By Sr. Carol De Angelo, SC, Director, Office of Peace, Justice and Integrity of Creation
I write to make readers aware of the Elderly Parole Act (A514/S454) and Timely Parole Act (A127/S158) currently in the New York State legislature. Both bills address parole reform. Both bills have many sponsors in both NYS Senate and Assembly. I urge you to read on and, hopefully, urge your NYS Assembly person and Senator to advocate for both bills to come out of Committee and brought to a vote. The Sisters of Charity of New York PJIC Office Voting & Anti-Racism Committee recently hosted an online webinar. After watching The Interview, a 20-minute informative and compelling video, listening to panelists share stories, their own and others, and hearing statistics, our commitment to advocate for these two bills was strengthened.
RAPP (Release Aging Persons in Prison), People’s Campaign for Parole Justice and Freedom Unshackled were the three groups who organized the webinar for us. I thank them for increasing my awareness of why these bills matter and how both bills will support a parole system that recognizes accountability and change while also bringing compassion, fairness and safety into parole decisions. We learned that New York State has over 9,000 people serving life sentences, placing us among the harshest states in the country; 3,500 people have already served 20+ years, some entering prison as young as 15; and, that 1 in 4 incarcerated people are age 50+, with the average age of death just 58.
I’m grateful to my NYS Senator Gustavo Rivera (33rd Senate District), a sponsor of the bill, and its many sponsors in both the NYS Senate and Assembly. Please check out the links in this article for more information. Consider calling your NYS Senator and Representative to advocate for these two bills. We are also calling on two key people that can move the process along by bringing the bills out of Committee and to the floor for a vote. Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz is Chair of Committee on Codes in the NYS Assembly. NYS Senator Liz Krueger, is Chair of Finance Committee in the NYS Senate. Click to contact your NYS legislators! Also there are links to find your NYS Assembly person and Senator. Please call and email them and ask their support for the Elderly Parole Act (A514/S454) and Timely Parole Act (A127/S158).