Reporters’ Notebook: Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Cannabis Connections, and Prison Abuse

The Reporters’ Notebook features bite-sized stories and updates from New York Focus reporters on the topics they cover. It’s our way of keeping readers updated about the subjects they care about between the time it takes to publish our longer, more in-depth articles.

Jump to: Cannabis | Prisons | Emissions

How One of New York’s First Nonprofit Cannabis Partnerships Went South

In 2022, a year after New York state legalized recreational cannabis, two nonprofits — The Bronx Defenders and the Bronx Community Foundation — teamed up to create a resource for New Yorkers looking to obtain highly coveted state licenses to sell marijuana.

The state had mandated that New Yorkers with prior cannabis convictions be given preference during the industry’s licensing rollout, and the newly formed Bronx Cannabis Hub was an effort to help them take advantage of this new era. US Senator Chuck Schumer said he hoped the hub would “serve as a model” for similar efforts “throughout the country.”

The two nonprofits seemed to work well together: The Bronx Defenders honored the Bronx Foundation’s cofounders, Desmon Lewis and his brother Derrick, at the Defenders’ annual gala fundraiser in October 2022.

But a letter obtained by New York Focus shows the partnership ended less than a year later, when The Bronx Defenders accused Desmon of having an inappropriate business relationship with one of the hub’s clients — who eventually obtained New York’s first recreational cannabis retail license backed by a new state loan program — and asked the organization to cease all use of The Bronx Defenders’ name and logo.

The letter cited The Bronx Defenders’ need “to mitigate potential legal, reputational, and political risk.”

‘Wasn’t an Isolated Incident’: Black Prison Workers Associations Speak Out on Killing

Associations representing New York prison and parole officers are publicly denouncing the killing of Robert Brooks, the 43-year-old incarcerated man who died last month after prison guards beat him.

In a public statement and an interview with New York Focus, leaders of the state prison and parole branches of the Grand Council of Guardians, a fraternal organization representing Black law enforcement officers in New York, argued that what happened to Brooks is emblematic of violence rife within the prison system.

“The incident wasn’t an isolated incident,” said Rodney Young, a recently retired parole officer and second vice president of the New York State Parole Guardians. (In New York, the prison and parole systems operate under one state agency.) “This is just an incident that was caught on camera.”

“There needs to be a change in the cultural acceptance of violence,” he said of the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, or DOCCS.

The killing sparked national outrage after the state Office of the Attorney General released body camera footage showing 14 workers surrounding a handcuffed Brooks, some pinning him to a medical examination table at Marcy Correctional Facility, near Utica. Three guards then repeatedly punched him in the face and groin. Brooks died the following morning.

It’s uncommon for law enforcement officers to speak out publicly against one another. A “blue wall of silence” among New York’s prison guards allows officers to escape discipline after using excessive force, even when they severely injure an incarcerated person, as The Marshall Project reported in 2023.

The Guardians are trying to puncture that blue wall. They’ve complained to DOCCS about officer violence before, they said.

“But I think now we have something that will make them take a second look,” said Marsha Lee-Watson, a retired DOCCS corrections officer and president of the Corrections Guardians.

The Guardians join a chorus of advocates and experts arguing that the violence inflicted on Brooks wasn’t an aberration.

“What we’re talking about here is a culture of violence and impunity that is rampant in DOCCS facilities,” said state Senator Julia Salazar, head of the Senate committee that oversees prison issues.

The Correctional Association of New York, a nonprofit organization tasked by state law with monitoring prison conditions, argued in a statement that the abuse Brooks endured is commonplace among certain prisons, including at Marcy.

—Chris Gelardi, chris@nysfocus.com

New York Quietly Publishes Disappointing Emissions Update

In the final days of December, New York released its annual report on statewide greenhouse gas emissions, updated with data from 2022. The report shows that emissions slightly increased that year, as they did the year before, while the state’s economy rebounded from Covid-19 lockdowns. At 371 million metric tons, the 2022 emissions remained a bit lower than pre-pandemic levels.