New York, NY — State Senator Julia Salazar, Chair of the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction, released the following statement in response to recent reporting about New York State correction officers violently beating Mr. Ernastiaze Moore, an incarcerated individual: 

“The correction officers at Sullivan Correctional Facility who violently beat Mr. Moore must be held accountable for their barbaric and outrageous actions. For decades, New York state prisons have been plagued by a systemic pattern of racism, staff violence towards incarcerated individuals, and human rights abuses, with little to no accountability or oversight. Last December, we watched video footage of prison staff brutally murdering Robert Brooks. Last March, correction officers murdered Messiah Nantwi. Now, we’re learning officers have violently assaulted another incarcerated man."

"There is deeply inadequate transparency and oversight in our prisons, and too often officers get away with unacceptable abuse of incarcerated New Yorkers. We must reform our system, and we must ensure the Prison Reform Omnibus Bill that we passed in June is signed into law so that New York can meaningfully improve transparency, accountability, and oversight of our state prisons.”