Advocates and lawmakers gathered at the state Capitol and around New York state Monday to push for sentencing reform. Along with parole reform, it’s a key element of the criminal justice agenda that reformers are pushing this legislative session.

In Albany, Lukee Forbes, executive director of We are Revolutionary, rallied supporters of the legislation on the Capitol’s Million Dollar Staircase.

“We need to really invest in communities right now,” he said. “A lot of what individuals are going through before they are actually going in front of judges is not taken into consideration, what leads up to these crimes.”

Sentencing reform consists of three bills. The Second Look Act would allow judges to review and reconsider sentences. The Earned Time Act would expand laws that allow incarcerated people to earn reductions in their sentences. The Marvin Mayfield Act would eliminate mandatory minimums.

Forbes told Spectrum News 1 the reforms would allow the criminal justice system to focus on rehabilitation of individuals who have done the work to re-enter society, and ideally make room for community-based efforts that would prevent people from ending up in prison in the first place.

“What we’re seeing is communities calling for actual answers to crime, and that is solving things at the root cause,” he said.

Republican Assemblymember Mike Reilly said he is all for expanding programming that is available for incarcerated individuals and programming within communities.

“Have resources in their community to stop them from having interactions with the criminal justice system and getting convicted for long periods of time,” he said.

That said, he’s concerned the package leans away from the core idea of justice, especially the idea of eliminating mandatory minimums.

“It’s a bridge too far. Now, you’re taking away the accountability piece that the legislature themselves had put into place by creating minimums,” he said.

Along with its companion piece – parole reform – these initiatives have gained increased scrutiny in the aftermath of the 2024 election, even among some Democrats as the party faces heat for their focus on policies that are branded by many as “soft on crime.”

Jaime Bailey-Warren, representative for the Center for Community Alternatives, disputes the idea that the reforms fit that classification

“I think there can be a line in the middle where we are,” she said. “Somebody committed a crime, there needs to be a consequence for that, but we have these systems in place.”

It comes as staffing shortages at New York’s prisons have raised concerns about the availability of those rehabilitative programs for incarcerated people.

“Our staffing shortages is really driving some program closures along the way in general population,” Daniel Martuscello, commissioner of New York State Department of Corrections, told lawmakers at an Assembly hearing on Friday.

Sumeet Sharma, director of policy and communications at the Correctional Association of New York, told Spectrum News 1 after the hearing that those staffing shortages inevitably have a negative impact on outcomes for incarcerated people.

“Shortages, specifically around programming staff and medical staff, will often effect the availability and individuals ability to access those programs,” he said.

In addition to impacting programs for individuals with disabilities, he said educational programming is also impacted. Sharma emphasized that doesn’t only impact incarcerated people’s time behind bars, it presents a significant barrier for re-entry.

“They’ll have to spend the time right after release to go to school, go to additional job training,” he said.

Assemblymember Eric Dilan chairs the Corrections Committee.

He said after the hiring that he heard the concerns about staffing shortages sound and clear, and it’s now time for the legislature to do some work after he says the commissioner and various speakers provided “two factors” of confirmation.

“We’ll do our research and maybe become that third factor and see where we can shore up the system so that programming can be conducted,” he said.