Authors
Chris Gelardi

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.

 

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A collage of a Rochester police car overlayed on the Rochester skyline.
Rochester Cops Were Offered Training on Discredited Diagnosis Connected to Daniel Prude’s Killing

A newly obtained document sheds light on how the disavowed diagnosis infiltrated the Rochester Police Department before Prude’s death.

December 21, 2024
Photograph of an empty prison cell with the door open, showing an empty bed with no sheets.
In Brief: Why Has New York’s Prison Population Declined?

New York’s faster-than-average decarceration has led to dozens of prison closures.

December 19, 2024
A photo illustration showing Governor Kathy Hochul's face and migrants walking down a NYC street.
Will Hochul Fight Trump’s Plan for ‘Mass Deportations’?

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.

November 12, 2024
In the center of the image is a police badge with department names scratched out to represent O'Connell's history of moving from one department to the next. The badge is overlaid on a collage of O'Connell's redacted disciplinary records.
Rehired: How New York’s Problem Cops Can Bounce Between Jobs

The state doesn’t publicize officer employment histories, making it impossible to track so-called wandering officers.

October 31, 2024
Naps, Pink Eye, a Bee Sting: How a Hochul Appointee Got Himself Kicked Off the Parole Board

Brandon Stradford lasted two months on New York state’s Board of Parole. He continued collecting a paycheck for another seven.

October 28, 2024
Prison Confiscates Incarcerated Journalist’s Typewriter After She Writes for New York Focus

A week after incarcerated journalist Sara Kielly published an article criticizing the prison system for its solitary confinement practices, officers ransacked her cell.

October 4, 2024
Are Eric Adams and Kathy Hochul Still Friends?

The mayor and governor have long hailed their partnership. Will it survive federal corruption charges?

September 26, 2024
‘It’s a Sham’: A Former Parole Commissioner Dissects New York’s Stubborn System

Carol Shapiro spent two years trying to reform the state Board of Parole. Little has changed.

September 20, 2024
Three empty seats inside of a wood-paneled hearing room.
Kathy Hochul’s Parole Board Blunders

The governor promised to fill the chronically understaffed Board of Parole. Nearly half of her nominations have ended in disaster.

September 10, 2024
‘We’re Just Tired’: Asylum Seekers at a Brooklyn Shelter Struggle With Hunger

New immigrants say meager meals from a shelter operator and police harassment are leaving them with few ways to feed themselves.

July 31, 2024
An overhead view of Great Meadow Correctional Facility
New York to Close One of Its Most Notorious Prisons

Great Meadow and Sullivan prisons are slated to shut down in November. The state could close up to three more over the next year.

July 18, 2024
A sign outside of Bedford Hills Correctional Facility.
Trans Man Forced to Undergo Prison Genital Exams Wins $275,000 Settlement

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.

June 17, 2024
A hand places a ballot with the Solidarity PAC logo in a ballot box.
Pro-Israel PAC Floods Assembly Races With Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars

The recently formed Solidarity PAC has mobilized big finance and real estate to target socialists and the Working Families Party.

June 6, 2024
NYCLU Sues to Overturn Landmark Sex Offender Law

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.

May 28, 2024
Three men in suits, including former acting prison commissioner Anthony Annucci and acting prison commissioner Daniel Martuscello III, stand at a memorial ceremony in Albany.
Hochul Quietly Nominates a Permanent Prison Chief

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.

May 22, 2024
DCPI chief Tarik Sheppard displays a bike lock retrieved from Columbia University on MSNBC's Morning Joe on May 1, 2024.
Meet the Cops Running the NYPD’s 86-Member Public Relations Team

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.

May 14, 2024
NYPD officers in front of the City College gates. Protesters drop a Palestinian flag behind them.
On the Ground at the NYPD Raid on the City College Gaza Solidarity Encampment

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.

May 2, 2024
New York Governor Kathy Hochul speaks in front of a blue and yellow banner that reads  District Attorneys Association of the State of New York.
Three-Year-Old Commission Hochul Tapped for Rochester DA Traffic Stop Has Never Taken a Case

After DA Sandra Doorley berated a police officer, Hochul referred her to a commission that is yet to become active — and lacks the authority to issue discipline.

April 30, 2024
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrats of New York, smile in front of american flags
As State Police Expand Surveillance, Privacy Advocates Turn to US Congress

Local regulations haven’t kept up with the rollout of new surveillance tech. Some reformers see Washington as their best hope.

April 2, 2024
Governor Kathy Hochul, Representative Jerrod Nadler, and others march in the June 4, 2023 Israel Day Parade in New York City.
New PAC Launches to Boost Pro-Israel Democrats in New York

Backing primary opponents to progressive Democrats, the new Solidarity PAC resembles a state-level analog to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

March 26, 2024
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