RAPP Campaign
Release Aging People in Prison Campaign
Johan Sheridan, WWLP-22News — NY Governor Kathy Hochul pardoned 19 formerly incarcerated individuals, but faced criticism from criminal justice advocates for not commuting the sentences of anyone currently incarcerated, especially women in honor of Mother's Day. As of May 2026, the state's prison system houses 34,066 inmates, and prison reformers are raising alarms about increasing deaths within state prison facilities....
Front Page Detective Staff, Front Page Detectives — Two proposed New York bills have led to a divide among lawmakers and experts. The state is planning to introduce the Elder Parole and Fair and Timely Parole legislation to ease parole eligibility requirements for the aging prison population...
Ethan Geringer-Sameth, Crains New York Business — A package of bills that has floated in Albany for close to a decade would make it easier for imprisoned seniors to receive parole, a measure supporters say is both humane and cost-saving as state lawmakers look for ways to plug a multi-billion-dollar outyear budget gap...
Vandana Saras / Middletown Times-Herald — Gabrielle Hill, the newly elected Orange County Legislator for District 6, met Alton Lee during her election campaign. Lee, who works as a Hudson Valley community leader at Release Aging People in Prison, handed her a postcard that she said read: The bills will reunite families, make our community safer and save $522 million a year...
Chris Wade / The Center Square — Aging or rehabilitated prisoners should be released sooner into society to save taxpayers' money...
Jeanine Agnolet / Mid-Hudson News — NEWBURGH – Lawmakers joined former prisoners, crime survivors and families of the incarcerated in the City of Newburgh on Monday to fight for parole justice...
Rebecca C. Lewis / City & State NY — Fair and Timely Parole as well as Elder Parole have languished in the state Legislature, but momentum for the bills is building...
Chris Fortune / NEWS 10 NBC — Rochester – Rally in Rochester urges lawmakers to pass parole reform bills...
Noah Powelson / Queens Daily Eagle — With a little over a month until lawmakers return to Albany, lawmakers and advocates reignited a multi-year long effort to reform the parole process for elderly incarcerated individuals...
Ziggy James / News10NBC — ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Lawmakers, state and local officials will join activist to rally across New York State on December 1 to call for passage of the Elder Parole and Fair & Timely Parole bills...
Noah Powelson / Brooklyn Daily Eagle — A week after Governor Kathy Hochul enacted her first round of clemencies this year, 135 organizations co-signed and published a letter to state leaders demanding more be done to address “the urgent crisis of racist brutality, medical neglect and denial of basic dignity in New York State prisons.” ...
Dr. Ms. Jones / Hudson Valley Press Online — (NEWBURGH) The heartbeat of the city pulsed with unity, joy, and music on Tuesday, August 5th as residents gathered on lower Broadway for Newburgh’s 36th National Night Out that brought together the community in a show of strength. The celebration span from Johnston to Liberty Street and brought out hundreds. National Night Out, observed nationally on the first Tuesday in August, is a community awareness event aimed to promote police and community partnerships and enhance the relationship between neighbors to build community. It is celebrated in over 16,000 communities all over the United States...
