geriatric parole

October 21, 2018

Parolees Deserve Justice: Stop Villifying Formerly Incarcerated People to Get Votes

by Nora Carroll and Dave George, Albany Times Union, October 20, 2018:

State Sen. Patrick Gallivan recently chaired “public” hearings on New York State Parole Board policies and procedures, and on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order that makes people on parole eligible to vote in this year’s elections.

Gallivan, R-Elma, and many of his Republican colleagues contend the governor’s restoration of voting rights is unconstitutional and endangers public safety, and that the Board of Parole has granted parole release to increasing numbers of “high risk” people.

These contentions are not only false, but also a clearly partisan attempt to incite race-based close to the mid-term elections.

Republicans’ objections to people on parole voting offer another example of their desire to limit rather than expand the fundamental core of democratic participation. They also promote a long-legacy of racism that vilifies currently and formerly incarcerated people for the purposes of inciting racist fear among voters.

The remote possibility (because there have been no reported incidents) of a newly-enfranchised parolee committing some crime at a polling place like a school is nothing but a dog whistle. It’s a desperate Willie Horton-esque move by Republican leaders to generate race-based fear before an important election.

It’s undeniable that proportionately more black people and people of color, especially black men, are in prison. This overrepresentation in the criminal legal system is precisely why issues like clemency, felony enfranchisement, and parole justice are racial justice issues, and why trying to disempower people on parole from participating in electoral politics is plainly racist.

The other imaginary menace postulated by many Senate Republicans is the Parole Board’s release of people they deem dangerous or irredeemable. Their hearings purported to examine the standards the Board of Parole uses and whether they are complying with them, as though the Board of Parole has suddenly unlocked the gates and released everyone who appears before them. This is hardly the case. The truth is, while the board’s release rates have incrementally ticked upward over the last year, the majority of parole applicants are still denied parole. That most people appealing for their freedom continue to be denied it for years and decades is the real injustice that Senate Republicans and all New Yorkers should focus on. But that’s unlikely, because for Gallivan and his colleagues these hearings were never about the well-being of New Yorkers or public safety.

The real beef that Republican Senators have is not with the executive branch or the Board of Parole, it’s with their own legislative branch. The people who are interviewed by the Board of Parole are those who were sentenced by judges to parole-eligible sentences. It is the Legislature that determines the sentences for all criminal offenses, not the Parole Board. Therefore, when Gallivan and others opine that someone convicted of murdering a police officer should never be released from prison, they are effectively telling the Parole Board to defy the very laws that they, the Legislature, created. It would be unlawful for the Board of Parole to decline to review someone’s case just because of their crime.

This comes with great irony given that Gallivan’s career as a sheriff, Parole Board commissioner and now legislator has supposedly been about upholding, enforcing and literally making the law.

Further, the “no parole for cop killers” philosophy is troubling when subjected to the most minimal scrutiny. It suggests a greater value should be placed on the lives of law enforcement officers than the rest of us. It denies the reality of redemption and rehabilitation that is so apparent to most people who have even the most minimal experience with prison populations, whether as a convicted person or service provider, attorney, chaplain or prison volunteer. It rejects scientific evidence-based approaches to reducing epic levels of incarceration by releasing those who post the lowest risk: older people convicted of violent crimes. Finally, and perhaps most troubling, this philosophy centers and celebrates the retributive, punitive function of the criminal legal system by embracing life-without-parole sentences, also known as “death by incarceration.”

The motivations of Gallivan and other Senate Republicans are clear in our current political context. With the dissolution of the Independent Democratic Conference and the and recent electoral defeat of six former IDC senators, Republicans are on the verge of losing control of the Senate. Their response is to attempt to drum up and animate the white part of their base that is fearful of those they do not know or understand: black and brown people and the formerly incarcerated.

White voters shouldn’t take the bait and let Republicans succeed, let alone get away with this age-old political strategy. What should be exposed are the injustices facing people in prison and their families. Republican Senators should hear loud and clear that New Yorkers want and demand parole justice, not race-baiting politics.

Nora Carroll is co-director of the Parole Preparation Project. Dave George is associate director of the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign.

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February 20, 2018

The Missing Piece to End Mass Incarceration in New York

On February 12, the New York State Assembly announced a Criminal Justice Reform Package with some meaningful changes to New York’s criminal legal system on bail, discovery, speedy trial, and solitary confinement—important steps toward undoing the far-reaching damage of mass incarceration.

But a major element was missing: No bills on parole and elder release were included in the package. Mass incarceration in New York will never end unless the legislature and the governor initiate changes that get at the heart of the problem—the persistence of a racist culture of revenge and permanent punishment that keeps people in prison without meaningful access to release. Increasing parole releases, especially of older people who have served long terms for violent crimes, would be a step in this direction.

That may sound unlikely given that the prison population soared because politicians found it easy and popular to act “tough on crime.” The starting point? Increase punishment by pointing to people convicted of the most serious offenses—especially the crimes that make headlines. But now, we need policy makers to understand that what got us here won’t get us out.

To end mass incarceration, the legislature, the parole board, and the governor will need to end the cycle of permanent punishment. Releasing people who have spent decades in prison for a violent crime committed years ago, who have engaged in meaningful transformation and now pose minimal risk to public safety, would be a safe, cost-effective way to begin this process.

Here are some ways RAPP is urging them to do exactly that:

“Geriatric Parole:” Governor Cuomo has proposed legislation to expand New York’s medical parole program for incarcerated older people, instituting a medical parole plan for people age 55 and older with debilitating health conditions.

But the plan excludes some people based solely on the crime of conviction, such as anyone convicted of first-degree murder, no matter how ill or debilitated—and no matter how low the risk they pose to public safety. Engaging in a serious crime at a young age does not make an incapacitated elder a current threat to public safety. In fact, evidence shows that long-incarcerated elders convicted of murder actually pose the very lowest risk to public safety: in contrast to recidivism rates that generally hover in the 40% range, people in this group return to prison at rates around 1% and lower.

The governor’s exclusions should also make us question whether we want our society to deny compassion to whole sectors of people, guaranteeing that they will die in prison.

RAPP urges the governor and the legislature to strengthen the “geriatric parole” proposal by removing all restrictions based on crime of conviction, along with other language that allows the Parole Board to deny applicants solely because of the nature of the crime. The bill should also be strengthened to ensure that the medical criterion for eligibility is an individual’s ability to provide “self-care,” not “self-ambulation.” Finally, mechanisms that trigger and speed up the otherwise slow-moving certification process and ensure public transparency should be strengthened as well.

“If the Risk is Low, Let them Go”

The governor’s plan will shift rather than cut spending, especially as states, confronted with the Trump administration’s economic plans, will be forced to shoulder a larger proportion of spending on Medicaid and other public health costs.

What would truly save money—and promote public safety—would be real elder parole: a plan that presumptively releases people who have served more than their minimum terms and whose present—not past—behavior show that they pose little if any risk to public safety. Older people should be released before they are ill and dying, when they can still contribute to their families and communities. We urge the Assembly to pass A.7546, which ensures that an individual’s current risk to public safety determines parole release. Additionally, older people not otherwise eligible for parole should be given a “second look” and considered for parole at age 55 after serving at least 15 consecutive years in prison.

With older people now making up 21 percent of people in New York State prisons—10,337 total people, a number more than twice what it was in 2000— a bolder and more evidence-based proposal for elder parole should be the governor’s choice. Such a proposal will require Governor Cuomo to exercise political will and would make New York a true national leader in the struggle to end mass incarceration.

To get involved, check our events page or email nyrappcampaign@gmail.com

January 28, 2018

Former Commissioner: “Let Common Sense in, Let the Aging Out”

By Barbara Treen, Retired NY Board of Parole Commissioner •

The disgrace of mass incarceration in the United States continues to be critically commented upon by academics, analysts, criminologist, practitioners, and providers. Still, with all the condemnation and forward-thinking formulas that would lead to warehousing fewer people, nothing has changed for the aged locked in by parole denials. I have a ‘best practice’ to suggest that would surely make a difference: common sense!

After a career in criminal justice, I am now a retiree of 12 years as a commissioner on the New York Parole Board. I now am an advocate for the aging and long-term incarcerated. I follow the promises and the politics, the conferences announcing reform (bail, drug treatment, modifying stop-and-frisk) at the front door to prison, while the appeals to denials at the back door pile up in the office of the Parole Board’s counsel.

The new solutions are suggested in the language of regulations, guidelines, and policies attempting to legally employ humanity and change our culture of punishment. What about gut instinct? What would it take to convince the Board that an incarcerated person devoured by dementia, who can’t walk straight, should be released? What does it take to figure out that a crime committed by an 18-year-old should not stick to the transformed 62-year-old? What does it take to release an applicant meeting the board twenty or more years beyond what the court prescribed?

While decision-making has been shored up by guardrails, human behavior occurs through feelings. And this ingredient is what this Board needs to allow in their deliberations—and to recognize in others.

I realize that emotional decision-making is not professional and can go either way. But there is room within the guidelines and the written word to articulate what rules don’t spell out: sincerity, transformation, time, physical condition, or on the other hand suggestions of public risk. Is this not why we have people doing this job rather than computers tallying the score? And this is why we should abandon decisions made by camera rather than personal appearances. When I was on the Board and sitting at a business meeting, a most conservative colleague stood up and declared that we all used gut instinct as part of our reasoning (surely he believed that we were all behavioralists and not cops). There was a gasp followed by silence in the room. This was heresy and this was never spoken about again…until now. Intuition is compatible with legalese; let in common sense and begin letting out the aging.

Barbara Hanson Treen, Comm (ret)
Author of “Geranium Justice” January 27, 2018

Note: a version of this article later appeared in the Albany Times-Union as “Let common sense in and let aged prisoners out,” January 31, 2018

January 11, 2018

Governor Cuomo Proposes “Geriatric Parole.” RAPP Responds.

The Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP Campaign believes that Governor Cuomo’s calls to reform New York’s criminal legal system are only a baby step in the right direction. While we acknowledge his proposal to expand medical parole for incarcerated older people with debilitating health conditions (his “geriatric parole” bill), his proposal has serious flaws. Medical parole is a rarely used, limited, and at times exclusionary program that has led far too many people who pose no risk to public safety to die in prison of illnesses that could otherwise be adequately and safely cared for in the community. The governor’s bill still excludes whole groups of incarcerated people only because of the crime for which they were convicted. While we hope that the governor’s proposal promotes the release of more older people, including those with chronic, hard-to-manage conditions, and is a catalyst for the expanded use of medical parole for all eligible people, it must be amended if it is to be truly effective—and just.

In addition, the governor’s proposal only affects sick people. While some incarcerated older people are sick, many others aren’t. Their wellness should not limit opportunities for release. Older people should not have to become ill in order to be considered worthy of returning home. People should be able to come home before they’re stricken with a debilitating illness. As the crisis of older people in prison continues to worsen and the population of older people has reached an all-time high of 10,337 people—more than 20 percent of the entire state prison population—much more is needed to end the mass incarceration of older people in New York.

RAPP believes that the Parole Board should presumptively release all parole-eligible older people, unless there is clear evidence that they pose a current risk to public safety. If the Parole Board is unwilling to do this on their own, then the governor and legislature should legislate this change. That is why we support and urge the legislature to pass Assembly Bill A7546, which would ensure that people who pose little if any risk to public safety be released on parole.

We also believe that older people who are not parole-eligible, serving prison terms that amount to death sentences, should be given a “second look”—an opportunity for parole consideration. Such sentences were draconian and flawed to begin with, and pose no benefits to public safety.So we urge the passage of an assembly bill that would give people who are 55 or older and have served at least 15 years a shot at parole.

RAPP’s priorities require political will from the governor and all branches of state government across the political spectrum. We hope that he listens to the statewide community of formerly incarcerated leaders, families, and concerned New Yorkers who seek peace and justice. Taking meaningful and expanded action to release older people in prison will prevent death, despair, aging, and illness behind bars, and under Governor Cuomo’s leadership, make New York a true leader in the struggle to end mass incarceration.

Cover photo by RAPP member Dan Rous

Join us to push for release of older people from New York prisons—a big step towards ending mass incarceration. See RAPPCampaign.com/about and RAPPCampaign.com/events for ways to get with us. Follow us on Twitter: @RAPPCampaign

Parolees Deserve Justice: Stop Villifying Formerly Incarcerated People to Get Votes

The Missing Piece to End Mass Incarceration in New York

Former Commissioner: “Let Common Sense in, Let the Aging Out”

Governor Cuomo Proposes “Geriatric Parole.” RAPP Responds.

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