Rally cry: Jail, sure, but not death

LIFE SENTENCES should be reserved for horrendous criminals, not people who are too old to be a risk to the public, reform activists said Tuesday.

“Far too many people languish in despair and are dying in our state prison systems in all of our names,” said Dave George, associate director of the advocacy group Release Aging People in Prison.

George was leading a rally of former inmates and prison reform advocates outside Gov. Cuomo’s Manhattan office.

“We are standing here . . . because we lay so much of the responsibility on his doorstep,” George said.

Since Cuomo has been in office, 961 people have died in prison in a state that abolished the death penalty in 2007.

Cuomo has backed a “geriatric parole program” for prisoners 55 and older, but the advocacy group is calling for swifter action in Albany.

George said his organization supports legislation that would release prisoners after the minimum span of their term is up.

He backed the Parole Board decision to release 70-year-old cop killer Herman Bell in April, which Mayor de Blasio and the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association opposed.