“Governor Hochul continues to put the interests of criminals ahead of law-abiding New Yorkers,” Blakeman said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “If the Commission of Correction is going to be expanded, the additional seat should go to a crime victim, not someone who broke the law.”

“Our corrections system should focus on accountability, safety, and justice for victims,” Blakeman said. “Crime victims know firsthand the real consequences of violent crime, repeat offenders, and a system that too often fails the public. Their voices deserve to be heard.”

The governor expanded the New York State Corrections Commission to include at least one convicted criminal with her signature after the state legislature passed a prison reform omnibus bill. The bill included wider state oversight over prisons after several notable incidents of prisoners dying in custody.

The noted prisoners include Robert Brooks, who died after he was allegedly beaten by prison personnel in December 2024, and Messiah Natwi, also allegedly beaten to death in March of this year.

Blakeman slammed Hochul for her “broader failure” to back the state’s corrections officers, who went on strike this year.

NEW YORK LAWMAKER DEMANDS HALT ACT BE REPEALED AFTER HOCHUL FIRED 2,000 PRISON GUARDS

“At a time when families are worried about crime in their neighborhoods, Hochul is doubling down on policies that send the wrong message,” Blakeman said. “New York needs leadership that stands with victims, supports law enforcement and corrections officers, and puts public safety first.”

“New Yorkers deserve a government that remembers who the real victims are,” Blakeman said. “I will always stand with them.”

Hochul signed the legislation to increase oversight and funding for investigations and cameras in state prisons last Friday. She suggested it ensured the safety of “any individual” in the prison system, regardless of whether they are an officer or prisoner.

“Every single individual who enters our prisons deserves to be safe, whether they are employed there or serving their time,” Hochul said. 

She mentioned Brooks and how her administration has reformed the corrections system since.

“In the year since the murder of Robert Brooks, we have implemented a number of new policies and initiatives to begin the process of reforming our corrections system: expediting the installation and use of fixed and body worn cameras, making it law that body worn cameras must be worn and turned on, and investing more money in the Office of Special Investigations,” she said.

“I have been clear that there is more to do and I am grateful to the Legislature and the family of Robert Brooks for advocating for these reforms and working together to ensure that we could sign this important legislation to advance these reforms together. Our work is never done, and I will not stop working to ensure our correctional facilities are safe for all,” she added.

Prison reform advocates, including socialist New York state Sen. Julia Salazar, praised Hochul for the legislation.

“I thank Governor Hochul for her leadership in enacting the prison reform omnibus bill. This legislative package will bring desperately needed transparency, oversight, and accountability to New York’s prisons, helping to reduce violence,” she said in the statement alongside Hochul.

New York State Commission of Correction Chair Allen Riley said adding a former inmate to the board “adds an important perspective.”

“Governor Hochul secured $2.5 million in this year’s budget, giving the Commission the personnel and resources necessary to strengthen its oversight of [Department of Corrections and Community Supervision] facilities. This package of legislation builds upon that critical investment and adds an important perspective to this work by requiring that one of the two new Commissioners is an individual who is formerly incarcerated in a correctional facility. I thank the Governor and Legislature for their support,” he said.

A correctional officers’ union in New York slammed Hochul for signing the legislation, which the union viewed as an overreach in reaction to Brooks’s death.

“The death of Robert Brooks was a profound tragedy and meaningful reforms to ensure that never happens again must be made,” the NYS Correctional Officers Police Benevolent Association said in a statement. “However, we cannot support legislation that responds to a single tragedy by imposing broad, punitive oversight on thousands of dedicated corrections professionals who had no role in it and who are already under constant surveillance and scrutiny.”

NEW YORK REPUBLICANS PONDER BRUCE BLAKEMAN’S ABORTION-RIGHTS STANCE AS GOP’S GUBERNATORIAL FRONT-RUNNER

“The death of Robert Brooks should be a catalyst for smart, collaborative reform, not rushed measures that assume guilt on the part of all correctional staff,” the statement read.

The Washington Examiner reached out to Hochul’s campaign but did not receive a response.