Council calls on Albany to pass parole reform bills

The City Council passed a resolution on Wednesday calling on the state legislature and governor to pass into law a package of bills that would reform parole in New York State, particularly for elderly incarcerated New Yorkers. File photo via MusikAnimal/Wikimedia Commons

By Jacob Kaye

The City Council on Wednesday called on the state legislature to pass a pair of bills that would offer thousands of aging and elderly incarcerated New Yorkers new opportunities for release.

In its final session of the year, the City Council passed a resolution urging state lawmakers and Governor Kathy Hochul to pass into law the Fair and Timely Parole and Elder Parole bills, two pieces of legislation that despite having majority support in both houses have stalled in Albany over the past several years.

The bills would create new ways for imprisoned New Yorkers – particularly older New Yorkers – to potentially be granted release by the state’s parole board.

The bills have been touted by advocates and lawmakers as necessary to not only provide opportunities for release for New Yorkers who have long been reformed but remain behind bars, but also as an opportunity to save the state hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

In passing its resolution of support for the two bills, the City Council joins dozens of state lawmakers and advocacy groups pushing to get the legislative package passed and signed into law in 2024.

“Extending incarceration longer than necessary has a negative impact on public health and safety, while wasting taxpayer dollars that could be prioritized for effective safety investments,” City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said in a statement. “Given that recidivism rates significantly decline for those aging in prison and who've been incarcerated longer, parole decisions should be based on the evidence of what works best for public safety.”

The two bills compliment one another.

The Fair and Timely Parole bill would alter parole reviews and require the board to consider a more holistic view of who a person has become while incarcerated, rather than focusing primarily on the crime they were convicted of.

The Elder Parole bill would allow for people aged 55 and older who have already served 15 or more years of their sentence to receive an appearance before the parole board.

Together, the bills aim to address the approximately 4,700 people aged 55 or older who are incarcerated in New York State prisons. Proponents of the bills argue that elderly incarcerated New Yorkers – many of whom have already served lengthy sentences for crimes they were convicted of when they were much younger – are being deprived the opportunity to bring the leadership, mentoring, anti-violence and other skills they learned behind bars to the outside world.

Advocates also warn that without giving incarcerated New Yorkers increased opportunities for release, those aging in prison are more likely to fall ill or die while incarcerated.

“One-in-four incarcerated New Yorkers is an older adult, and this proportion will only grow, with a devastating fiscal and moral cost, unless the state legislature and governor enact Elder Parole and Fair and Timely Parole,” said City Councilmember Crystal Hudson, who chairs the Council’s Aging Committee and who was the lead sponsor of the resolution passed by the legislative body on Wednesday. “Passing these bills would be a tangible step toward addressing the harms of the draconian policies and practices that led to mass incarceration.”

“I urge my colleagues in Albany to ensure the passage of both bills this coming session and I am in solidarity with the people and families who are directly impacted,” she added.

Both the Elder Parole and Fair and Timely Parole bills got stuck in the legislature after being passed by both the Senate’s Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction and the Assembly’s Correction Committee at the end of the most recent legislative session.

First introduced in 2017, the bills made similar advancements through Albany in years past but have yet to be passed by the legislature and sent to the governor for a signature.

Hindering their advancement, in part, is that bills have also faced pushback, particularly from Republican lawmakers, who argue that New Yorkers convicted of murder and other top felonies should not be given increased opportunities to appear before the parole board.

But despite the objections raised over the details of the bill, support for the legislation is only expected to grow during next year’s legislative session, which begins the first week of January.

“We are encouraged by our City Council taking the lead and passing this resolution which offers a real path to community safety and healing for families and communities torn apart by mass incarceration,” said Jose Saldana, the director of the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign, the coalition behind the push to pass the two bills.

“The Elder Parole and Fair and Timely Parole bills take aim at the conditions that lead to violence,” Saldana said. “They are elder justice measures. They are anti-poverty measures. They are anti-racist policies. They are pro-family policies. And they will return mentors and leaders to our communities, where they are needed most.”