By: Chris Gelardi and Sam Mellins, New York Focus
This time last year, Hochul promised to fully staff the parole board. But vacancies have only grown — and went unmentioned in this year’s agenda.
FOR HER ANNUAL State of the State address on Tuesday, Governor Kathy Hochul outlined nearly 150 policy priorities, on topics ranging from housing construction to health care to climate adaptation to bail. But she omitted at least one notable subject: the New York State Board of Parole.
As part of her first State of the State last year, Hochul promised to fully staff the parole board, which was at that point down four members from its maximum of 19. It was one of the many ways she hoped to signal a departure from her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, who left the board chronically understaffed. But a year after Hochul’s promise, the board has lost staff, going from four vacancies to five.
Advocates who work with incarcerated people say that a fully staffed board is critical to a functioning parole system.