Nearly 240 technical parole violators remain locked up, two months after Cuomo release plan
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Rikers Island. AP Photo/Seth Wenig
By David Brand
At least 238 people accused of technical parole violations remain behind bars in New York, two months after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the state would release up to 1,100 such inmates to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The alleged technical parole violators still locked up, in spite of Cuomo’s March 27 announcement, did not meet criteria for release established by the state, according to the Department of Correction and Community Supervision.
DOCCS said May 20 that 47 people are locked up in New York City jails for technical parole violations, which include low-level offenses like missing curfew, using drugs or not updating a parole officer about a change of address. An analysis by the Columbia University Justice Lab found that 170 people newly accused of technical parole violations have been sent to Rikers Island jails since Cuomo’s March 27 decree.
The number of people jailed on Rikers Island for technical parole violations has gradually increased since 2014 — reaching about 600 on March 27 — even as the total number of inmates has plummeted.
Former New York City Probation Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi, who leads the Columbia University Justice Lab, said re-incarcerating suspected technical parole violators has long been bad public policy — even before the added risk of spreading COVID-19.
“Now, in the pandemic, it’s indefensible,” Schiraldi said.
Overall, the state has released 791 alleged parole violators, including 300 in New York City, following Cuomo’s order, according to DOCCS.
To qualify to have their violations cancelled, inmates must have stable housing and not be considered a threat to public safety, according to DOCCS. Individuals are not eligible for release if their alleged parole violation involved a weapon, or if they were sex offenders or perpetrators of domestic violence who contacted victims.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, state prisons have stopped accepting parole violators detained in city and county jails.
“People are getting technically violated and stacking up” in local jails, Schiraldi said.
He said he worries about inmates from New York City introducing COVID-19 to upstate communities when the state resumes the policy of moving parole violators into state prisons, often located in remote regions. “Once it starts to travel from those prisons, the counties are going to get sick,” he said.
The Columbia University Justice Lab has urged state lawmakers to pass a bill that would eliminate automatic pre-hearing incarceration for people accused of a technical parole violations, while removing incarceration as the penalty for many offenses. The measures are supported by at least two New York City district attorneys, Manhattan DA Cy Vance and Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez.
“COVID-19 has changed the calculus by which we determine who should be confined in our jails and prisons,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “I support legislation to reduce the number of people being jailed for technical parole violations that do not involve new arrests.”
A coalition of state lawmakers sent a letter to the state prisons commissioner May 15 demanding information on whether the state is releasing alleged technical parole violators.
Assemblymember David Weprin, Assemblymember Walter Mosley, State Sen. Luis Sepulveda and State Sen. Brian Benjamin signed the letter to Acting Commissioner Anthony Annucci saying that they are “gravely concerned” about the continued detention of people who violate curfew or commit other minor parole infractions.
The four state lawmakers asked the Department of Correction and Community Supervision for “updated data in regards to the number of technical parole violators , including individuals classified as parole absconders, identified, released and transitioned from local jails or state correctional facilities” since Cuomo’s announcement.
The letter also requests information on the number of individuals 55 or older with less than 90 days on their sentences who have been “identified, released and transitioned” from prison.
Last month, a 60-year-old man named Leonard Carter died at the Queensboro Correctional Facility less than two months before his scheduled release date.
