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‘We do not see and we do not hear those who suffer, and what is terrible in life goes on somewhere behind the scenes."

Anton Chekhov made this observation in his novella Ward No. 6, one of his many works that explored how society treats people once they fall out of public view. His perspective was informed in part by three months spent in a Russian penal colony where he interviewed thousands of convicts and witnessed the realities of incarceration firsthand.

More than a century after Chekhov wrote Ward No. 6, Michael Mushlin, JD, professor emeritus at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at 91��Ƶ, still finds himself returning to the writer’s observations. For Mushlin, Chekhov’s central insight remains urgently relevant: society devotes enormous attention to determining guilt or innocence, but too often stops looking once a person is sentenced. His own career has been a sustained effort to challenge that silence—to bring prisons, and the people inside them, back into public and judicial view.

“But we should care,” Mushlin insists.

Why Caring Matters

That idea—that we should care— has defined Mushlin's career as a lawyer, scholar, and advocate. As a civil rights lawyer, legal scholar, and prison reform advocate, he has spent decades pushing courts, lawmakers, and the public to pay closer attention to what happens after a prison sentence begins. His work has included major civil rights litigation, a four-volume treatise on prisoners' rights, and leadership roles in some of New York's most influential prison reform organizations.

Most recently, Mushlin chaired the Subcommittee on Judicial Visits to Prisons and Jails. After four years of study and planning, the group's , making it the first state in the nation to require judges with sentencing or detention responsibilities to make annual, meaningful visits to prisons and jails.

It seems to me that people should be treated humanely.

Prisoners' rights appealed to Mushlin early in his legal career because, unlike many areas of law, the moral question felt clear. “It seems to me that people should be treated humanely,” he said. “When you’re a prisoners’ rights lawyer, we’re not saying this person shouldn’t be punished. We’re not saying this person didn’t do something bad. What we’re saying is that it’s in everybody’s interest that this person be treated with humanity. It’s in the interest of victims, the interest of the prisoner, of society, of safety. It’s in the interest of the well-being of the American people and our values.”

Activism Meets Academia

“The bulk of my career has been spent as a teacher and an academic at 91��Ƶ, so I consider 91��Ƶ my home.”

While fighting for reform, Mushlin was also educating the next generation of lawyers, judges, and policymakers at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law. Though he initially worried academia would pull him away from his advocacy work, 91��Ƶ allowed him to bring the two together. “I'm very grateful to 91��Ƶ for giving me the opportunity to continue doing that work while also being a professor,” he said.

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One of the clearest examples was a prisoners' rights course he developed for Haub Law, where students studied the law, heard from guest speakers, and visited prisons. Though such courses are rare at law schools, 91��Ƶ welcomed the addition. According to Mushlin, the course was embraced by faculty and remains part of the curriculum today. One alumna even told him recently it was the best class she took in law school.

Looking back, Mushlin sees no divide between his work as an educator and his work as an advocate. “I didn't feel like I was leaving behind my role as an activist by going into academia.”

During his time at 91��Ƶ, Mushlin taught students that understanding the justice system required looking beyond convictions and courtrooms. Soon, he would begin making the same case to New York's judiciary.

A More Meaningful Approach

In 2022, Mushlin was asked to chair a newly formed subcommittee of the Chief Administrative Judge's Advisory Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure. The group's charge was simple: determine whether judges should visit prisons and jails and, if so, what those visits should look like.

Over the next four years, Mushlin worked with judges, corrections experts, and legal professionals to develop what would become a first-in-the-nation effort to bring judges inside correctional facilities. "Prisons are the most cut-off places that we have," Mushlin said. "There are not only walls in prisons, but also an intellectual barrier."

Prisons are the most cut-off places that we have.

New York judges already conducted prison visits, but they were often brief and perfunctory. Mushlin and the subcommittee wanted something more meaningful—visits that would give judges a better understanding of the realities of incarceration.

“The idea is that you should really see every area of the prison,” he said. The proposal requires judges to make annual, day-long visits to correctional facilities, touring housing units, medical and educational areas, solitary confinement, dining halls, and visitor spaces. Judges also have the option to speak directly with incarcerated people and correctional staff to gain a deeper understanding of life inside prison walls.

“The idea is to essentially spend a good part of a day immersing oneself in this place,” Mushlin said. “If you're going to visit a prison, you should really do it.”

The View from Inside

After four years of work, the subcommittee's proposal was adopted by New York State, making it the first state in the nation to require judges with sentencing or detention responsibilities to make annual, meaningful visits to prisons and jails.

For Mushlin, the significance of the rule extends far beyond the visits themselves, identifying three key benefits. “One benefit is that judges are able to perform their very important sentencing function better, more realistically, and with some real notion of what the consequences of the prison sentence is,” he said.

Having judges go into prisons signals to people who have been imprisoned that they are not forgotten.

“The second benefit is that makes more visible and connected the prison system to the criminal justice system,” he continues. According to Mushlin, policing and adjudication receive more visibility, leaving corrections often in an “out of sight, out of mind” position.

The third benefit is perhaps the most human. “Having judges go into prisons signals to people who have been imprisoned that they are not forgotten,” Mushlin said. “That's a really important message.”

In the Interest of Society

The proposal took four years to develop as the subcommittee worked to balance ambitious goals with the realities of cost, coordination, training, and implementation. Although the rule has now been adopted, significant planning remains before it takes effect in January 2028.

For Mushlin, the milestone is both a culmination and a beginning. While it represents one of the most significant achievements of his career, he knows the work of reform is never finished. Lasting change depends not only on policy, but on the people who will shape the future of the legal profession. That's why he believes legal education plays such a critical role.

Lawyers have a critical role to play in making our country a better place.

“In law school you train your mind to think rigorously, carefully, and logically about a problem,” he said. “Lawyers have a critical role to play in making our country a better place.”

As New York prepares to implement a first-in-the-nation judicial visitation program, Mushlin hopes future generations of lawyers will continue the work of reform. More than a century after Chekhov warned of the callousness that can come with habit and distance, Mushlin’s work offers a practical response: shorten the distance. Step inside. Look closely. And remember that justice depends not only on the sentence imposed, but on the humanity preserved afterward.

Want to learn more? Register to attend the inaugural Morris E. Lasker Lecture on Correctional Justice where Mushlin will present on this imitative and prison reform.