DEATH BY INCARCERATION IS TORTURE • Advocacy and Legal Groups Urge U.N. to Call for Abolition of Life Sentences in U.S.
September 15, 2022: Dozens of organizations across the United States submitted a complaint to United Nations independent experts challenging the United States’ policy and practice of condemning people to death by incarceration (DBI), also known as life sentences. Over 40 people currently serving DBI submitted letters in support of the complaint.
Nothing But Time: Elderly Americans Serving Life Without Parole
June 23, 2022: Ashley Nellis, Ph.D., The Sentencing Project
Kathy Boudin: A Great Life and a Great Loss
Celebrating the life and mourning the loss of our co-founder and co-director Kathy Boudin
May 2, 2022: Columbia University Center for Justice
NEW YORK STATE LEADERS: NO ROLLBACKS TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORMS!
Letter from civil rights, criminal justice reform, democracy, and philanthropic leaders and organizations to Governor Hochul, Lieutenant Governor Benjamin, and legislative leaders
Resolution: Manhattan Community Board Six Supports NY State Senate Bill S15A for Elder Parole
The Elder Parole Bill affords a parole hearing to any incarcerated person after age 55 who has served 15 years in prison
February 16, 2022: Manhattan Community Board Six
Resolution: Manhattan Community Board Six Supports NY State Senate Bill S7514 for Fair and Timely Parole
The Fair and Timely Parole Bill directs that parole be granted unless the inmate presents a current and unreasonable risk or such risk cannot be mitigated by parole supervision
February 16, 2022: Manhattan Community Board Six
RAPP Testimony for FY 2022-23 Joint Legislative Hearing on the Executive Public Protection Budget Proposal
“The crisis of mass incarceration is at a boiling point, with people dying in New York’s prisons once every three days on average. In fact, a recent report from Columbia University found more people have died in our state’s prisons in the last 10 years than the total number of people executed during the more than 350 years in which New York applied the death penalty….”
January 25, 2022: Theresa Grady, Jeannie Colon, Lisette Nieves and Nawanna Tucker, RAPP Community Leaders
Elderly, Detained, and Justice-Involved: The Most Incarcerated Generation
Winter, 2022, Rachael Bedard, Joshua Vaughn, and Angela Silletti Murolo, The City University of New York Law Review (Vol. 25, No. 1)
New York State’s Aging Prison Population: Share of Older Adults Keeps Rising
“In the months ahead, policy makers should carefully examine opportunities to reduce the population of incarcerated individuals age 50 and above.“
January, 2022: NY State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli
Toward a Fairer Parole Process
“New York State’s parole-review process must focus on who people are at the time of the interview and whether they pose a current and clear public safety risk. If petitioners do not present such a risk, they should be released.”
December 2021, Vera Institute of Justice
New York State’s New Death Penalty: The Death Toll of Mass Incarceration in a Post-Execution Era
October 2021: Center for Justice at Columbia University
The Problem With Parole: New York State’s Failing System of Release
June 2021: NYU Center on Race, Inequality and the Law and Parole Preparation Project
A Second Look at Injustice
May 12, 2021: Nazgol Ghandnoosh, PhD, The Sentencing Project
Faith Leaders on Long Island to NYS Senators: Pass Elder Parole and Fair and Timely Parole
May 6, 2021: 43 Long Island Faith Community Leaders and Institutions
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
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
“U.S. Representative Pressley, Congressional Colleagues Call on Baker, Cuomo and Other Governors to Decarcerate Amid Rising COVID-19 Infections and Deaths in State Correctional Facilities”
May 5, 2020: Ayanna Pressley, Cory Booker, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jan Schakowsky, Barbara Lee, Nydia M. Velázquez, Karen Bass.
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
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
Reimagining Prison
October, 2018: Ruth Delaney, Ram Subramanian, Alison Shames, Nicholas Turner, The Vera Institute
State Medical and Geriatric Parole Laws
August 27, 2018: National Conference of State Legislatures
Ending Perpetual Punishment: The case for commutations for people in Michigan prisons
August, 2018: American Friends Service Committee
New York State Parole Board: Failures in Staffing and Performance
August, 2018: The Parole Preparation Project and the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign
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 (Abstract)
June 1, 2018: Skarupski, Gross, Schrack, Deal, and Eber, Epidemiology Review (Abstract; full text to be released June 1, 2019)
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 Cost of Low Risk
May, 2018: Elizabeth Gaynes, Tanya Krupat, David George, and Colin Bernatsky, for The Osborne Association
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
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
Prisoners in 2016
January, 2018: E. Ann Carson, BJS Statistician, U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics
Aging Out: Using Compassionate Release to Address the Growth of Aging and Infirm Prison Populations
December, 2017: Rebecca Silber, Alison Shames, and Kelsey Reid, The Vera Institute
Prison Health Care Costs and Quality
October 18, 2017: The Pew Charitable Trust
Collaborating Across the Walls: A Community Approach to Parole Justice
October, 2017: Michelle Lewin and Nora Carroll, CUNY Law Review
A Way Out: Abolishing Death By Incarceration in Pennsylvania
August, 2017: Quinn Cozzens and Bret Grote, Abolitionist Law Center
A Matter of Time: The Causes and Consequences of Rising Time Served in America’s Prisons
July, 2017: Open Society Foundation
Community Board 10-Manhattan Resolution in Support of RAPP
June 17, 2017: Henrietta Lyle & Tamara Martin, Community Board 10-Manhattan
Profiles in Parole Release and Revocation New York
June, 2017: The Robina Institute, University of Minnesota
Reentry Experiences of Elderly Ex-Offenders: Wasted Lives
May, 2017: Charmaine Clarke, Stony Brook University (thesis)
Still Life: America’s Increasing Use of Life and Long-Term Sentences
May, 2017: Ashley Nellis, The Sentencing Project
An Examination of Florida’s Prison Population Trends
May, 2017: The Crime and Justice Institute, prepared for the Florida Legislature
Mass incarceration, public health, and widening inequality in the USA
April 8, 2017: Christopher Wildeman & Emily Wang, in “America: Equity and Equality in Health 4,” The Lancet Vol. 389, No. 10077 (see p. 1464)
New York State’s Aging Prison Population
April, 2017: Office of the New York State Comptroller Thomas diNapoli
Prison Boomers: Policy Implications of Aging Prison Populations
March 13, 2017: Zachery Psick, Cyrus Ahalt, Rebecca T. Brown, and Jonathan Simon, International Journal of Prison Health
Delaying a Second Chance: The Declining Prospects for Parole on Life Sentences
January 31, 2017: The Sentencing Project
Aging in Prison: A Human Rights Problem We Must Fix
January, 2017: Prison Watch Project, American Friends Service Committee
How Many Americans Are Unnecessarily Incarcerated?
December 9, 2016: Lauren-Brooke “L.B.” Eisen, James Austin Ph.D., James Cullen, Jonathan Frank, Inimai M. Chettiar, The Brennan Center
The Liman Report: Moving Criminal Justice
Fall 2016: Arthur Liman Public Interest Program, Yale University
Crime Survivors Speak: The First-Ever National Survey of Victims’ Views on Safety and Justice
December, 2016: Alliance for Safety and Justice
False Hope: How Parole Systems Fail Youth Serving Extreme Sentences
November 2016: American Civil Liberties Union
Aiming to Reduce Time-In-Cell
November, 2016: Association of State Correctional Administrators, the Arthur Liman Public Interest Program, Yale University
The Effects of Age at Prison Release on Women’s Desistance Trajectories: a Mixed-Methods Analysis
September 2016: Erin M. Kerrison, Ronet Bachman, Raymond Paternoster, Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology
A By-Product of Mass Incarceration: New York’s Parole System in Need of Repair
July, 2016: Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP
RAPP Submission to the UN Committee on Torture
June 27, 2016: Tomiko Shine, DC RAPP
Economic Perspectives on Incarceration and the Criminal Justice System
April 23, 2016: Executive Office of the President of the United States
U.S. Sentencing Commission Public Hearing on Compassionate Release and Conditions of Supervision
(for Federal Bureau of Prisons) 48-minute video, February 17, 2016
Proposed amendments to Sentencing Guidelines (including sections on compassionate release/conditions of supervision)
February 15, 2016; public comment period ends 3/21/2016, United States Sentencing Commission
Supporting America’s Aging Prisoner Population: Opportunities and Challenges for Area Agencies on Aging
2016: National Association of Area Agencies on Aging
Aging in Prison: Reducing Elder Incarceration and Promoting Public Safety
November, 2015: a policy publication by RAPP, Center for Justice at Columbia University, and others; includes chapters by former heads of department of corrections and parole board
Campaign to Change Parole in New York: “Nature of the Crime”
May 18, 2015: Parole Justice Now!
Analysis of United States Compassionate and Geriatric Release Laws: Towards a Rights-Based Response for Diverse Elders and Their Families and Communities
May 9, 2015: Be The Evidence and Cure International
The Impact of an Aging Inmate Population on the Federal Bureau of Prisons
May 2015 (revised, February 2016): U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General
It is Important to Understand Structural Barriers in Parole Advocacy
2015: Mujahid Farid, Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP
From the Warehouse to the Deathbed: Challenging the Conditions of Mass Death in Prison
Spring, 2015: Ernest K. Chavez, San Jose State University
Still Blocking the Exit: a report on parole-eligible lifers in the Maryland prison system who are denied release
January 20, 2015: Maryland Restorative Justice Initiative and ACLU of Maryland
Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP: Challenging the Punishment Paradigm
December 10, 2014: Mujahid Farid and Laura Whitehorn: The Roots of Mass Incarceration: Locking Up Black Dissidents and Punishing the Poor/Socialism and Democracy special issue
As Outside, So Inside: America’s Aging Prison Population
October 20, 2014: Robert Winters, JD, corrections.com
Aging Behind Bars: Trends and Implications of Graying Prisoners in the Federal Prison System
September 5, 2014: KiDeuk Kim & Bryce Peterson, Urban Institute
Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP Interviews: A Preliminary Report
September 2014: Ariane Davisson for RAPP
State Prison Health Care Spending: An examination
July, 2014: the Pew Charitable Trust and the Arthur D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
New York Parole Board Ignores Community
Statement by RAPP, June 23, 2014
Race, Slavery & Incarceration
“Demonizing People of Color and the Poor in the United States By Way of the Thirteenth Amendment Hoax” by Mujahid Farid, March 2014
Statement by RAPP After Review of Info Submitted During Parole Regulations Comments Period
February 6, 2014: Mujahid Farid, Statement of Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP)
Managing the Elderly in Corrections
2014: Frank J. Porporino, National Institute of Corrections
Stemming the Tide: Strategies to Reduce the Growth and Cut the Cost of the Federal Prison System
November, 2013: Julie Samuels, Nancy La Vigne, and Samuel Taxy, Urban Institute
“Smarter and Tougher on Crime” Remarks
August 12, 2013: Attorney General Eric Holder, Remarks to American Bar Association on the initial package of reforms dubbed the Justice Department’s “Smart on Crime” initiative.
RAPP response to Attorney General Eric Holder, “Smarter & Tougher on Crime”
August 12, 2013: Mujahid Farid
New York State COMPAS-Probation Risk and Need Assessment Study: Examining the Recidivism Scale’s Effectiveness and Predictive Accuracy
August 2013: Prepared by Sharon Lansing, Ph.D. for the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services.
Pages 14-15 specifically address older people in prison.
You Can’t Get There From Here: Elderly Prisoners, Prison Downsizing, and the Insufficiency of Cost Cutting Advocacy
April, 2013: Elizabeth Rapaport, University of New Mexico School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper Series
The Dose-Response of Time Served in Prison on Mortality: New York State, 1989-2003
March, 2013: Evelyn J. Patterson, PhD, American Journal of Public Health
The Answer is No: Too Little Compassionate Release in US Federal Prisons
2012: Human Rights Watch
At America’s Expense: The Mass Incarceration of the Elderly
June 13, 2012: American Civil Liberties Union/ ACLU
Old Behind Bars: The Aging Prison Population in the United States
January 27, 2012: Human Rights Watch
It’s About Time: Aging Prisoners, Increasing Costs, and Geriatric Release
April, 2010: The Vera Institute for Justice
Dignity Denied: The Price of Imprisoning Older Women in California
December 2005: Heidi Strupp and Donna Willmott, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children