Chris Gelardi is a reporter for New York Focus investigating the state’s criminal-legal system. His work has appeared in more than a dozen other outlets, most frequently The Nation, The Intercept, and The Appeal. He is a past recipient of awards from Columbia and Northwestern universities to cover immigration enforcement, US militarism, contemporary colonialism, and county jails. His investigations into the use of a police gang database in Washington, DC, have spurred lawsuits and legislation. He’s based in Queens.
After years of targeting bail, the governor is proposing changes to New York’s 2019 discovery reform law.
Updates about an increase in emissions, violence within New York’s prison system, and a breakup of two nonprofits over cannabis in NYC.
New York Focus reporter Chris Gelardi reflects on the criminal justice reporting that shined light on overlooked agencies and shady practices in 2024.
A newly obtained document sheds light on how the disavowed diagnosis infiltrated the Rochester Police Department before Prude’s death.
New York’s faster-than-average decarceration has led to dozens of prison closures.
Trump is poised to ramp up deportation activity in northern states like New York, which has few statewide policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
The state doesn’t publicize officer employment histories, making it impossible to track so-called wandering officers.
Brandon Stradford lasted two months on New York state’s Board of Parole. He continued collecting a paycheck for another seven.
A week after incarcerated journalist Sara Kielly published an article criticizing the prison system for its solitary confinement practices, officers ransacked her cell.
The mayor and governor have long hailed their partnership. Will it survive federal corruption charges?
Carol Shapiro spent two years trying to reform the state Board of Parole. Little has changed.
The governor promised to fill the chronically understaffed Board of Parole. Nearly half of her nominations have ended in disaster.
New immigrants say meager meals from a shelter operator and police harassment are leaving them with few ways to feed themselves.
Great Meadow and Sullivan prisons are slated to shut down in November. The state could close up to three more over the next year.
He hopes the settlement will lead to reforms in New York prisons, where three-quarters of trans people say corrections officers have inappropriately touched or sexually assaulted them.
The recently formed Solidarity PAC has mobilized big finance and real estate to target socialists and the Working Families Party.
Advocates charge that New York’s restrictions for sex offense registrants are “vague, expansive, and unnecessary.” On Tuesday, they filed a federal lawsuit to strike them down.
The Senate will consider Daniel Martuscello III’s bid to run New York’s prison and parole agency. His supporters point to his decades of experience. His opponents say that’s the problem.
The police department’s PR team has more than doubled in size in the past two years. Some of its recent hires have histories of dishonesty and misconduct.
New York Focus was on the scene as cops shoved, kettled, and chased students at City College, the second campus where the NYPD razed a Gaza solidarity encampment Tuesday.