Bill Text: NY S00015 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Relates to parole eligibility for certain incarcerated persons age fifty-five or older.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 29-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - REFERRED TO CRIME VICTIMS, CRIME AND CORRECTION [S00015 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S00015-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          15--A

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                       (Prefiled)

                                     January 6, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens.  HOYLMAN, BAILEY, BENJAMIN, BIAGGI, BRESLIN, BRIS-
          PORT, COMRIE,  COONEY,  GIANARIS,  HARCKHAM,  JACKSON,  KRUEGER,  LIU,
          MAYER,  MYRIE, PARKER, PERSAUD, RAMOS, RIVERA, SALAZAR, SANDERS, SAVI-
          NO, SEPULVEDA, SERRANO, STAVISKY -- read twice  and  ordered  printed,
          and  when  printed  to be committed to the Committee on Crime Victims,
          Crime and Correction -- committee discharged,  bill  amended,  ordered
          reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee

        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
    17  months from such determination for reconsideration, and  the  procedures
    18  to  be  followed  upon  reconsideration shall be the same. If release to
    19  community supervision is granted, the board shall set release conditions

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02819-07-1
        S. 15--A                            2

     1  and the provisions of this section shall otherwise apply as  though  the
     2  person was released after the completion of his or her minimum sentence.
     3  The  release  assessment  and determination required by this subdivision
     4  shall  be in addition to, and may not replace, other release assessments
     5  and determinations required by law.
     6    19. submit reports, quarterly, to the governor, the  temporary  presi-
     7  dent  of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the minority leader of
     8  the senate, the minority leader of the assembly, the chairperson of  the
     9  senate  committee on crime victims, crime and correction, and the chair-
    10  person of the assembly  committee  on  correction.  Such  reports  shall
    11  include:  (i)  the  number  of  parole  interviews  held pursuant to the
    12  requirements of subdivision eighteen of this section; (ii) the  outcomes
    13  of  parole  interviews  held pursuant to the requirements of subdivision
    14  eighteen of this section; and (iii) where parole was denied following an
    15  interview held pursuant to the requirements of subdivision  eighteen  of
    16  this  section,  the  articulated reasons for each denial, the members of
    17  the board assigned in each case and a record of  their  votes,  and  the
    18  race,  sex,  facility, and crime of conviction of each denied applicant.
    19  Such reports shall not include personally identifiable information about
    20  applicants.  Reports required by this  subdivision  shall  be  published
    21  quarterly on a publicly accessible website maintained by the board.
    22    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that all persons
    23  who meet the eligibility requirements established by section one of this
    24  act  upon  the  effective  date  of this act shall be interviewed within
    25  sixty days of such date.