What end-of-session bills are on the table in response to Robert L. Brooks' death

Lawmakers held a hearing Wednesday in response to the deaths of Robert L. Brooks and Messiah Nantwi.

Good afternoon — it’s Wednesday and Buttermilk Biscuit Day.

In today’s CapCon:

• The Legislature held a joint hearing Wednesday to hear testimony on conditions in state prisons and the deaths of Robert L. Brooks, Messiah Nantwi and others.

• Brooks’ father was there and sent the Legislature a clear message: do something.

• Here are two packages of bills being proposed for lawmakers to consider before they leave Albany in June.

• There are other bills out there as well, including two in today’s New Bills of Note.

Names in today’s CapCon: Robert Ricks, Robert Brooks, Julia Salazar, Erik Dilan, Eric Schneiderman, Messiah Nantwi

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❗ CapCon Note: A new episode of the Capitol Confidential podcast drops tomorrow! I chat with Sen. James Skoufis about the state budget process and Assemblywoman Amy Paulin about physician assisted death.

Find it wherever you get podcasts or here.

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(Lori Van Buren/Times Union)

🗣️ What top lawmakers said about prison reforms happening this session

(I’m focusing on one big issue today because it deserves the space, but your regular CapCon scramble will resume tomorrow.)

It’s difficult to listen to Robert Ricks speak about the death of his son, Robert L. Brooks, who died in December after being severely beaten by correction officers at Marcy Correctional Facility.

“Every time I come in this building, I want to cry,” Ricks said ahead of a joint hearing held by the Legislature Wednesday to examine his son’s death and the conditions in New York’s correctional facilities.

It’s not just that his son is dead or that the Capitol building is a reminder of that, Ricks said. It’s because he knows the state Legislature can change the state’s prison system if lawmakers have the will to do so.

“The only way you don’t, if you have no desire, is if it’s okay with you that our men and women are being beaten — to death in some instances,” Ricks said.

Ricks has worked with, of all people, former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman over the last few months to shine a light on areas of the state prison system that he and many Democrats in the Legislature say are ripe for reform.

Lawmakers now have about a month to do what they’ve said they would do for the last five months: enact holistic changes to that system to root out what they say is a violent culture of abuse and misconduct.

“Part of the reason why we are here today holding this hearing is because in the months since then, we have not seen substantial legislative action to address this problem,” said state Sen. Julia Salazar, chair of the Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections Committee.

“We have a collective responsibility to enact serious legislation this session in order to transform this culture in our prison system and put a stop to this rampant violence,” she added.

Lawmakers had initially expected to hold the hearing in April to set the stage for prison reform as a top end-of-session priority. They wanted to wait until after the state budget was done but, as you know, didn’t pass until last Friday.

In the interim, by the way, another person incarcerated at Mid-State Correctional Facility — Messiah Nantwi — died after a severe beating at the hands of correction officers that resembled what happened to Brooks. That happened in March.

But the delayed budget has now left Democrats with less time to use what they learn from the hearing for a package of prison bills before the end of this year’s session next month.

Assembly Correction Chair Erik Dilan (left) co-chaired the hearing (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)

That’s entirely doable and, if you don’t believe me, consider how quickly the Legislature has acted in the past when confronted with an immediate challenge.

One month after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the Legislature agreed to pass the SAFE Act, a law that created new requirements for gun purchases. It also defined and banned “assault weapons.”