RAPP Campaign
Release Aging People in Prison Campaign
By: Tim Murphy, NY Nonprofit Media: Jose Hamza Saldana, director of Release Aging People in Prison, in a conversation with New York Nonprofit Media, discusses how to effect change in the face of an Albany scared of seeming soft on crime.
By: Serena Martin-Liguori, New York Nonprofit Media: Women are the fastest growing segment of the incarcerated population, and along with gender-expansive people, often punished more harshly than others in prison.
By: Victoria Law, Truthout - Shortly after midnight this past Friday, guards found 37-year-old Elizabeth Hagerty dead in her un-air-conditioned Texas prison cell. The day before, temperatures had reached nearly 100 degrees...
By: Maury Thompson, The Post-Star - ...The ”elder parole” legislation, which has not passed the Senate, would require the Parole Board to conduct a hearing for all incarcerated individuals age 55 and over who have completed at least 15 years of their sentences.
By: Eric Harvey, The Riverdale Press - Two incarceration-focused bills have advanced to the New York State Assembly Correction Committee. The elder parole legislation has been co-sponsored by 31 people, including state Sens. Gustavo Rivera and Robert Jackson....
By: Times Union Editorial Board, Times Union - Ending the secrecy surrounding lobbying on judgeships should be among the more urgent business as the Legislature prepares to wrap up its session this week.
By: Shantel Destra, City & State NY - ... criminal justice advocates have pushed for the passage of two popular parole reform bills. The Elder Parole bill would make older people who have already served more than 15 years in prison eligible for parole, while the Fair & Timely Parole bill would direct parole boards to consider evidence of people’s rehabilitation, not just the severity of their original crimes...
By: David Weprin, Queens Daily Eagle - "What is critically important to acknowledge is that our correctional system is meant to "correct" -- not to "punish" -- those inside the walls. And it is my belief, from hundreds of conversations, that the vast majority of incarcerated individuals are remorseful, have accepted responsibility for their mistakes, and are willing to do the rehabilitative work it takes to return to their communities..."
June 2023: Center on Race, Inequality, & the Law - "The legislature should pass a provision that grants all people aged 55 or older, who have served 15 years or more in prison, immediate parole consideration, regardless of crime or sentence. Roughly 1,000 people are serving life without the possibility of parole or virtual life sentences. ... ¶ It is appalling that despite the repeated documentation of the vast racial disparities in decisions by New York State’s Parole Board, those disparities have continued and worsened, while New York policymakers have failed to address the issue."
By: Graham Rayman, New York Daily News - During the first four months of 2023, the state Parole Board released 45% of white prisoners who appeared before it, compared to 32.4% of all people of color who had hearings, researchers at NYU Law’s Center on Race, Inequality and the Law and the Vera Institute found...
By: Brooklyn Eagle Staff, Brooklyn Daily Eagle - Attorney General James ... said, “The Elder Parole bill will help create a pathway for people to re-enter our society and be reunited with their families. When people transform their lives, they deserve an opportunity for redemption.”
By: Common, via Twitter - "Peace. This is Common. And I'm joining advocates and state lawmakers around New York for a Parole Justice Day of Action. We're demanding the passage of the Elder Parole Bill and the Fair & Timely Parole Bill. Because in New York, too many people, who are eligible for release right now, are still being denied a fair chance to return home and reunite with their families...."
