February 15, 2019 (Queens County, NY): Jose Nieves, who is running to become the first new Queens County District Attorney in almost three decades, announced today that he fully supports the proposed “Less Is More Act” that was introduced earlier this week by its sponsors, State Sen. Brian Benjamin and Assemblyman Walter Mosley. The purpose of the bill is to reduce the number of people who are re-incarcerated for technical violations of their parole terms.
In making the announcement, Nieves noted the bill would mandate changes, on a statewide basis, that he intends to implement in Queens County. “I am totally in favor of revamping our current parole system so that prison is no longer a revolving door for those who have served their time – and are trying to reintegrate into their communities”, Nieves said. “Throwing people back in prison for technical violations disrupts the reintegration process – and greatly reduces their chances to turn their lives around”.
At present, approximately one-third of the new admissions to New York State prisons involve people who have committed technical violations of their parole terms. Technical parole violations include things like failing a drug test, not being at a designated location at a certain time of day, missing curfew, etc.
Under current policy, someone who commits a technical violation can be readmitted to a correctional facility while they await a hearing before a judge who will decide whether they return to prison or are released. But such hearings are often delayed for several months because of the current backlog in the system.
Nieves said that he wants to take advantage of the many alternative programs that already exist for those on parole – and only develop new programs where there are gaps in coverage. “Our current parole system is bad both from a policy standpoint and an economic standpoint”, Nieves said. “We need to be smarter about things like this – and make better use of our resources”.
According to the Katal Center, there are currently about 35,000 New Yorkers on parole. In addition, the Center also estimates that 65% of the parolees who return to correctional facilities do so because of technical violations.
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