The Freedom Unshackled Coalition

04/09/2026

“This ruling creates an opening, but justice demands more than resentencing. This moment is an opportunity not just to revisit sentences, but to bring people home and begin to repair what the system has broken, ” - Sashi James, TNC Dir. of Reimagining Communities

Read TNC's response online at www.nationalcouncil.us/blog

For more information about this case, we encourage you to visit the

04/09/2026

🚨 INFORMATION REQUEST
WOMEN INCARCERATED AT ALBION CORRECTIONAL FACILITY

While much public attention has focused on Bedford Hills, we want to better understand what is happening with women incarcerated at Albion Correctional Facility.
At this time, we are not receiving information, and that is a concern in itself.

We are trying to learn:
• Are women receiving regular programming?
• Are they allowed normal movement throughout the facility?
• Are educational, vocational, and therapeutic programs operating?
• Are there extended lock-ins or restrictions?
• Are there barriers to medical or mental health care?

We are asking formerly incarcerated women, family members, and loved ones:
Do you know someone currently incarcerated at Albion Correctional Facility?

Please comment their name or send a private message.
If possible, include: • name
• DIN number (if known)
• whether they have mentioned concerns about programming, movement, or conditions
We want to ensure women incarcerated at Albion are not being overlooked.
No one should be invisible.

In solidarity,
The Freedom Unshackled Coalition

04/05/2026

Legal advocates decry conditions at New York’s only maximum-security prison for women
By Nora Mishanec
April 4, 2026

BEDFORD — A coalition of nonprofits this week joined a growing chorus of concern over what advocates consider dangerous and deteriorating conditions at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, the state’s only maximum-security prison for women.

Advocates from 30 organizations, including the Legal Aid Society, the New York Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts, sent a letter to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision calling for an independent investigation into the facility’s operations, especially its treatment of transgender and nonbinary incarcerated people.

The letter’s signatories criticized what they described as a recent increase in hostile and derogatory treatment from staff and a greater number of instances where workers displayed unjustified and excessive force.

Additionally, Bedford Hills, which houses about 600 people on average, is subjecting its population to discriminatory policies that cause distress, anxiety and depression, the letter stated.

One person incarcerated at the prison described guards making offensive and derogatory comments about her body, according to the letter. Many described being unable to shower privately. Others reported that all incarcerated people, including transgender and nonbinary individuals and people who had undergone chest masculinization surgery, were required to wear bras during intake and faced infractions if they did not comply.

The letter follows mounting pressure from state lawmakers and a series of deaths at Bedford Hills in recent months. Three incarcerated people died over four weeks in February and March, including two deaths deemed suicides. State Senator Pete Harckham and Assemblymember Chris Burdick, whose districts include the prison, issued a separate letter urging the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths and the prison’s culture of inhumane treatment, writing that they found the situation deeply troubling.

Advocates said reports from inside the facility indicate conditions worsened after the arrival last year of a new deputy superintendent of safety, Michael Blot, who previously worked at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Under Blot’s leadership, Bedford Hills has instituted stricter schedules, reduced recreation and increased confinement time, causing what advocates describe as a significant strain on the mental well-being of those incarcerated there.

A spokesperson for the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision described reports about changes at Bedford Hills as inaccurate and misleading and said additional rules had been implemented in prison units that previously had minimal control. The agency disputed that Blot’s tenure had altered procedures at the prison, stating that operations are based on established department policies, not individual management preferences.
The department also said significant and ongoing staffing shortages had limited some programming but stated that this had not altered its commitment to investigating violence and abuse. Officials said staff had been added in recent years to provide a more robust response to reports of misconduct.

Correction officers in New York’s prisons held a weekslong strike last year to protest what they described as unsafe conditions inside facilities. Among their concerns was their perceived inability to adequately discipline incarcerated people who engage in violence, including assaults on staff or other incarcerated individuals.

Bedford Hills has long had a reputation for mistreatment. The maximum-security facility reportedly has one of the highest rates of sexual victimization in the country, with nearly one in five incarcerated people reporting they have experienced sexual abuse, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s most recent National Inmate Survey.

Erin Harrist, director of the Legal Aid Society’s LGBTQ+ unit, said advocacy organizations wrote their letter after hearing troubling accounts about deteriorating conditions at Bedford Hills in recent months. Harrist stated that the prison’s culture of violence and intimidation is especially harmful for transgender and nonbinary people, who she said are not receiving adequate mental health treatment.

Under federal law, transgender, gender nonconforming, nonbinary and intersex people are entitled to protections while in custody, including private showers and limited searches. In New York prisons, a small number of transgender women are housed in women’s prisons, where they must file requests for medical permits to wear gender-affirming clothing.

Advocates from 30 organizations described “dangerous and deteriorating” conditions at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility.

03/23/2026

A new podcast episode titled The Silencing of Women’s Voices in a Male Dominated Movement is now available on Spotify.

Even within criminal justice reform spaces, incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women continue to be the forgotten population. From disparities in reentry programming, to unequal opportunities to speak, to ongoing concerns about safety inside facilities and under community supervision, women’s experiences are too often minimized or treated as secondary.

Support from our brothers in the struggle is appreciated, but speaking up for women is not the same as speaking for women. Women’s voices must be centered. Lived experience is expertise.
More formerly incarcerated women must be invited into leadership, advocacy, and policy conversations.
Justice must include women fully.

🎙️ Now available on Spotify.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4SRID1aVFyAD3ARDjpuYrH?si=PrwwhEyJRI6jPjTZcHuc3Q&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A7Hymkznv2Qo7rW5aGyNneu

Freedom Unshackled The Podcast · Episode

01/18/2026

Organizations and advocates across New York State are invited to join a statewide Zoom organizing meeting on January 21, 2026 at 7:00 PM to mobilize support for Senate Bill S8856, legislation introduced by Julia Salazar and Gabriela Romero to establish County Law Enforcement Civilian Complaint Review Boards across New York State. This meeting is being convened by The Freedom Unshackled Coalition to build coordinated, statewide support for meaningful civilian oversight of county correctional facilities.

This legislation is the result of collective, sustained organizing by a coalition of organizations committed to accountability, transparency, and the protection of incarcerated people across New York State, including The Freedom Unshackled Coalition, NAACP Albany Branch, Center for Law and Justice, Capital Area Urban League, New York State Jails Justice Network, New York State Council of Churches, True Heart Inc, AVillage, Bridge Tha Gap, and One Hundred Black Men.

Our work has been centered on conditions at the Albany County Correctional Facility, with direct focus on the conduct of the facility’s superintendent and the Albany County Sheriff, as well as the failure of the Albany County Legislature to intervene meaningfully or exercise oversight, despite repeated reports of brutality, medical neglect, denial of legal visits, and unsafe conditions.

Through this work, it has become clear that what we have documented in Albany County is not an isolated failure, but part of a broader pattern across counties statewide. Violence in county correctional facilities continues to go largely unchecked in part because public and legislative attention has been overwhelmingly focused on state correctional facilities and Rikers Island.

That narrow focus has allowed county jails throughout New York to operate with little scrutiny and minimal accountability. It is past time to confront what is happening inside county jails and to establish real civilian oversight at the county level.

This meeting will review the intent and urgency of the legislation, its current status in the Senate Local Government Committee, and the need for coordinated statewide action to ensure transparency, accountability, and the protection of human rights in county correctional facilities.

Advocates and Organizations are strongly encouraged to attend and to share this invitation widely with partners, members, and networks committed to justice and accountability.

Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85321554868?pwd=NHnLlRI70bo9oFzit59efcBlboyaWn.1

01/17/2026

The Freedom Unshackled Coalition is convening a statewide Zoom organizing meeting on January 21, 2026 at 7:00 PM to mobilize support for Senate Bill S8856, legislation introduced by Julia Salazar and Gabriela Romero to establish County Law Enforcement Civilian Complaint Review Boards across New York State. For far too long, violence in correctional settings has been framed almost exclusively around state prisons and Rikers Island, while county correctional facilities across New York have operated with little to no oversight, despite widespread reports of brutal beatings, denial of legal visits, unsafe conditions, and medical neglect inflicted on incarcerated people by correctional officers.

This meeting will review the purpose and urgency of the legislation, its current status in the Senate Local Government Committee, and the need for coordinated statewide action to bring transparency and accountability to county jails. Organizations are urged to attend and to share this invitation broadly with partners and networks committed to justice and human rights.

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85321554868?pwd=NHnLlRI70bo9oFzit59efcBlboyaWn.1

12/24/2025

11/11/2025

🚨 PAROLE JUSTICE KICK-OFF – CAPITAL REGION 🚨
📍 Corcraft, 550 Broadway, Menands
🗓 Monday, December 1st, 2025
🕙 10:45 AM – Noon

We’re gathering at Corcraft because this state-run business profits directly from the low-wage labor of incarcerated men and women.
People inside are working for as little as 16 cents an hour, producing goods and services that would pay $35,000–$45,000 a year in the free world.

The refusal to pass Elder Parole and Fair & Timely Parole isn’t about “public safety.”
It’s about keeping that cheap labor alive.

We’re rallying to say enough.
We demand:

✊🏾 Fair wages for incarcerated workers
✊🏾 Freedom and dignity for aging people in prison
✊🏾 Parole reform rooted in justice and humanity

Join us outside Corcraft and make your voice heard.
Together, we’ll end exploitation and build a system that honors redemption over profit.

11/11/2025

Statement on the Albany County Legislative Black Caucus’ Response

What the Legislative Black Caucus released is not a statement of progress, it is a performance of protection. This group has not meaningfully engaged with the organizations that have been advocating for change, oversight, and transparency at Albany County Correctional Facility. Since February, we have reached out for partnership and accountability, and what we have received in return are polite deflections and hollow words.

The most insulting part of their statement is the claim that the Sheriff has suffered “personal attacks.” The Sheriff went on his own page and publicly called us disingenuous and full of crap. We never attacked him personally. We raised concerns about abuse, neglect, and human rights violations inside the jail. If telling the truth about conditions that harm people is considered an attack, then the problem is not our language, it is their conscience.

Had Sheriff Apple met with us in January, when we received the first two complaints, instead of sending Inspector Prasner, who stood in front of us and lied repeatedly, this could have been resolved long ago. Instead, Prasner’s dishonesty and dismissiveness only made the situation worse. We kept receiving calls, we kept hearing from families in fear for their loved ones, and we kept being lied to by correctional staff.

Then to have the Chair of the Albany County Legislature, Joanne Cunningham, call us “difficult to work with” because we are asking for transparency and because we want the beatings to stop — that tells you everything. If being “difficult” means demanding that human beings not be brutalized, then we will continue to be difficult. Wanda Willingham, the co-chair of the Legislature, had to leave a facility tour because she was physically sickened by what she saw. But somehow, we are the problem.

And the Chair of the Black Caucus, Carolyn McLaughlin, has never once responded to a single one of our emails. Not one. They only reached out an hour before we were set to tape a CBS panel discussion. The meeting they scheduled took place the following Monday, before the show aired. It was nothing more than a performance, a meeting held so they could say they had met with the advocates. There has been no follow-up, no action, and no sign that they take these issues seriously.

How many beatings will it take before the caucus acts? How many more people must be shoved into cells and returned bruised, how many more officers must be allowed to act with impunity before elected leaders stop pointing fingers and start fixing the system? Marquis Norwood was brutally beaten at Albany County Correctional Facility and was one punch away from being another Robert Brooks or Messiah Nantwi. Will it take for someone to be beaten to death for them to finally take this seriously?

Taxpayers are already footing the bill for abuse. These are public dollars paying for brutality. Albany County has spent years writing settlement checks to victims of violence and misconduct inside the jail, and now taxpayers are about to fund yet another lawsuit because Albany County Correctional Officers went to Oneida County and brutally beat the incarcerated men and women there. The law firm Roth and Roth is taking the county to court, and once again the checkbook will show what the Black Caucus refuses to acknowledge — these are not allegations, they are patterns of abuse backed by evidence and payouts.

And how many legal visits will be denied because correctional staff and Superintendent Lyons do not want attorneys to see the bruises, the swollen faces, and the body blows on their clients? Every denial of access is another attempt to hide the violence and silence the truth. These are not isolated incidents, they are coordinated acts of cover-up.

While families call in fear for their loved ones, this caucus calls for patience. But patience is no longer an option. We cannot be patient while people are being beaten, silenced, and hidden away. We cannot be patient while officials lie to our faces and call it procedure.

The organizations advocating for change have done the work. We have documented the abuse, met with lawmakers, and pushed for reforms that bring real oversight and accountability. Yet those in power keep explaining what they cannot do instead of showing courage in what they must do.

The Black Caucus was created to serve the marginalized, not to echo the establishment. The people incarcerated at Albany County are their constituents too, and many have the right to vote. It may be time those votes reflect who truly stands with the people and who stands beside the Sheriff.

The group of organizations calling for oversight stands firm. There can be no progress without truth, no reform without accountability, and no justice without action.

11/11/2025

More statements from last night's Albany County Legislature Public Forum

My patience ran its course tonight.

What happened tonight at the Albany County Legislature should make everyone furious. During the public forum, the intern who worked with the Black Caucus stood up and resigned in front of everyone. She said what many of us have known for a long time, that the Black Caucus is not doing its job, that they have aligned themselves with the Sheriff instead of the people, and that they have turned their backs on the communities they are supposed to serve.

Afterward, she told me she had been instructed not to talk to advocates or organizations fighting for transparency and change at Albany County Correctional Facility. She said she watched the video of Marquise Norwood being beaten and that when she asked questions, they dismissed her. She even said they told her she did not know what she was talking about because she is not American. That is what she told me, and it speaks to a level of arrogance and disrespect that has become far too normal in that building.

I was not even planning to speak tonight, but when I heard her words, I could not stay quiet. I spoke because silence is complicity. What I heard confirmed what I have believed for a long time, the Albany County Legislature is not leading us toward justice, it is standing in the way of it.

This Democratic body that claims to stand for progress continues to protect the very systems that brutalize our people. They hand out office space to the Sheriff’s Department while ignoring the violence happening under his watch. They defend the powerful and dismiss the powerless. And now, instead of using the empty space at the College of St. Rose to house our unhoused neighbors, they are filling it with county offices, including the Sheriff’s. That decision says everything about where their priorities lie.

If you sit in those seats and call yourself a leader, understand this, your time is running out. The people are awake. The people are watching. We are done with empty gestures and political theater. You will be challenged, and you will be replaced. Because justice in Albany County will not come from the Legislature, it will come from the people, from the families, and from every voice they have tried to silence.

11/11/2025

The glitches may have fixed themselves overnight, but what’s broken runs much deeper.

That young woman showed real courage. She stood up in that chamber, told the truth, and handed back her badges. In that moment, she exposed what so many already know, that the Black Caucus in the Albany County Legislature isn’t standing with the people, it’s standing with the sheriff. She refused to be part of a system that protects power instead of justice.

And that’s the real shame here. Albany’s Democratic Party at the County Legislature (with a few exceptions) has lost its way. It’s become too comfortable, too quiet, too willing to look the other way while communities suffer. This young woman’s act was more than resignation, it was a wake up call. The question is whether Albany’s Democrats are ready to face themselves and make it right.

09/04/2025

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/albany-county-jail-bleeding-under-sheriff-craig-watch-laracuente--hdvze?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&utm_campaign=share_via

In Albany County, brutality inside the correctional facility is not the exception—it’s the rule. Sheriff Craig Apple, along with county legislators and oversight officials, have presided over a jail where men are beaten, families are denied access, and misconduct is not only tolerated but recycl...