Reports, Research, Policy Papers & Statements on Aging in Prison
For reports published before 2018, click HERE
“No Time To Wait: Decarceration, COVID, and Public Health”
April 2, 2021: RAPP Public Health Advisory Group
“Unlocking Billions: A Fiscal Analysis of Pending Justice Reforms in New York State”
March 10, 2021: The Center for Justice at Columbia University
“NY Doctors: Open Letter to Gov. Cuomo for COVID-19 Vaccine Access in Prisons and Jails”
February 24, 2021: Hundreds of NYS Doctors and Organizations
“No End In Sight: America’s Enduring Reliance on Life Imprisonment”
February 17, 2021: Ashley Nellis, The Sentencing Project
“NYC Public Defender Legislative Priorities for Criminal Legal System Reform”
December 16, 2020: Six Public Defender Organizations
“Statement from the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus on the COVID-19 Risk in New York Prisons”
November 25, 2020: Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Caucus of the NYS Legislature
“Open Letter to the Hon. Gov. Andrew Cuomo from Nobel Peace Laureates and world humanitarian and religious leaders urging clemency for David Gilbert and other incarcerated elders”
November, 2020: 45 international and US humanitarian and religious leaders
“Decarcerating Correctional Facilities During COVID-19: Advancing Health, Equity, and Safety”
October 19, 2020: National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
“The Missing Chapter: Governor Cuomo’s Failure to Protect Incarcerated New Yorkers from COVID-19”
October 12, 2020: Release Aging People in Prison
“Letter to Governor Cuomo: Use Your Executive Clemency Power to Release Aging People From NYS Prisons”
September 28, 2020: Eight Candidates for District Attorney of New York County
“Unlock the Box: The Centers for Disease Control must recommend decarceration and an end to solitary confinement as responses to COVID-19 pandemic”
September 24, 2020: More than 100 national organizations
“Joint Statement in Support of NYS Parole Board’s Decision to Release Jalil Muntaqim”
September 23, 2020: Release Aging People in Prison Campaign, Parole Preparation Project, Brooklyn Defenders Service, and the Legal Aid Society
“Testimony and Recommendations of Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP and Parole Preparation Project (PPP) to the NYS Senate Hearing on COVID-19 in Prisons and Jails”
September 22, 2020: RAPP and PPP
“A Matter of Time: The Causes and Consequences of Rising Time Served in America’s Prisons”
September 14, 2020: The Urban Institute
“Movement For Black Lives Statement, ‘Attica Is Now!'”
September 13, 2020: Monifa Bandele, Policy Table Leader, Movement For Black Lives
“Embracing Clemency: How governors can liberate thousands of people from state prisons”
August 5, 2020: The Redemption Campaign, ACLU Smart Justice
“Letter to Gov. Cuomo and NYS Legislative Leadership Opposing Plan to Make a Prison Nursing Home in Adirondack”
June 25, 2020: RAPP and 75 other organizations, institutions and associations
“Failing Grades: States’ Responses to COVID-19 in Jails and Prisons”
June 25, 2020: Emily Widra and Dylan Hayre, Prison Policy Initiative (NYS gets an F+)
“Open Letter to NYS Legislature: Address Racist State Violence of Prisons and Policing”
June 5, 2020: 176 NYS Organizations
“Candidates Tell NYS Legislative Leaders: Save The Lives of People in Prison Vulnerable to COVID-19”
May 28, 2020: Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas and other candidates for NYS Legislature
“NY Congressional Delegation Letter Urges Gov. Cuomo to Release More Incarcerated NY’ers”
May 22, 2020: US Rep. Jerold Nadler et al
“Why New York Needs Elder Parole to Combat COVID-19 Behind Bars”
May 21, 2020: Release Aging People in Prison, Parole Preparation Project, HALT Solitary, FWD.us and other advocates
“COVID-19 in NYS Prisons: Solutions”
May 5, 2020: RAPP, Parole Preparation Project, FWD.us and other advocates
“COVID-19 in NYS Prisons: Facts v. Myths:
May 5, 2020: RAPP, Parole Preparation Project, FWD.us and other advocates
“COVID-19 in NYS Prisons: The Truth About What Gov. Cuomo Has/Has Not Done”
May 5, 2020: RAPP, Parole Preparation Project, FWD.us and other advocates
“47 New York Senators and Assembly Members Call on Gov. Cuomo to Grant #ClemencyNow and #StopTheSpread of COVID-19 in New York’s 52 State Prisons”
May 1, 2020: Assembly Member/Majority Speaker Crystal Peoples-Stokes and 46 other NYS legislators
“Understanding Violent Crime-Recidivism”
May, 2020: J.J. Prescott, Benjamin Pyle, and Sonja B. Starr, Notre Dame Law Review Vol. 95, No. 4
“Averting an Imminent Catastrophe: Recommendations to US Local, State and Federal Officials to Covid-19 in Jails and Prisons”
April 29, 2020: Human Rights Watch
“Columbia University Faculty to Gov. Cuomo: Release Elderly and Infirm People from NYS Prisons”
April 21, 2020: Columbia University in the City of New York
“Recommendations to NYS Parole Board for action on COVID-19”
April 20, 2020: 27 Legal and Advocacy Institutions and Organizations
“New York Can—And Must—Lead to Protect People in Prison”
April, 2020: Vera Institute of Justice
“CARE Taskforce of the New York City Council to Gov. Cuomo: Release Incarcerated Individuals 55 and Older Or Who Have Underlying Conditions”
April 15, 2020: Member Organizations, NYC CARE (Compassion and Assistance for Returning Elders) Task Force
“Law Enforcement Action Partnership proposes Gov. Cuomo Issue This Executive Order “
April 10, 2020: Law Enforcement Action Partnership
“CDC Emergency Call to Action—Explicitly Include Decarceration and Expanded Access to Healthcare to Curb COVID-19 Impact in U.S. Jails, Prisons, and Detention Facilities”
April 9, 2020: Drug Policy Alliance and hundreds of individuals and organizations
“Gov. Cuomo: Grant Clemencies to Older New Yorkers in Prison Who Are Vulnerable to Coronavirus”
April, 2020: Columbia University School of Social Work and 250 social workers (list open for additional names)
“Brennan Center for Justice Letter to Governors re: COVID-19 and Governors’ Executive Authority to Release Vulnerable People Who Pose No Risk to Public Safety from Incarceration
April 6, 2020: Lauren Brooke-Eisen, Ames Grawert, and Taryn Merkl, Brennan Center for Justice
“Faith Leaders Letter to Gov. Cuomo Urging Clemency in COVID-19 Crisis”
April 6, 2020: New York Theological Seminary
“Letter to Gov. Cuomo from Legal Professionals”
April 3, 2020: 16 organizations
“150 Public Health Professionals Urge Gov. Cuomo to Release Elders, Others Vulnerable to COVID-19”
April 2, 2020: Released by RAPP
“Reforms without Results: Why states should stop excluding violent offenses from criminal justice reforms”
April, 2020: Alexi Jones, Prison Policy Initiative
“Legal Aid Society Demands Release of Vulnerable Incarcerated People”
March 30, 2020: The Legal Aid Society Criminal Defense
“Brennan Center for Justice Letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo re: COVID-19 Clemency Power
March 30, 2020: Lauren Brooke-Eisen, Ames Grawert, and Taryn Merkl, Brennan Center for Justice
“Commute Federal Prison Sentences for Populations Most Vulnerable to Coronavirus”
March 24, 2020: The Sentencing Project, ACLU, Justice Roundtable, We Got Us Now, Justice Action Network, FreedomWorks, R Street, Leadership Conference, Due Process Institute
“Appeal to Governor Andrew M. Cuomo”
March 20, 2020: 13 Leaders of NYS Prison Reentry Services and Programs
“Movement for Black Lives Policy Demands for COVID-19”
March, 2020: M4BL
“Mortality in State and Federal Prisons, 2001-2016 – Statistical Tables”
February 2020: E. Ann Carson and Mary P. Cowhig, U.S. DOJ Bureau of Justice Statistics
“Virtual Life Sentences”
August 29, 2019: The Sentencing Project
“Levers of Change in Parole Release and Revocation”
May 2019: Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice
“The Next Step: Ending Excessive Punishment for Violent Crimes”
April 2, 2019: Nazgol Ghandnoosh, The Sentencing Project
“Failure should not be an option: Grading the parole systems of all 50 states”
February 26, 2019: Jorge Renaud, Prison Policy Initiative (spoiler alert: NYS gets a D-)
RAPP Testimony to NYS Legislature’s 2019 Public Protection Budget Hearing
January 29, 2019: Jose Saldana and David George, Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP
Sentencing Project Testimony to NYS Legislature’s 2019 Public Protection Budget Hearing
January 29, 2019: Nicole D. Porter, The Sentencing Project
“Parole Reform White Paper”
December 29, 2018: Sarah Aagard, Rosalind Dillon, Joseph Dole, and Raul Dorado, Parole Illinois
“The Ungers, 5 Years and Counting: A Case Study in Safely Reducing Long Prison Terms and Saving Taxpayer Dollars”
November, 2018: Justice Policy Institute
“Eight Keys to Mercy: How to shorten excessive prison sentences”
November, 2018: Jorge Renaud, Prison Policy Initiative
“Reimagining Prison”
October, 2018: Ruth Delaney, Ram Subramanian, Alison Shames, Nicholas Turner, The Vera Institute
“New York State Parole Board: Failures in Staffing and Performance”
August, 2018: The Parole Preparation Project and the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign
“State Medical and Geriatric Parole Laws”
August, 2018: National Conference of State Legislatures
“Ending Perpetual Punishment: The case for commutations for people in Michigan prisons”
August, 2018: American Friends Service Committee
“Modernizing Parole Statutes: Guidance from Evidence-Based Practices”
August 3, 2018: Catherine C. McVey, Edward E. Rhine, & Carl V. Reynolds, The Robina Institute
“Everywhere and Nowhere: Compassionate Release in the States”
June, 2018: Mary Price, Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM)
“The Health of America’s Aging Prison Population”
June 1, 2018: Skarupski, Gross, Schrack, Deal, and Eber, Epidemiology Review (Abstract; full text to be released June 1, 2019)
“2018 Update on Prisoner Recidivism: A 9-Year Follow-Up Period (2005-2014)”
May, 2018: Mariel Alper and Matthew Durose, U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Stastistics
“Extraordinary and Compelling: The Use of Compassionate Release Laws in the United States”
May, 2018: Lindsey Wylie, Alexis Knutson, and Edie Greene for the American Psychological Association, Psychology, Public Policy, and Law
“Against Life Without Parole”
May, 2018: Judith Lichtenberg, Washington University Jurisprudence Review
“The High Costs of Low Risk: The Crisis of America’s Aging Prison Population” (new edition)
April, 2018: Elizabeth Gaynes, Tanya Krupat, David George, and Colin Bernatsky, for The Osborne Association
“A Question of Compassion: Medical Parole in New York State”
April, 2018: Rebecca Silber, Léon Digard, Tina Maschi, Brie Williams, and Jessi LaChance for The Vera Institute of Justice
RAPP Testimony to New York State Joint Legislative Hearing on the 2018 Budget
and the Executive Summary
“Prisoners in 2016”
January, 2018: E. Ann Carson, BJS Statistician, U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics