The Fortune Society is grateful to the Governor for continuing to recognize the importance of investing in pathways to education and employment for people leaving prison, as well as the importance of community-based preventative programs.  We hope this recognition will be accompanied by additional funding for alternative to incarceration (ATI) and reentry programming throughout New York state, to address the “service deserts” that exist in too many areas.  As detailed in “Unlocking Potential” The Role of Community-Based Alternatives in Strengthening Public Safety,” a recent white paper issued by the New York State ATI/Reentry coalition, there is an overwhelming need for access not just to services but also to basic resources.  The most pressing need identified by stakeholders, including program participants, is safe and stable housing.  We hope that in the rush to create mechanisms for developing more housing to meet our statewide shortages, more funds are specifically allocated to develop and maintain housing for people leaving incarceration across the full spectrum of what they need, from emergency and transitional housing to supportive and other forms of permanent housing.  The proposed increase in funding for the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative (ESSHI) and the New York State Supportive Housing Program (NYSSHP) is one important step in the right direction.

We are disappointed, however, by the call to roll back the critical reforms made to our discovery laws in 2020.  New York state bears the dubious distinction of having the third highest rate of wrongful convictions in the country.  Until these reforms were enacted, we also had one of the most restrictive discovery laws in the country.  We urge the state legislature not to pass these proposed rollbacks.  To truly restore trust and confidence in the system, we should not undo discovery reform which would return us to blocking access to information necessary to make informed plea decisions and prepare for trial.  Doing so would certainly undermine that fragile trust.