Judge eyes shorter sentence for ex-NYC jails union boss

By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge says a former longtime union boss for the nation’s largest correction officers’ union may have gotten too harsh a prison sentence when he was given nearly five years behind bars for corruption. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said in a ruling Friday that Norman Seabrook’s prison term might deserve a second look. He noted disparities in the sentence given to Seabrook, who is Black, and co-conspirators who are white. But he also said the former head of the New York City Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association did not deserve a new trial. Prosecutors said he accepted $60,000 in bribes in 2014 to funnel $20 million in union funds to a risky hedge fund.