OUR ORGANIZATION CALLS ON THE LEGISLATURE TO PASS, AND THE GOVERNOR TO SIGN, THE S.A.F.E. PAROLE ACT!

Thank you! To legislative sponsors of the SAFE Parole Act:
Senate: S. 1728 Parker, Espaillat, Hassell-Thompson, Kennedy, Montgomery, Perkins
Assembly: A. 2930 Aubry, Arroyo, Barrett, Brennan, Clark, Crespo, Fahy, Farrell, Gottfried, Hevesi, McDonald, Montesano, Mosley, O’Donnell, Ortiz, Perry, Roberts, Rodriguez, Sepulveda, Skartados, Thiele

WHY WE NEED THE S.A.F.E. PAROLE ACT
The Parole Board currently keeps thousands of people in prison who have served their time and are no danger to their communities, denying parole based on the person’s original crime. This practice:

• Disregards positive achievements, a clean record, remorse, low-risk evaluations, successful programs, family ties, strong re-entry plans, and all other indicators of change
• Focuses solely on the past, the one factor that the parole applicant can never change
• Defeats the basic purpose of parole: a chance for rehabilitation and re-entry
• By using subjective instead of evidence-based criteria for release, fails to protect communities
• Worsens public safety by discouraging rehabilitation
• Causes the repeated suffering of friends and families of the incarcerated person
• Undermines communities and families, disproportionately communities and families of color, by keeping people in prison who would be assets if released

New York cannot achieve significant reductions in its prison population without ending punitive parole denials for people convicted of violent crimes who are low risk to re-offend.

• 43% of all people in prison in New York -- 23,263 people -- are serving indeterminate sentences and will come before the parole board at some point
• The parole board holds more than 10,000 hearings each year; its release rate is less than 25%
• People 50 years of age and older are the fastest-growing segment of New York’s prison population
• Long-term older prisoners have a near-zero recidivism rate – yet are routinely denied parole

WHAT THE S.A.F.E. PAROLE ACT WILL DO TO CREATE PAROLE JUSTICE

• The S.A.F.E. Parole Act requires the Parole Board to evaluate the parole applicant for re-entry readiness based on an extensive set of post-sentencing factors.
• If the Board denies parole, it will be required to give the applicant steps to achieve in order to demonstrate readiness for re-entry.
• When the parole applicant has fulfilled all the requirements set by the Board, and has demonstrated community readiness and low risk, she or he will be released.