Advocates say Hochul is failing to keep promise on prison commutations
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Members of the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign rally outside Governor Kathy Hochul’s Manhattan office on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. Eagle photo by Noah Powelson
By Noah Powelson
Two weeks after Governor Kathy Hochul pardoned six individuals but chose not to commute the sentences of any of the more than 1,000 New Yorkers who have applied, advocates stood outside her Midtown office on Tuesday and called on the governor not to let political pressure prevent her from keeping her promise to regularly use her clemency powers to release reformed individuals from prison.
Formerly incarcerated individuals, election officials, family members of those currently imprisoned and advocates rallied outside the governor’s Manhattan office on Tuesday, demanding she address the more than 1,000 commutation applications currently sitting on her desk.
Advocates of the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign said that New York’s prison system has repeatedly proved to be a dangerous place, with increasing rates of fatalities, and pleaded with Hochul to use her clemency powers to lower the increasingly aging prison population.
Bruce Bryant, a Queens man who was convicted of second-degree murder in 1996 and served 30 years in prison, had his sentence commuted by Hochul in 2023. At the rally on Tuesday, Bryant said he had spoken with Hochul just over two weeks ago, and said that the governor needs to make use of her clemency powers before the prison system claims the lives of reformed incarcerated individuals.
“When you talk about public safety, there's no greater safety than releasing those that have transformed their lives and have done the work and are committed to lifting others up as they climb,” Bryant said.
“We're not saying let anyone out, but those 1,000-plus clemency applications that you have on your desk are worthy,” Bryant added. “You have the power to bring home hundreds of people and impact their communities in a positive way. And we implore you, Kathy Hochul, to do more.”
Caroline Hansen, whose husband has been incarcerated for the past 30 years while serving a sentence of life without parole, said that clemency was the only path her husband had to prove he’s a changed man.
“Without clemency, there is no parole board waiting somewhere down the road to consider the man he has become,” Hansen said. “He is 50 years old now, and the man he is today is not the 20-year-old man who entered prison three decades ago…Accountability and redemption can exist at the same time.”
While some of the speakers were pardoned by Hochul herself, many advocates also accused the governor of caving to political pressure not to commute more sentences.
Hochul is currently running for reelection and facing a challenge from Republican Bruce Blakeman, who has accused the governor of being soft on crime during her approximately five years in office.
Steve Zeidman, a CUNY School of Law professor, said that his law clinic has helped file hundreds of clemency applications as far back as 2017. Zeidman claimed a large number of applications have been reviewed and applicants have displayed great effort in self-improvement, but Hochul won’t grant their applications for fear of the political impact.
“The problem is not that there are not meritorious applications. The problem, and it needs to be called out, is the governor's unwillingness, the governor's capitulation to political calculations to use the power she has,” Zeidman said. “My hope is that we can all persuade the governor that instead of looking at the political landscape, thinking about her election, instead, she can be guided by just basic humanity.”
Brooklyn Assemblymember Latrice Walker appeared alongside rallygoers and said advocates needed to encourage their elected officials to visit prisons and incarcerated individuals.
“The new legislative session is in just a few months, and we will be fighting for sentencing, post-conviction and criminal justice reform,” Walker said. “The post-conviction process in New York State is broken, and once we acknowledge that, we have a responsibility as lawmakers to fix it.”
In response to an Eagle inquiry, a spokesperson for the governor’s office said Hochul reviews clemency applications on a rolling basis, and has made a total of 145 clemency grants, including 20 commutations and 125 pardons since she took office.
“Governor Hochul made significant changes to strengthen New York’s clemency program by creating a panel of experts to advise on cases under review and providing applicants with an updated website and application forms,” a spokesperson for the governor’s office said in a statement. “This administration remains committed to a transparent and thorough clemency process.”
When she first came into office in 2021, Hochul vowed to reform the clemency process and grant executive clemency on a rolling basis, a promise many advocates accused her of walking back. While Hochul has made regular use of pardons – one of two clemency powers at her disposal – she has all but stopped commuting sentences.
Between August 2024 and August 2026, Hochul commuted the sentences of two incarcerated New Yorkers, a quarter of the number of sentence commutations she granted from 2022 through the midway point of 2024.
Hochul last granted clemency at the end of August when she pardoned six New Yorkers, including one person who was convicted of a drug possession charge in Queens. She did not grant any of the more than 1,000 commutation requests her office received.
There are currently 1,040 pending commutation applications and 542 pending pardon applications before the governor. Around 260 of those applications were submitted in 2026.
