If you’re in jail, and you’re getting harassed, abused, denied health care, or barred from visitation time, there’s generally just one thing you can do: File a grievance.

For people who have spent time in jail in New York state, it’s an open secret that grievances rarely accomplish anything. But the public almost never gets a look into that broken aspect of the carceral system.

Through public records requests, New York Focus obtained hundreds of pages of jail inspection documents. Paired with state government reports and interviews with formerly incarcerated people, they illustrate a grievance process in which procedural violations abound and cases often meet dead ends, making it exceedingly difficult for incarcerated people to obtain recourse for poor conditions or mistreatment.

Frank Antinetto's battle with the New York Department of Labor started with the sudden appearance of a bruise on his 14-year-old daughter’s arm. After her hospital admission on May 22, she was diagnosed with leukemia in Rochester and sent a thousand miles away, to a children’s cancer center in Memphis. Antinetto, a janitor at the Rochester Institute of Technology, texted his boss that he would miss work while his daughter Jazzy went through chemotherapy.

Within a month of Jazzy’s diagnosis, Antinetto was fired, supposedly for failing to let his employer know his whereabouts. He filed for unemployment insurance, which would have paid him $440 per week. After more than six months of pursuit, he hadn't received a cent. In spite of New York’s progressive reputation, Antinetto’s situation is common.

State Senator Julia Salazar and Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest announced the introduction of the “Rights Behind Bars” bill on Thursday. Directly citing several New York Focus investigations, the sweeping piece of legislation aims to confront prison and jail policies that limit incarcerated people’s rights and recent instances in which facilities flouted state law.