Now is the time for Gov. Hochul to close Marcy Correctional Facility, a state prison so beset by tragedy and dysfunction that keeping it open would cause more harm than good.
Last week, Imam Abdallah Hadian, a civilian employee who led religious services at Marcy, shot himself to death in the administration building of the prison. According to a statement by the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), other employees witnessed the suicide. In its statement following the incident, the Public Employee Federation (PEF) referenced four suicides among PEF members working at DOCCS in the past two years.
The living and working conditions inside Marcy Correctional Facility were largely unknown to the public before Dec. 9, 2024, when Robert Brooks was choked and beaten to death by correctional officers in an exam room in the prison infirmary. The body-worn camera footage documenting his killing made national news, and to date, two of those officers have been convicted of murder.
These two gruesome acts of violence will forever mark Marcy. Imagine returning to work in that building having witnessed such horrors. The events of the past year should provide enough of a rationale for shuttering the prison. But there are other good reasons, too.
Two years before Brooks was murdered, the Correctional Association of New York (CANY) visited Marcy as part of its independent oversight of the state’s prisons. Incarcerated people reported rampant physical abuse by staff, and we subsequently called on the state to investigate these widespread allegations of abuse. Sadly, any action that might have been taken in response proved insufficient.
When CANY returned to Marcy in July of this year, we documented miserable conditions causing exceptional distress among the 90 incarcerated people confined in the Residential Mental Health Unit (RMHU). We documented self-inflicted wounds and other evidence of suffering among deeply troubled individuals. We observed dried fecal matter from “throwing” incidents. A civilian counselor mentioned that it was difficult to find people willing to work in the RMHU.
According to data CANY obtained from the state Office of Mental Health, two incarcerated people died by suicide in that unit in 2024, despite frequent rounds by correctional officers. On Sept. 8, attorneys for mentally ill people held in the Marcy RMHU separately filed a lawsuit against DOCCS, citing “horrific” and “inhumane” conditions.
During our visit to Marcy, we spoke with employees who expressed despair that their jobs at the prison were “destroying” their home lives. In the week preceding our visit, eight staff members had resigned. We spoke with incarcerated people who said that, while the violence endemic to the facility’s culture had subsided thanks to proper use of body-worn cameras, staff shortages left basic services at the prison barely functioning.
Facility administrators told us that of the 322 correctional officer positions Marcy was allocated, there were 92 vacancies and 40 officers out on workers’ compensation or other leave. In fiscal year 2024, Marcy had the highest workers’ compensation incident rate of all 42 state correctional facilities. At the end of 2024, Marcy had the third highest unusual incident rate out of all correctional facilities, and the highest among all medium security facilities.
Mid-State Correctional Facility, which is directly across the street from Marcy, had 201 correctional officer vacancies and 96 officers out on leave in September; they should have 498 officers working. In the event of Marcy’s closure, the 190 correctional officers showing up to work at Marcy could be reassigned to Mid-State, which would alleviate severe staff shortages plaguing both facilities and bring much-needed relief to another prison that has seen its share of tragedy this year.
For officers seeking different options, Mohawk Correctional Facility, 12 miles to the west, had 135 correctional officer vacancies in April. The correctional officers’ union has historically argued against prison closures as a solution to a staffing crisis, positing that members would rather resign than work at a prison farther from home. In this case, being reassigned to Mid-State or Mohawk would hardly change anyone’s commute.
The fiscal year 2026 state budget authorized the governor to close as many as three prisons. In 2024, she approved the closure of Great Meadow Correctional Facility, which had earned the reputation as the most abusive prison in the state. Once again, she has the opportunity to shut down a site of suffering and despair. We urge her to take it.
Scaife is executive director of the Correctional Association of New York.
