Some good news:  NYCLU is suing the SCOC to get records of abusive correctional staff. Local activists have long fought to reveal the SCOC as an operation run by and on behalf of Sheriffs and mass incarcerators.  A somewhat dated background piece is on the Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier website here. 

The SCOC operates in almost complete secrecy: its January  3, 2024 meeting lasted all of one minute and six seconds, simply to go into closed, private session; the January  24th meeting lasted less than 3 minutes before going into private session.  It rejects 97% of the thousands of grievances it receives from county jails, taking 8 seconds to review each one.  That’s the state of NY justice under the SCOC.

Giving the SCOC more funds as some propose will not address this problem.  An independent oversight agency with representative members of the incarcerated community is what we need.

Recent local evidence of abuse is all too clear from the Vega and Holland lawsuits. Taej’on Vega won his lawsuit, filed by Legal Services of Central New York, documenting the jail administration’s and correctional officers’ coverup of his beating and mental and sexual abuse (read a summary here).

Makkyla Holland, a Black trans woman, won her lawsuit for discrimination and abuse on the basis of her sex, transgender status, and disability. NYCLU filed on her behalf against Broome County, the County Sheriff, the jail’s medical staff, and almost a dozen correctional officers. Officers beat her, subjected her to illegal strip searches, and denied prescribed medications including antidepressants and hormone treatments.