Enacts the "Michael K. Williams law" to establish a grant program to incentivize counties and municipalities to reduce prison populations; makes an appropriation therefor.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9506A
SPONSOR: Bichotte Hermelyn TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to enacting the "Michael
K. Williams law" to establish a grant program to incentivize counties
and municipalities to reduce prison populations; and making an appropri-
ation therefor
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Section 1: Establishes that the act shall be known as the "Michael K.
Williams Law".
Section 2: Amends the executive law to provide grants administered by
the commissioner of the division of criminal justice under the attorney
general, to county governments. These grants may be awarded to counties
upon submission of an application denoting the ability to collect and
analyze local criminal justice and incarceration data regarding racial
and ethnic disparities and; provide for ways to decrease local jail and
prison populations within the county while monitoring racial and ethnic
disparities among the incarcerated populations and; establishes a path-
way to terminate contracts with counties where crime rates rise at a
rate of more than three(3) percent.
Section 3: Appropriates a total allocation through the program of seven
million dollars ($7,000,000).
Section 4: Appropriates a sum of up to and including, three hundred and
fifty thousand dollars ($350,000) per grant.
Section 5: States that each county may submit no more than one applica-
tion annually.
Section 6: States that the act shall take effect immediately.
JUSTIFICATION:
Michael K. Williams was an American actor, producer, and racial justice
advocate who grew up in East Flatbush, going on to be successful in the
film industry and lending his voice, as an Ambassador to the Innocence
Project and ACLU. "Our criminal justice system has swallowed up too many
people I love," Williams famously said.
Over-sentencing in predominately Black and brown communities across the
state has led to a dramatic inequality in the incarcerated population.
Attempts to lower prison populations through sentence reduction and
waivers have been carried out in such a way that minority groups contin-
ue to be disproportionately represented in these systems, making up
fifty-two (52) percent of the prison population as recently as 2020
1.
In New York City, Black and Latinx people make up just 52 percent of the
population, but comprise 90 percent of jail admissions2. These dispari-
ties not only affect those within the prison community, but also those
who were formerly imprisoned, with studies showing that of the $1.9
billion lost in earnings recorded in 2021, eighty (80) percent of those
loses were borne by the Black and Latino communities.
Studies done by the Brennan Center for Justice and the Center for Ameri-
can Progress have also shown positive projections for governments that
institute policies incentivizing reductions in mass incarceration with
direct focuses on equality through specifically targeted grant quali-
fications and crime reduction safeguards0).
Criminal justice practices that have been successful in reducing crime
both pre, and post, incarceration include: community policing through
collaboration with local business and citizens; increased recreational
opportunities for youth, increasing the availability and use of alterna-
tive-to-incarceration programs such as restorative justice programs and
substance abuse treatment; and employing community corrections
approaches such as risk/needs assessments, intensive wraparound
services, and comprehensive case managementluBy utilizing local and
community based approaches, and encouraging data collection and analyza-
tion, including data on racial and ethnic disparities, this bill serves
to both reduce the prison population and keep our communities safe.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately. 1 "2020 Adjusted Population for
Incarcerated Individuals ." New York State Legislative Task Force on
Demographic Research and Reapportionment,
https://www.latfor.state.ny.usidatai?sec.2020amendpop. 2
https://thecrimereport.org/2021/04/20/glaring-radal-dIsparities-persist-
in-nyciails-study/ 3 Grawert, Ames, et al. "Poverty and Mass Incarcera-
tion in New York: An Agenda for Change." Brennan Center forJustice, 1
Mar. 2022,
https://www.brennancenter.org,/ourwork/policy-solutIons/poverty-and-mass
-incarceratIon-newlork-agenda-change. 4 Stemen, Don..-For the Record
the Prison Paradox: More Incarceration Will Not Make Us Safer." Vera
Institute of Justice, July 2017,
https://www.vera.org/downIoads/publIcations/for-the-record-prison-parado
x_02.pdf.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9506--A
IN ASSEMBLY
March 10, 2022
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BICHOTTE HERMELYN -- read once and referred to
the Committee on Codes -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to enacting the "Michael
K. Williams law" to establish a grant program to incentivize counties
and municipalities to reduce prison populations; and making an appro-
priation therefor
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Michael K.
2 Williams law".
3 § 2. Article 35 of the executive law is amended by adding a new
4 section 847 to read as follows:
5 § 847. Michael K. Williams grant program. 1. There is hereby created
6 within the division of criminal justice services a decarceration grant
7 program to be administered by the attorney general acting through the
8 commissioner to award grants to county governments for the implementa-
9 tion of evidence-based programs designed to reduce crime rates and
10 incarcerations.
11 2. A grant may be awarded upon the submission of an application to the
12 attorney general which:
13 (a) demonstrates the ability to collect and analyze local criminal
14 justice and incarceration data including data on racial and ethnic
15 disparities;
16 (b) establishes benchmarks to track decarceration, a clear methodology
17 to account for the number of people in custody and growth rate over the
18 past three calendar years;
19 (c) provides a means to develop a strategic, collaborative plan to
20 decrease local jail/prison populations which shall be public facing and
21 outline how funds, if awarded, shall be used to reduce the prison/jail
22 population in the county over time;
23 (d) sets goals for the reduction of racial and ethnic jail incarcera-
24 tion disparities;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13838-04-2
A. 9506--A 2
1 (e) demonstrates that the crime rate within the municipality did not
2 increase by more than three percent.
3 3. If a grant is awarded upon the submission of an application, funds
4 cannot be used to construct new jails or correctional centers.
5 4. Financial savings created through decreased incarceration shall be
6 used to sustain programmatic and community-based efforts to reduce jail
7 incarceration.
8 5. Grantees shall consult with municipal, county and state law
9 enforcement agencies, courts, public defense practitioners and communi-
10 ty-based organizations to plan, implement and evaluate.
11 6. If a grantee fails to meet the incarceration rate and racial and
12 ethnic disparities reduction requirements under subdivision two of this
13 section in any two consecutive years of the award, the attorney general,
14 acting through the commissioner, shall terminate the award.
15 § 3. The sum of seven million dollars ($7,000,000), or so much thereof
16 as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated to the Michael K. Williams
17 grant program as established pursuant to section 847 of the executive
18 law from any moneys in the state treasury not otherwise appropriated and
19 made immediately available to the division of criminal justice services
20 for distribution to municipalities for the purposes of carrying out the
21 provisions of this act. Such moneys shall be payable on the audit and
22 warrant of the comptroller on vouchers certified or approved by the
23 commissioner of criminal justice services in the manner prescribed by
24 law.
25 § 4. Any financial assistance in the form of a grant may be provided
26 for any amount from funds appropriated specifically therefor up to and
27 including the amount of three hundred fifty thousand dollars.
28 § 5. Each county may submit no more than one application annually.
29 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately.
