Minutes Of Proceedings At A Public Hearing Held By The Law Revision Commission Of The State Of New York Albany New York February 9 1972 PDF Download

This study examines the impact of interest groups and political pressures on correctional policy and decision-making in New York State under the administration of Nelson A. Rockefeller, Governor from 1958 to 1973. It describes the activities of the correctional bureaucracy, religious and social reformers, business and labor interests, and inmate organizations to assess their effectiveness in achieving their goals. From 1959 until the mid-1960's, correctional administrators had virtual autonomy, experiencing little interference from State government. The press and the public were almost completely excluded from contact with inmates. In the late 1960's, however, interest groups - civil liberties groups, law-and-order groups demanding stricter law enforcement, and others - entered the correctional arena, although the bureaucracy retained much of its previous power. During the 1970s, courts turned their attention to the prison system, there were a number of high-profile prison riots, and study commissions such as the Governor's Special Committee on Criminal Offenders introduced the views of groups with interests different from those of corrections officials. Prison inmates benefited from these efforts in that their conditions improved. However, their gains were merely symbolic or token, whereas those with established political power gained from tangible allocations of resources.