ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
New York is one of only two states that still lock up 16 and 17-year-olds in adult prisons. Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to change that after the release of a critical report. It came from a commission that he appointed to study the issue. North Country Public Radio's Brian Mann has the story.
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: Right now more than eight hundred 16 and 17-year-olds are being held in adult jails and prisons across New York. Soffiyah Elijah, head of a prison reform group called the Correctional Association, says those young inmates are in danger.
SOFFIYAH ELIJAH: Youth at that age often suffer horribly inside adult facilities. They're far more often than adults to suffer from sexual and physical abuse.
MANN: Studies here in New York and around the country show that young people who serve time in state prisons also face higher risks of suicide compared with teens sent to juvenile facilities. They're also more likely to commit new crimes after release. Elijah co-chaired the state commission that gave its report this week in Albany. She says the vast majority of young people who wind up in adult prisons, 82 percent are black and Hispanic.
ELIJAH: That injustice has a disproportionate impact on communities of color that need to be acknowledge and is an extra reason to get these reforms passed.
MANN: Andrew Cuomo created this commission last year as part of his ongoing effort to shrink New York's prison system, which has included cuts to the number of inmates and the closing of correctional facilities. He says these reforms for younger inmates are long overdue.
GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO: Your imagination can paint vivid pictures when you talk about exposing a young person to a state prison. I can tell you the reality is worse. This is one of those issues that has gone on for a long, long time and an issue, frankly, where we have done a lot of damage.
MANN: Under New York law prosecutors now have discretion to try 16 and 17-year-olds as adults or as minors. Cuomo says the age of adult incarceration should be raised to 18. If this plan is implemented, these younger offenders would instead be sent to newly established youth courts or to the state's juvenile facilities by 2017. Commission members also want teenagers who commit non-violent mostly drug-related crimes to have their records sealed if they stay crime-free after release.
Jeremy Creelan co-chaired the commission.
JEREMY CREELAN: Young offenders who stay out of trouble will get a second chance so they can get jobs, enter the Army or college or law school, and New York state will once again be the nation's true leader in juvenile justice.
MANN: The commission included prosecutors, county sheriffs and probation program directors who voted unanimously to support these proposals. But the plan could still face opposition from the Republican-controlled state Senate and from the powerful corrections officer union. Both have resisted Cuomo's push to downsize prisons. If these reforms do pass the legislature, North Carolina will be the only state that still locks up 16 and 17-year-olds in the same prison cells with adult inmates.
For NPR News I'm Brian Mann in upstate New York.