NYCLU sues NY prisons over correction officers' misconduct, discipline records

Eduardo Cuevas, New York State Team
·4 min read

The New York Civil Liberties Union on Monday sued the state agency overseeing prisons to obtain records related to correction officers’ misconduct.

The NYCLU filed its lawsuit against the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), which oversees the state’s 44 prisons, in order to obtain records that have been delayed or rejected by officials through a Freedom of Information Law request.

The nonprofit legal organization filed the case more than two years after its initial request under FOIL, which was submitted several months after New York repealed Section 50-a of the state Civil Rights Law, a controversial legal provision that had been used to shield police disciplinary records from public view for decades.

“It’s about the public’s basic right to know how law enforcement agencies have been doing the work of policing themselves,” NYCLU Supervising Attorney Bobby Hodgson told the USA TODAY Network New York. “We know that there's been a lot of problems with accountability and with transparency around what even happens.”

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What records is NYCLU seeking to obtain?

In October 2020, NYCLU requested two decades of documents related to disciplinary records and misconduct filings, as well as complaints against prison staff.

The request also sought to obtain investigative reports, policies, trainings and collective bargaining agreements. DOCCS employs more than 16,000 officers who oversee more than 30,000 people incarcerated.

The Public Safety Building, home to the Rochester Police Department has cement barriers as well as metal gates around their building on February 23, 2021.
The Public Safety Building, home to the Rochester Police Department has cement barriers as well as metal gates around their building on February 23, 2021.

The NYCLU lawsuit, filed in Albany County Supreme Court, alleges DOCCS delayed responses, gave partial records back for 34 requests, and denied 10 requests altogether, according to court paperwork. NYCLU staff, the lawsuit says, sought to work with DOCCS to amend records requests to make it easier for the agency to return documents, but NYCLU did not get a response to its inquiries.

“While DOCCS has provided the NYCLU with some responsive records, it has not met its burden to prove that certain records it withheld and/or redacted were proper,” Linton Mann III, an attorney from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP that is representing the NYCLU pro bono, wrote in a court filing.

In an email Tuesday, DOCCS said it doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

The state Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, which represents prison staff, wasn’t immediately available for comment on Tuesday.

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What is 50-a, and when was it repealed?

Section 50-a of the Civil Rights Law, enacted in 1976, previously allowed police departments to seal misconduct complaints against law enforcement officers. At the time, proponents said it protected them from abusive courtroom "fishing expeditions."

In June 2020, state lawmakers struck those provisions amid Black Lives Matter demonstrations calling for greater scrutiny of law enforcement following George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer.

Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, photographed July 9, 2019. Present inmates say that industrial fans that blow at rows of cells, stacked in tiers, haven’t worked for over two years, contributing to the extreme heat inside the prison that inmates cope with.
Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, photographed July 9, 2019. Present inmates say that industrial fans that blow at rows of cells, stacked in tiers, haven’t worked for over two years, contributing to the extreme heat inside the prison that inmates cope with.

Since then, lawsuits have sought to define what is and isn't allowed for release.

Often, police departments have rested arguments on whether requests for complaints against officers are “substantiated,” and if requests for past records should be publicly available. Unions for officers, too, have sought to block records from being released, often filing preemptive lawsuits.

Hodgson, of the NYCLU, said it appeared DOCCS had returned cases retroactively, though it has cited unwarranted invasion of privacy to withhold records.

The NYCLU has filed a dozen lawsuits against New York police agencies, including in Rochester, Syracuse and New York City, to push for the release of police disciplinary records.

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What's next for the push to release NY police records?

In November, a state appellate court ruled police disciplinary records must be made public upon request, even if allegations of misconduct are found to be unsubstantiated. The decision reversed in part lower court decisions on police records in Rochester and Syracuse.

Gannett, the parent company of the USA TODAY Network that includes the Democrat and Chronicle and The Journal News/lohud, has also filed lawsuits against local police departments for the release of records.

Cases are likely to continue. The New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, may be the final arbiter of what gets released.

“In the end, these employees of the local government or the state government are government employees,” said state Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell, D-Manhattan, a sponsor of the law. “Therefore, we should have access to those records, if those records are relevant.”

Reporters Gary Craig and Asher Stockler contributed to this story.

Eduardo Cuevas covers race and justice for the USA TODAY Network of New York. He can be reached at EMCuevas1@gannett.com and followed on Twitter @eduardomcuevas.

This article originally appeared on New York State Team: NY prisons sued over correction officers' misconduct, discipline files