NYC NOW - A Push for Second Chances in New York Prisons and a Taste of Hell’s Kitchen

Episode Date: December 26, 2025

Criminal justice advocates are renewing a push for a Second Look law in New York, which would allow people serving long prison sentences to ask judges to reconsider their cases after decades behind bars. WNYC’s Ryan Kost reports on how the proposal could affect thousands of incarcerated New Yorkers. Plus, we head to Hell’s Kitchen, where food critic Robert Sietsema says one of the city’s most crowded neighborhoods is also one of its best places to eat.

Criminal justice advocates push for legislation that gives some New York inmates a second chance and a taste of hell's kitchen. From WNYC, this is NYC now. I'm Iurek Panobi in Virginia Pierre. Criminal justice reform advocates hope 2026 may finally be the year that New York state lawmakers adopt something called a second look law. If they do, thousands of people. Prisoners who were spent decades in prison could ask judges to reconsider their sentences.

WNYC's Ryan Cost reports. Can you remind me where you're calling from, which facility? I'm calling from Greenhaven Correctional Facility. Sixteen years ago, Sean Peace was arrested by New York City Police following a string of fast food restaurant robberies that stretched for nearly six months. Peace shot two people, a Popeye's employee in the hand, and a cabrizzed. driver. Peace left the driver bleeding from his neck, slumped over in his car. He spent months recovering in the hospital, according to news reports at the time. Then Queen's district attorney Richard Brown called Peace, quote, a menace to society. In May 2014, peace was

sentenced to 110 years in prison. Well, when that number came out of the judge's mouth, it was unbelievable. I was shocked. I was dealing with various motions simultaneously. His sister, Cherie's piece, was in the courtroom when the sentence came down. Well, interestingly enough, I was the one who turned my brother in. She says she didn't have a choice. At that time, in the space that he was in, the only two alternatives would have been prison or death.

But she never expected him to get more than a lifetime in prison. A wave of guilt washed over. her when she heard the number. It's virtually a life sentence just without saying life. Over the years, Cherise says she's watched as her brother took responsibility for his actions. He's used his time in prison to better himself. Ten states and Washington, D.C., have so-called second look laws that allow people in prison to ask judges to review their sentences, to take into account how they've changed over a

period of years and decades. But New York only allows this sort of review. for domestic violence victims, and only if the abuse was a significant factor in their crime. Criminal justice reform advocates are hoping 26 may finally be the year that lawmakers pass something broader. Steve Ziedman is a law professor at CUNY and co-director of the Second Look Project. The momentum for a second-look bill is as powerful and burgeoning in ways I've never seen before. Dozens of legislators in both the Assembly and the Senate have signed on as co-sponsors. If the act were to pass, anyone in a state prison could apply for a sentence review after

serving 10 years or half of their sentence if longer than a decade, whichever is less. And so many of those folks that we work with have been in 20, 30, 40 years. And the question is, are they going to die in prison or is there some mechanism for someone to re-examine their sentence, see who they've become, see if they merit a second look. But Republicans are signaling the bill will face some opposition. Assembly member Phil Palmasano from Western New York says the legislation is too broad. He says it would reopen cases that are already settled while prioritizing criminals over victims. These soft-on-crime bills like this really erased a hard-fought justice that so many families are

fighting for the whole criminal is accountable. Under the bill, a judge could take into account a number of factors, including the applicant's past traumas, effort toward rehabilitation, or a victim's statement. Trevor Bell, the cab driver Sean Peas shot, doesn't believe a judge should reduce peace's sentence if given the chance. Bell suffered gunshot wounds to his neck and legs. He had two strokes during his time in the hospital. He lost strength and dexterity and still struggles to walk.

Thel says he almost died. I'm a Jamaican, and I don't believe. I believe in a high for a high and a tooth for a tooth. Okay. I believe in that once you are going to take a man life, you should be punished for it. Rowan Wilson, the state's chief judge, has made the second look bill a top priority of his own.

The beauty of this is it doesn't ask any judge to say you were wrong with the decision you made 20 years ago. He was at a recent town hall to rally support behind the legislation. The event was organized by the Reform Group Communities Not Cages. They can feel perfectly confident that that was the right decision then, but this person has so radically transformed himself or herself that now I can make another good decision. For Sean Peace, that journey of transformation started with a conversation with his sister, the first in four years after he learned she turned him in.

I asked her, how could she do this to me? she turned me into the police, and she told me that she didn't recognize me anymore. P. says he's become a facilitator for anti-violence programs. He's earned an associate's degree and is pursuing a bachelor's with Columbia University. He's even started training puppies to be service animals. He says he doesn't make excuses for the crime that put him in prison, but he hopes to one day have a chance to tell a judge how much he's changed. For individuals like myself, while they're putting in the work,

You know, who deserve a second chance. This is the last hope. The second look at is the last hope. Lawmakers will begin the 2026 legislative session on January 7th. Up next, let's head to Hell's Kitchen, where the food scene is hot, crowded, and very much alive. That's after the break. NYC now. If you're looking for the best neighborhood for New York City food

or just a good place to get a nice meal while the transplants are out of town, food critic Robert Sitsima says, go to Hell's Kitchen. It has restaurants in all price I use. You can eat well there for $5 or you can spend $200 or anything in between. He says Hell's Kitchen has a wide. variety of cuisines for you to choose from, if you want to feel like you're anywhere but the United States right now. You can get African food.

You can get French food. You can get Indian food that is nuanced in its regionality. And if you just want a hot dog or a burger, you can get that too. Robert wrote up a full list of his Hell Kitchen faves on our website, Gothamist. We asked him to highlight a few. First, he says, check out B and D halal. It's one of the handful of pan-West African restaurants that we have. It's a modest steam table joint with at least 60 or 70 choices of dishes.

You can get dishes from Guinea. You can get dishes from Senegal. You can get dishes from the Côte d'Ivoire, also known as the Ivory Coast. If you love peanut butter, check out their mafi, which is a Senegalese peanut sauce, a little spicy and very delicious. Another spot on Robert's list, this one, boasting a free hot dog with every beer, Rudy's. If you can't find Rudy's,

there's something wrong with you because there's a six-foot-tall pink pig in a waistcoat standing in front. I don't mean a real pig. I mean a statue of a pig. And this is what beckons you into this amazing dive bar. He says Rudy's bar and grill is the only real dive bar left on its short stretch of 9th Avenue. The only food they serve as hot dogs, though,

so if you're looking for more of an upscale sit-down experience. You can spend 100 bucks if you want at a place called Jazz, and that's with 1Z. Jazz is one of these magnificent new upscale Indian restaurants that have been popping up, especially in Manhattan, where with cocktails you could blow $200. But it would be a good expenditure of your money, because this point, place has food, you know, from northern India, which would be the Moldo food, the Punjabi food, the Bengali food. But it also has food from South India. And a lot of that food is laced with coconut milk. It has curry leaves in it. It's shot with black mustard seed. It's a whole different flavor palette. So if you love Indian food, go to this place because it is very elegant.

And like, maybe wear a sport coat. That's Robert Sitsima. He writes about food on gotthmus.com and for his substack, Robert Sitima's New York. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. I hope you enjoyed your holiday. We'll be back next week.