Data show racial bias gap in parole process
Imbalance also occurs with the state’s disciplinary proceedings of inmates
A white inmate in a New York prison is significantly more likely on average to be released on parole than a Black or Hispanic person — and that gap has widened in 2020, according to a Times Union analysis of the nearly 19,000 parole board decisions over the last two years.
The disparities continue despite steps by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to make the parole board more diverse. That initiative began about four years ago, after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo ordered an investigation by the inspector general’s office into revelations in a New York Times series that exposed the racial imbalances in parole and prison disciplinary proceedings. The investigation has languished and no public report has been released.
The inspector general’s office, in an email response to questions, asserted without providing any data that racial disparities have gone down in recent years. They offered a list of policy changes that have been
made, including changes to sentencing guidelines, appeals processes and implicit bias training.
DOCCS, which oversees New York’s 53 state prisons, said the Times Union’s analysis was too limited. Spokesman Thomas Mailey wrote that the analysis was inadequate because detailed factors like disciplinary and program records, positions of the district attorney, sentencing courts and victim impact statements were not considered.
But officials contacted for this story did not provide any evidence countering the Times Union’s core findings. And those findings were averages based on each parole initial hearing and reappearance over the last two years, showing that the racial disparities were prevalent in the outcomes.
In discretionary parole hearings from October 2018 through October 2020, where commissioners from the Board of Parole decided whether incarcerated people should be released from prison, the Times Union’s analysis showed that 41 percent of white people were granted parole, compared to 34 percent of Blacks and 33 percent of Hispanics. These numbers include initial parole appearances once people meet their minimum sentences, as well as subsequently scheduled reappearances, which are usually every two years. It excludes more specialized categories such as medical hearings or those relating to deportations.
If Black and Hispanic people were paroled at the same rates as whites over the last two years alone, there would be 675 fewer people behind bars.
In interviews with people who have cumulatively served decades in New York prisons and faced a number of parole boards, those interviewed said the structural racism in prison that causes the disparities is obvious.
“Because racism extends beyond the streets into prison through correctional officers, I know from being a white inmate that I could get away with certain things that minorities absolutely could not,” said Jesse Johnston, a white man who served about 10 years in state prison. He worked in the prison’s law library and frequently saw parole denials roll in.
Before a Black inmate appears before the parole board they are at a disadvantage compared, Johnston said, as minorities are disproportionately punished and often given longer sentences compared to white inmates for similar crimes. That trend has been documented by academic researchers and journalists over the years.
“I think that when people see the time they are charged with, that can be an indication that the crime was more serious than it actually was on paper,” Johnston said.
“Just the label that is being placed on minorities is disproportionate to begin with.”
Inmates up for parole can attend a preparation class that explains what board members are looking for in a reformed inmate, but Johnston said the information is outdated and guidance for inmates is lacking.
He said it’s up to inmates to navigate the process, compile the necessary information and present themselves in a way that will strengthen their case for release. Minorities may lack the educational background to be successful in preparation as well as the interview, Johnston said.
“That entire process, I think, is broken,” he said.
Jose Saldana, director of Release Aging People from Prison and also a person of color who was paroled in 2018 at age 66, said that what the numbers show about parole boards discriminating against people of color is felt by those within the system.
“If 58 people went to the parole board, and three people made it, you could be sure that those people were not Black. If they were Hispanic, they were white-hispanic,” he said. “It’s the case with everything in prison. It’s only natural that it would be there too, and then we see it.”
Academics, activists, a former parole commissioner and lawyers interviewed by the Times Union said that the problem of racial discrimination in parole has been endemic and obvious for decades. Fixing the problem would require significant structural reform, many said.
“I believe that Cuomo and many politicians understandably suffer from Willie Horton disease,”
“If 58 people went to the parole board, and three people made it, you could be sure that those people were not Black. If they were Hispanic, they were white-hispanic. It’s the case with everything in prison. It’s only natural that it would be there too, and then we see it.” — Jesse Johnston
said one official, who has worked in the area of criminal justice with multiple governors, including Cuomo. He requested anonymity to discuss interactions with the governor and his staff.
“It’s understandable, but it’s also wrong. We have to get out of that mentality. It’s 1990s thinking.”
Willie Horton was a political advertisement in the 1988 presidential campaign where George
Bush’s campaign highlighted the story of a
Black man who was paroled in Massachusetts under a program started by then- Gov. Michael Dukakis and who went on to murder a woman. The attack ad has become famous both for its effectiveness at portraying Dukakis as reckless in managing crime as well as its racism.
“I think the real reason there hasn’t been any reform is that he’s afraid of it, he’s truly afraid of it,” the person said of Cuomo.
Cuomo recognized the issue in 2016 when he ordered the inspector general’s office to investigate racial disparities in the criminal justice system, but four years later the report still has not been completed and there has been little public discussion of the efforts.
Meaningful reforms face multiple hurdles, whether it’s a political unwillingness from the progressive elected officials or opposition to decarceral efforts from conservative officials. Beyond the opposition launched by Republicans in New York over bail reform, the caucus has also sought for more legislative oversight on parole board nominations and operations.
A more modern example of the Willie Horton strategy was frequent criticism of last year’s bail reform enacted by Democrat-controlled majorities in the Senate and Assembly, and signed by Cuomo. On the campaign trail, Republicans highlighted instances of people who were released from criminal custody and went on to violently reoffend, a potent political weapon.
The bill introduced by state Assembly Republicans would allow parole board members to be removed by a majority vote of the Senate and Assembly; require a minimum of three members of the 19-member board to interview inmates seeking parole; and require a unanimous vote for parole determinations.
Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay announced the bill in September, arguing that recent parole board decisions have released “violent offenders” and criminal justice reforms disregard the impact on victims.
“We need to continue to fight for the victims of violent crimes and create laws that help protect them, not make it more difficult for them to get on with their lives,” Barclay said. “New York state’s pro-criminal mentality has reached a boiling point. Simply put, victims are treated as second class
while convicted felons are given priority.”
Carol Shapiro, a criminal justice activist and social worker, was added to the parole board by Cuomo in 2017 as part of a push to reform the racial disparities.
“Frankly, at the time I joined I thought ‘ Wow, we could really do this,’” she said in a phone interview. “After awhile, you start to realize they’re not actually thinking like I am.”
Shapiro voted to release Herman Bell in 2018, who had been convicted nearly 50 years earlier of killing two police officers. Bell’s release was among those cases that Republicans cited as reason for more legislative oversight of the parole board. Police unions were furious, and Shapiro was “crucified” for the decision by Cuomo, she said, and she went on to resign as a parole commissioner last year.
“I don’t think it’s personal from him. It’s just politics. I just think he’s not willing to take a risk politically with this population,” Shapiro said.
DOCCS championed the diversity on the parole board, which has 11 of 16 members who are people of color, said Mailey, the department’s spokesman.
“Fairness is a key pillar of the justice system and DOCCS and the state parole board both work tirelessly to ensure everyone under its supervision is treated equally and humanely,” Mailey said in a statement. “It now stands as one of, if not the most, diverse boards in New York state history. To suggest that that this board makes racist decisions that deny people equal opportunity or protection is absurd and insulting.”
But simply appointing more people of color to
the parole board doesn’t automatically change how it functions, Shapiro said.
“It’s not a matter of just putting a more diverse group of commissioners, because that doesn’t mean that they have the value orientation to release people, regardless of race,” she said. “Having Black people in and of itself on the parole board isn’t going to change a culture.”
Parole hearings are set up like “conveyor belt justice” she said, where two of the three overworked commissioners are focusing on future interviews and only one listens and questions each inmate. There’s an overwhelming focus on the original crime, even if it occurred decades ago, she said, and a fear of reprisal if someone reoffends after being released.
Shapiro said increasing diversity is a positive step, but it’s not enough to shift
the underlying values of the board that lead to higher rates of white people being paroled than Blacks. For that to be done, she said, a specific plan of action must be adopted and those tasked with executing the plan empowered.
With the governor and the parole board seen as unwilling to change, formerly incarcerated New Yorkers and activists say it’s up to the state Legislature to enact reforms.
Among those initiatives are one bill known as the Fair and Timely Parole
Act and another for elder parole. Activists said the former is the best legislation to combat the systemic racism and implicit bias that creeps into the process. It shifts the presumption in parole hearings more toward release.
“We need legislative change so that parole board commissioners are looking at the person and who they are now, rather than blanket denials from the parole board,” said Katie Schaffer, director of advocacy and organization for the Center for Community Alternatives.
“We need to continue to fight for the victims of violent crimes and create laws that help protect them, not make it more difficult for them to get on with their lives.” — Will Barclay, Assembly Minority Leader
“It’s not a matter of just putting a more diverse group of commissioners, because that doesn’t mean that they have the value orientation to release people, regardless of race. Having Black people in and of itself on the parole board isn’t going to change a culture.” — Carol Shapiro, a criminal justice activist