A new report said discretionary parole boards in New York and nationwide are inherently flawed.
The Prison Policy Initiative report showed parole releases are declining in every state, due to what it sees as flaws in the system, including overreliance on factors beyond a parole applicant’s control and what the report termed “irrational” decisions by parole boards which favor keeping people locked up.
Wanda Bertram, communications strategist for the Prison Policy Initiative, said the system dashes people’s hopes for early release.
“It doesn’t matter how much work they might do on themselves, how much they might transform their lives while they’re incarcerated,” Bertram contended. “I know many people behind bars who have done that, for instance, who committed violent crimes when they were kids or very young, spent decades behind bars and have become completely different people.”
The report showed 2022 was the worst year for people in New York prisons seeking parole, in part since there were fewer parole board hearings and they approved fewer applications. The numbers declined during the early years of the pandemic and although they’re slowly rebounding, the numbers of meetings and paroles granted are still well below pre-pandemic levels.
The report cited other issues with discretionary systems such as “stacking” a parole board with law enforcement professionals and ignoring the perspectives of those who have personal experience being incarcerated, as well as dwindling hearings for parole applicants. Bertram feels discretionary parole can be a powerful tool to reduce prison populations and provide meaningful early release. She acknowledged for people awaiting parole, it is not often used that way.
“They have very little transparency into what the board actually wants to see,” Bertram observed. “They rarely have people who are helping them prepare for their hearings. And then when the time does come, when they’re up for parole, if they get access to an in-person hearing at all, it’s often just a few minutes.”
Having primarily law enforcement on parole boards is written into most state laws, which the report said excludes psychologists or sociologists from being on the board. But some states are making mild reforms. For example, when selecting members, Montana’s parole board by law must consider people with expertise in American Indian culture.
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