Pol: Give older convicts break
New effort after Brinks woman’s case
ALBANY — The parole of Judith Clark has prompted a new push to make older inmates in the state eligible for release from prison.
Sen. Brad Hoylman (DManhattan) introduced legislation earlier this month that would make prisoners who have served 15 consecutive years behind bars eligible for parole once they reach 55. The bill wouldn’t mandate an inmate’s release, but would allow the state parole board to evaluate whether an older prisoner should be released.
Hoylman’s bill came a week before parole was granted Wednesday to 69year-old Clark, who served more than 37 years for her role as the getaway driver in a 1981 armored truck robbery in Rockland County that left two police officers and a security guard dead. Clark was initially sentenced to 75 years in prison.
Advocates had long called for her release and Gov. Cuomo commuted her sentence in 2016, making her eligible for parole.
“There are many more Judith Clarks out there—elder, incarcerated New Yorkers who have honestly confronted their crimes, taken responsibility, served their time, and worked to change the path of their lives,” Hoylman said. “Now we must work for their freedom, too.”
Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Queens) is sponsoring the bill in his chamber.
The bill still needs to make it through committees in both the Senate and Assembly before lawmakers can bring it to a vote. Previous incarnations of the legislation failed to go anywhere with Republicans in control of the Senate. But the Democratic majority now has the chance to buck opposition from police unions and conservatives and pass the measure.
Jose Saldana, a former inmate who now runs the Release Aging People in Prison campaign, believes the passage of the bill would have a positive impact not only on the lives of those who could potentially be released, but on the communities they would return to.
“It would impact hundreds of elderly incarcerated men and women, my friends, who have become mentors and educators to countless people they’ve been incarcerated with,” Saldana told the Daily News. “They’re beyond rehabilitation. These guys have been an asset to every facility they’ve been in. They would be an even greater asset to their own communities out here.”
A 2017 report by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli found that while New York’s prison population is decreasing, the number of incarcerated people age 50 and over rose 46% from 2007 to 2016.
DiNapoli found that overall, health care costs rose to over $380 million in 2016, an increase of $64.5 million, or 20.4%, over the course of three years.