Parole

Blacks And Hispanics Seeking Parole Face Widening Racial Disparity

November 20, 2024 Reuven Blau, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Mass Incarceration, New York (NY), Parole, Prisons, Racial disparities, Systemic Racism

Black and Hispanic people in New York state prisons have a much higher chance to be denied parole than whites over the past three years — a divide that’s gotten worse since being highlighted in 2016, a new study shows. New York’s Parole Board released 34.79% of people of color while letting out 48.71% of white people from January through June 2024, based on a report by New York University School of Law’s Center for Race, Inequality & the Law posted online Monday. Since Gov. Kathy Hochul took office in 2021, there would be 1,338 fewer Blacks and Hispanics behind bars if they were paroled at the same rate as whites, the report shows.

The Fight To Free Leonard Peltier Continues

July 4, 2024 Demetrius Johnson, NDN Collective. Resist! Indigenous Rights, Leonard Peltier, Parole, Political Prisoner

On June 10th Leonard Peltier appeared before the US Parole Commission to state his case for freedom for the 4th time– his three previous parole attempts in 1993, 1996, and 2009 were all denied. On July 2nd, the US Parole Commission denied Leonard Peltier parole for the 4th time. At 79 years old and battling multiple serious health conditions without proper medical treatment, Leonard Peltier most likely won’t make it another 15 years for his next parole hearing scheduled for June 2039. But that does not mean the fight for justice is over. In a phone call from Leonard Peltier to Nick Tilsen, President and CEO of NDN Collective, after the US Parole Commission’s decision, Leonard stated, “I am not intending to give up. And I’m hoping none of you give up.”

Leonard Peltier Denied Parole

July 3, 2024 People's Dispatch. Educate! Indigenous Rights, Leonard Peltier, Parole, political prisoners

The federal Parole Commission has denied Leonard Peltier’s request for parole, Peltier’s legal team announced on Tuesday, July 2. This marks a major setback for the longest-held political prisoner in the United States, who had his first parole hearing in over a decade on June 10. Peltier, who was active in the American Indian Movement (AIM) and a beacon for both the Indigenous struggle in the United States and the struggle to free political prisoners, now will continue to languish in prison for an undetermined amount of time. According to Peltier’s lawyer, Kevin Sharp, an interim hearing has been scheduled for 2026, while a full hearing has been scheduled for June 2039, when Peltier will be 94.

Parole Commission: It’s Long Past The Time To Free Leonard Peltier

June 12, 2024 Levi Rickert, Native News Online. Resist! Indigenous Rights, Leonard Peltier, Parole, political prisoners

For the first time in 15 years, Leonard Peltier will be afforded a full parole hearing on Monday, June 10 at the United States Penitentiary at Coleman, Fla. Peltier (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe) has been incarcerated for 48 years for the killing of two FBI agents at Oglala on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in June 1975. For five decades, Peltier has maintained his innocence and hoped for the chance to clear his name. Monday’s hearing may well be his last chance at vindication. The incident that led to Peltier’s imprisonment happened some 49 years ago, when two FBI agents — Jack Coler and Ronald Williams — arrived at a residence on the reservation to pursue a suspect who had taken a pair of shoes in a robbery.

Solidarity With Mass Prison Strike In Alabama

February 12, 2024 Center for Constitutional Rights. Resist! Alabama, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Parole, Prisoner rights, Strikes

The Center for Constitutional Rights stands in solidarity with the Free Alabama Movement (FAM) and incarcerated people in Alabama who announced a mass prison strike today. We unequivocally support the organizers’ demands for legislative reforms—including repealing the Habitual Felony Offender Act, abolishing death by incarceration (also known as life without parole), and reversing the near complete abandonment of parole—and their call for an end to the torture and dehumanizing treatment exacted on incarcerated people by the State of Alabama. Our solidarity with Alabama prison organizers dates back to the 1970s with our support for the Atmore-Holman Brothers’ Defense Committee.

Maryland’s Parole System ‘Conditions People For Despair’

October 3, 2023 Mansa Musa, The Real News Network. Resistance Report Criminal Justice and Prisons, Human Rights, Maryland, Mass Incarceration, Parole

Thomas “Tahaka” Gaither was out on parole when then-Gov. Glendening of Maryland revoked parole for all persons convicted of a life sentence. Since the late 1990s, Gaither has remained incarcerated—despite once having been deemed fit for release. His story is not unusual for those who’ve experienced Maryland’s parole system. Since 2015, barely half of 523 parole-eligible prisoners serving life sentences have had their cases reviewed, and just 76 have been released. A new study from the Justice Policy Institute, Safe at Home: Improving Maryland’s Parole Release Decision-Making, identifies the problems with the system and attempts to map solutions.

Report: Mass Incarceration Doesn’t Stop At The Prison Walls

May 11, 2023 Prison Policy Initiative. Educate! Human Rights, Legal System, Mass Incarceration, Parole, Probation

1.9 million people are behind bars in the U.S., but this number doesn’t capture the true reach of the criminal legal system in the country. In a new report, Punishment Beyond Prisons: Incarceration & Supervision by state, the Prison Policy Initiative shows how in America, the overuse of probation and parole, along with mass incarceration, has ensnared a staggering 5.5 million people in a system of mass punishment and correctional control. Punishment Beyond Prisons shows the full picture of correctional control in the country, with a particular focus on the overuse of probation and parole.

Racial Inequities In New York Parole Supervision

March 15, 2020 By Kendra Bradner and Vincent Schiraldi, Justice Lab. Educate! Legal System, New York City (NYC), Parole, Racism

The scope and conditions of parole supervision in New York have profound impacts for people serving supervision sentences. New York sends more people back to prison for non-criminal, technical parole violations than any state except Illinois, and people detained for alleged non-criminal parole rule violations comprise the only population growing in New York City jails, threatening plans to close the notorious Rikers Island jails complex. This report highlights ways in which these harmful impacts disproportionately fall on Black and brown communities. The authors find that Black and Latinx people are significantly more likely than white people to be under supervision, to be jailed pending a violation hearing, and to be incarcerated in New York State prisons for a parole violation.

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