Hearings on parole scheduled
Senate GOP questions Cuomo decisions it says endanger voters
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s parole policies and conditional pardons will be the subject of two hearings in October convened by state Senate Republicans.
The senate’s committees on crime and elections will hear testimony on recent state parole decisions and the restoration of voting rights to more than 24,000 parolees. Senate Republicans have argued the state parole board has shown “leniency” to cop killers, sex offenders and violent felons and that the governor’s conditional pardons jeopardize the safety of people trying to vote.
The first hearing is scheduled for noon on Oct. 1 in Albany at the Legislative Office Building. The second is planned for 11 a.m. on Oct. 2 in Hicksville on Long Island at the William P. Bennett Hicksville Community Center.
“I am troubled by the Parole Board’s apparent disregard for the law-abiding citizens it is supposed to serve,” Sen. Patrick Gallivan, the chair of the senate’s crime committee, said in a statement in August.
“The seeming automatic release of cop killers, sex offenders and violent felons is unacceptable. Further, thousands of criminals who have yet to fulfill their debt to society have had rights restored by the governor through a questionable process,” he said. “It is time to get answers.”
When the plan to hold hearings was announced, Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan also shared his deep concerns about parolees who received conditional pardons voting in schools.
It’s unclear whether the Senate’s examination of the parole system and Cuomo’s increasing use of pardons will also examine the governor’s decision to keep secret the names of some of those who have received conditional “youth pardons.” Cuomo began issuing youth pardons last year as part of a program he created without authorization from the Legislature.
The governor’s expanding use of pardons — he issued none during his first two years in office — peaked in 2016, when he granted 113 clemencies, including 101 conditional youth pardons.
Initially, the governor’s office declined to release the names of all the immigrants who received pardons, but eventually turned them over to the Times Union. Cuomo’s aides had privately expressed concern the immigrants who received pardons might be targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if their names were published, although there’s no indication that took place.
The number of immigrants who received pardons last year from Cuomo was unprecedented, and came amid tighter federal scrutiny of immigration violations under the administration of President Donald Trump.
The Times Union’s ongoing effort to obtain Cuomo’s records on his pardons is focused on 39 people who were given conditional pardons for convictions the governor’s office described as “misdemeanors and nonviolent crimes (committed) when they were 16 or 17 years old.”
The 39 people were prosecuted as adults and had not been granted youthful-offender status, which would have resulted in their criminal records being sealed by a court. The pardons were issued a year after Cuomo had granted similar pardons to 101 adults who had committed crimes as teenagers. Those names also were not released by the administration.
David.lombardo@timesunion.com 518-454-5427 @poozer87