N.Y.’s parole reform imperative
Earlier this summer, just before the upheaval in Albany, state lawmakers achieved a years-in-the-making legislative victory by passing a comprehensive overhaul of New York’s notoriously retrograde parole system. During the administration of former Gov. Cuomo, the ultimate fate of the bill, known as the Less Is More Act, was unclear. Now, Gov. Hochul can instantly forge her legacy as a justice reformer — and drastically reduce unnecessary incarceration and racial disparities in the justice system — with the stroke of a pen.
As the serving Manhattan district attorney and the current Democratic nominee for the same office, we are joining together for the first time to ask Hochul to sign this bill because we both believe in a fundamental truth: While incarceration has a role to play in public safety, we must reduce its use, especially for people accused of low-level, nonviolent conduct. In those instances, jail is often counterproductive and actually undermines public safety by destabilizing people who are already struggling. Locking people up for breaking parole rules is just such an example.
New York State incarcerates more people for parole rules violations than anywhere else in the country. Yet there is no evidence that locking people up for missing appointments with a parole officer, failing to report a change of address, testing positive for drugs or alcohol or being late for curfew helps public safety.
Red states like Louisiana, South Carolina and Alaska have pioneered parole reforms to address similar shortcomings — with strong results. These states saved money, reduced incarceration, and found that recidivism either dropped or stayed flat. Now it is time for New York to build on the best of these policies.
Unnecessary incarceration wipes away the progress that a person has made after serving their time and returning home to our communities — like finding a job and a place to live, and reconnecting with family. Taking away those keys to stability and success significantly increases the likelihood of recidivism.
Current state policy also has a vastly disproportionate racial impact. Black New Yorkers are 12 times more likely to be sent to Rikers Island for an alleged parole violation than white New Yorkers. This in turn unduly harms their children and families, not to mention making it that much harder to close that increasingly hellish jail complex.
Parole exists to help people safely return from prison and reintegrate into our communities. But the reality is New York State, parole officers have unmanageable caseloads, preventing them from spending sufficient time with each person under their supervision. The resources people returning home from prison need — housing, jobs and educational opportunities, access to adequate mental and physical health care, drug treatment — are all in short supply.
When a person is accused of a parole violation, they are automatically sent to a local jail while the alleged violation is resolved. In New York City, this process takes 63 days on average. In other words, more than two months in the notorious jails on Rikers. Most of the time, at the end of the process, the person is sent right back home — but now without a job, housing, a spot in school and more.
This misguided system costs state and local taxpayers more than $680 million per year, including in excess of $270 million here in New York City. This shocking waste of money should be spent on helping people succeed rather than incarcerating them.
The Less is More Act, which was sponsored by new Lieutenant Gov. Brian Benjamin, can rectify all this. It would encourage good behavior by allowing people on parole to earn time credits for every month they adhere to parole rules. Rather than automatic incarceration, people would receive a hearing before a judge before they could be locked up, just like people charged with new criminal offenses. Less Is More would limit incarceration for certain types of technical violations and cap penalties for others.
People who violate the rules will still have proportionate, targeted consequences, such as being mandated to receive treatment, having more strict supervision and being denied time credits. But jail will be reserved for more serious, repeated violations.
Critically, prosecutors will still be able to use every existing tool to combat new crimes committed by people on parole. However, by lowering parole officer caseloads, reducing racial disparities and saving hundreds of millions that can be invested in services and support for people on parole, Less Is More offers the chance to do a better job heading off those crimes in the first place.
With our new governor’s signature on Less Is More, New York can go from worst-in-the-nation on parole to once again leading our country on smart criminal justice policy.