Advocates: Fully staff parole board

Advocates on Thursday rallied outside Gov. Cuomo’s city office to demand he fully staff the Parole Board, arguing that inmates are being denied fair chances at redemption.

The state’s Parole Board has been understaffed for the entirety of Cuomo’s administration and currently has 12 commissioners out of 19. That means that inmates anxiously anticipating a shot at freedom sometimes appear before a two-person panel instead of the usual three. A split decision means the prisoner remains locked up until the next parole hearing.

Lawrence Bartley, a former inmate, was one of dozens of people who gathered outside Cuomo’s Midtown office. He said he was locked up when he was 17 and was a changed man by his early 20s. But he waited another 20 years to get a parole hearing — only to have his case heard by two commissioners.

“When I finally got the opportunity to go in front of a parole board, there was only two members there. I thought it would be three…it was a split decision. If there was three people there, maybe it wouldn’t have been a split decision,” he said.

The Daily News has previously reported on allegations that certain commissioners appear openly biased and unprepared during hearings. The News also exclusively reported on a bizarre system in which commissioners conduct parole hearings via video while still traveling around the state.

“Do we believe that if someone is incarcerated, that they should remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life? Do we believe that if someone who has committed a crime, has been found guilty of that crime, and goes inside to pay for their sins, that they should never again see the light of day outside of prison?” State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (D-Bronx) said.

A spokesman for the governor said Cuomo had filled the board’s absences at the same speed as prior administrations.