Relates to parole eligibility for certain incarcerated persons age fifty-five or older if they have served at least fifteen years of their sentence or sentences.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A514
SPONSOR: Davila (MS) TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to parole eligibility for
certain incarcerated persons aged fifty-five or older
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill adds new subdivisions 18 and 19 to section 259-c
of the Executive Law ("State board of parole; functions, powers and
duties").
-Sub. 18: provides that a person 55 or older who has served at least 15
years of a sentence shall have an interview with the Board of Parole to
determine whether they should be released to community supervision with-
in 60 days of their 55th birthday or the last day of the 15th year of
their sentence, whichever is later. If release is not granted, the
person shall have a subsequent interview no more than 24 months later.
-Sub. 19: requires the Board of Parole to report quarterly to the Gover-
nor, Legislature and public about the outcomes of elder parole.
Section 2 of the bill is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
After decades of harsh sentencing practices, New York State holds the
shameful distinction of having the third-largest population of people
serving terms of life imprisonment in the country. Hundreds of incarcer-
ated New Yorkers - parents, grandparents and great-grandparents - may
never live to have an. individualized release assessment, no matter how
much they have changed in the years and decades since their conviction.
People serving life sentences are disproportionately Black and Latinx,
and they are aging rapidly behind bars.
The perpetual confinement of aging and elderly people is particularly
immoral as studies show that rearrest rates for older adults released
from prison are vanishingly small, particularly for those originally
convicted of serious crimes. However, even as New York's prison popu-
lation declined in the last two decades, the number of elders behind
bars grew substantially. New York has the second-largest prison budget
in the nation, spending between $100,000 and $240,000 annually for each
incarcerated older adult, which the New York State Department of
Correction and Community Supervision (DOCCS) defines as adults 55 years
of age or older, due to the accelerated aging people experience while in
prison.
There is a growing consensus among people across the political spectrum
that mass incarceration is ineffective, flawed, and racially biased. It
harms, rather than improves, community health and safety. Elder parole
would ensure that older adults serving long sentences have an opportu-
nity before the Parole Board to demonstrate their transformation. It
would not require anyone, regardless of their age; to be released. Rath-
er, it would empower the Parole Board to use its discretion by individ-
ually evaluating a person based on the factors established in Section
259-I of the Executive Law.
This legislation would bring hope to incarcerated people who have worked
hard to change, as well as their families. It would allow people the
chance to safely return to their communities and save the state hundreds
of millions of dollars that could be reinvested to meet critical commu-
nity needs.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A. 2034/S. 2423 of the 2023-2024 Legislative Session
A. 8855 of 2021-22 (Davila) Died in Correction
S.2144 of 2019-2020 (Hoylman): Died in Crime Victims, Crime, and
Correction
A.9040 of 2009-2020 (De La Rosa): Died in Correction
S.8581 of 2017-2018 (Hoylman): Died in Crime Victims, Crime and
Correction A.6354-A of 2017-2018 (Weprin): Died in Codes
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately; provided that all persons who
meet the eligibility requirements established by section one of this act
upon the effective date of this act shall be interviewed within sixty
days of such date.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
514
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. DAVILA, R. CARROLL, CRUZ, KIM, EPSTEIN, WALKER,
COOK, ROZIC, REYES, TAYLOR, ROSENTHAL, HYNDMAN, VANEL, GLICK,
MITAYNES, STECK, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, KELLES, GALLAGHER, MAMDANI, ANDERSON,
SEPTIMO, FORREST, BURDICK, CLARK, ZINERMAN, RAMOS, HUNTER, MEEKS,
JACKSON, SAYEGH, LUPARDO, WEPRIN, SEAWRIGHT, BICHOTTE HERMELYN,
PEOPLES-STOKES, BRONSON, DILAN, PAULIN, FALL, GIBBS, DE LOS SANTOS,
LUCAS, CUNNINGHAM, TAPIA, LEVENBERG, BORES, RAGA, SHIMSKY, SHRESTHA,
SIMONE, ALVAREZ, ZACCARO, CHANDLER-WATERMAN, LEE, BENEDETTO, DAIS,
RAJKUMAR, RIVERA -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BARRETT -- read
once and referred to the Committee on Correction
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to parole eligibility for
certain incarcerated persons aged fifty-five or older
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 259-c of the executive law is amended by adding two
2 new subdivisions 18 and 19 to read as follows:
3 18. notwithstanding any other section of law, where a person serving a
4 sentence of incarceration has served at least fifteen years of their
5 sentence or sentences and has reached the age of fifty-five or greater,
6 conduct an interview within sixty days of the date of the person's
7 fifty-fifth birthday or the last day of the fifteenth year of their
8 sentence, whichever is later, pursuant to section two hundred fifty-
9 nine-i of this article to determine whether such person should be
10 released to community supervision. If the board determines that release
11 is appropriate pursuant to the terms of section two hundred
12 fifty-nine-i of this article, then the board shall release the person to
13 community supervision. If release to community supervision is not
14 granted, the person shall be informed in writing within two weeks of
15 such appearance of the factors and reasons for the denial of such
16 release and the board shall specify a date not more than twenty-four
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00225-01-5
A. 514 2
1 months from such determination for reconsideration, and the procedures
2 to be followed upon reconsideration shall be the same. If release to
3 community supervision is granted, the board shall set release conditions
4 and the provisions of this section shall otherwise apply as though the
5 person was released after the completion of such person's minimum
6 sentence. The release assessment and determination required by this
7 subdivision shall be in addition to, and may not replace, other release
8 assessments and determinations required by law.
9 19. submit reports, quarterly, to the governor, the temporary presi-
10 dent of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the minority leader of
11 the senate, the minority leader of the assembly, the chairperson of the
12 senate committee on crime victims, crime and correction, and the chair-
13 person of the assembly committee on correction. Such reports shall
14 include: (i) the number of parole interviews held pursuant to the
15 requirements of subdivision eighteen of this section; (ii) the outcomes
16 of parole interviews held pursuant to the requirements of subdivision
17 eighteen of this section; and (iii) where parole was denied following an
18 interview held pursuant to the requirements of subdivision eighteen of
19 this section, the articulated reasons for each denial, the members of
20 the board assigned in each case and a record of their votes, and the
21 race, sex, facility, and crime of conviction of each denied applicant.
22 Such reports shall not include personally identifiable information about
23 applicants. Reports required by this subdivision shall be published
24 quarterly on a publicly accessible website maintained by the board.
25 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that all persons
26 who meet the eligibility requirements established by section one of this
27 act upon the effective date of this act shall be interviewed within
28 sixty days of such date.
