameras in all areas of prisons except showers and cells, require more thorough reporting and investigations of deaths in prisons, and stack an oversight panel with appointees from the legislature.

The legislation was introduced with just enough time to bring it up for a vote before the state Senate ends its regularly-scheduled session for the year later this week.

The package of proposed laws comes after 10 people were charged in connection to the killing of Robert Brooks in Marcy Correction Facility last December.

Six were charged with murder.

In March, Messiah Nantwi was killed at neighboring Mid-State correctional facility, leading to murder and other charges for 10 guards in that case. 

“It is without question that Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi should both be alive today,” Assemblywoman Michalle Solages (D-Nassau), Chair of the influential Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus, wrote in a recent statement. “Their lives were cut short by a system that has repeatedly failed Black and brown communities, a system that strips individuals of their agency and denies them the right to safety, justice, and redemption.

“New York State must take decisive action this session to end this cycle of harm, because accountability and justice cannot wait,” Solages continued.

The legislation includes provisions from separate bills penned by a number of legislators.

The package as a whole is carried by each chambers’ corrections committee chair, state Sen. Julia Salazar (D-Brooklyn) and Assemblymember Erik Dilan (D-Brooklyn)

The package does not include provisions loosening requirements for parole and some early release programs despite a push by some liberal lawmakers to squeeze them with the other proposals.

Gov. Kathy Hochul had floated, then retracted, those provisions during state budget talks earlier this year.

“While we applaud the legislature’s commitment to oversight, oversight is not enough,” Thomas Grant, an organizer at the Center for Community Alternatives, wrote in a statement. “If lawmakers are serious about honoring Robert Brooks and stopping further death and despair, they must do more than monitor the system—they must offer a fair pathway home for incarcerated people who have transformed while inside.”

The state prison system has been in crisis since thousands of corrections officers walked off the job for an illegal wildcat strike earlier this year.

Hochul fired 2,000 of them who refused to return to work. National Guard troops are still backfilling during the staff shortfall, costing the state millions of dollars.

The package is expected to be voted on in the state Senate before the end of the week.