NY State Senate Bill 2025-S454

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Crime Victims, Crime And Correction Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 08, 2025	referred to crime victims, crime and correction

co-Sponsors

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2025-S454 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A514
Current Committee:: Senate Crime Victims, Crime And Correction
Law Section:: Executive Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §259-c, Exec L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2017-2018: S8581, A6354
2019-2020: S2144, A4319, A9040
2021-2022: S15, A3475, A8855
2023-2024: S2423, A2035

2025-S454 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to parole eligibility for certain incarcerated persons age fifty-five or older if they have served at least fifteen years of their sentence or sentences.

2025-S454 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S454

SPONSOR: HOYLMAN-SIGAL
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to parole eligibility for
certain incarcerated persons aged fifty-five or older

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill adds new subdivisions 18 and 19 to section 259-c
of the Executive Law ("State board of parole; functions, powers and
duties").

-Sub. 18: provides that a person 55 or older who has served at least 15
years of a sentence shall have an interview with the Board of Parole to
determine whether they should be released to community supervision with-
in 60 days of their 55th birthday or the last day of the 15th year of
their sentence, whichever is later. If release is not granted, the
person shall have a subsequent interview no more than 24 months later.

-Sub. 19: requires the Board of Parole to report quarterly to the Gover-
nor, Legislature and public about the outcomes of elder parole.

Section 2 of the bill is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

After decades of harsh sentencing practices, New York State holds the
shameful distinction of having the third-largest population of people
serving terms of life imprisonment in the country. Hundreds of incarcer-
ated New Yorkers - parents, grandparents and great-grandparents - may
never live to have an. individualized release assessment, no matter how
much they have changed in the years and decades since their conviction.
People serving life sentences are disproportionately Black and Latinx,
and they are aging rapidly behind bars.

The perpetual confinement of aging and elderly people is particularly
immoral as studies show that rearrest rates for older adults released
from prison are vanishingly small, particularly for those originally
convicted of serious crimes. However, even as New York's prison popu-
lation declined in the last two decades, the number of elders behind
bars grew substantially. New York has the second-largest prison budget
in the nation, spending between $100,000 and $240,000 annually for each
incarcerated older adult, which the New York State Department of
Correction and Community Supervision (DOCCS) defines as adults 55 years
of age or older, due to the accelerated aging people experience while in
prison.

There is a growing consensus among people across the political spectrum
that mass incarceration is ineffective, flawed, and racially biased. It
harms, rather than improves, community health and safety.  Elder parole
would ensure that older adults serving long sentences have an opportu-
nity before the Parole Board to demonstrate their transformation. It
would not require anyone, regardless of their age; to be released. Rath-
er, it would empower the Parole Board to use its discretion by individ-
ually evaluating a person based on the factors established in Section
259-I of the Executive Law.

This legislation would bring hope to incarcerated people who have worked
hard to change, as well as their families. It would allow people the
chance to safely return to their communities and save the state hundreds
of millions of dollars that could be reinvested to meet critical commu-
nity needs.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S.2423 of 2023-2024 (Hoylman-Sigal): Died in Crime Victims, Crime, and
Correction

A.2035 of 2023-2024 (Davila): Died in Codes

S.0015-A of 2021-2022 (Hoylman): Died in Crime Victims, Crime, and
Correction


S.2144 of 2019-2020 (Hoylman): Died in Crime Victims, Crime, and
Correction

A.9040 of 2009-2020 (De La Rosa): Died in Correction

S.8581 of 2017-2018 (Hoylman): Died in Crime Victims, Crime and
Correction

A.6354-A of 2017-2018 (Weprin): Died in Codes

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately; provided that all persons who
meet the eligibility requirements established by section one of this act
upon the effective date of this act shall be interviewed within sixty
days of such date.

2025-S454 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    454
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 8, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. HOYLMAN-SIGAL -- read twice and ordered printed, and
   when printed to be committed to the Committee on Crime Victims,  Crime
   and Correction
 
 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:
 
   Section 1. Section 259-c of the executive law is amended by adding two
 new subdivisions 18 and 19 to read as follows:
   18. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER SECTION OF LAW, WHERE A PERSON SERVING A
 SENTENCE OF INCARCERATION HAS SERVED AT LEAST  FIFTEEN  YEARS  OF  THEIR
 SENTENCE  OR SENTENCES AND HAS REACHED THE AGE OF FIFTY-FIVE OR GREATER,
 CONDUCT AN INTERVIEW WITHIN SIXTY DAYS  OF  THE  DATE  OF  THE  PERSON'S
 FIFTY-FIFTH  BIRTHDAY  OR  THE  LAST  DAY OF THE FIFTEENTH YEAR OF THEIR
 SENTENCE, WHICHEVER IS LATER, PURSUANT TO  SECTION  TWO  HUNDRED  FIFTY-
 NINE-I  OF  THIS  ARTICLE  TO  DETERMINE  WHETHER  SUCH PERSON SHOULD BE
 RELEASED TO COMMUNITY SUPERVISION. IF THE BOARD DETERMINES THAT  RELEASE
 IS   APPROPRIATE   PURSUANT  TO  THE  TERMS    OF  SECTION  TWO  HUNDRED
 FIFTY-NINE-I OF THIS ARTICLE, THEN THE BOARD SHALL RELEASE THE PERSON TO
 COMMUNITY SUPERVISION.   IF RELEASE  TO  COMMUNITY  SUPERVISION  IS  NOT
 GRANTED,  THE  PERSON  SHALL  BE INFORMED IN WRITING WITHIN TWO WEEKS OF
 SUCH APPEARANCE OF THE FACTORS  AND  REASONS  FOR  THE  DENIAL  OF  SUCH
 RELEASE  AND  THE  BOARD  SHALL SPECIFY A DATE NOT MORE THAN TWENTY-FOUR
 MONTHS FROM SUCH DETERMINATION FOR RECONSIDERATION, AND  THE  PROCEDURES
 TO  BE  FOLLOWED  UPON  RECONSIDERATION SHALL BE THE SAME. IF RELEASE TO
 COMMUNITY SUPERVISION IS GRANTED, THE BOARD SHALL SET RELEASE CONDITIONS
 AND THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION SHALL OTHERWISE APPLY AS  THOUGH  THE
 PERSON  WAS  RELEASED  AFTER  THE  COMPLETION  OF  SUCH PERSON'S MINIMUM
 SENTENCE.  THE RELEASE ASSESSMENT AND  DETERMINATION  REQUIRED  BY  THIS
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD00225-01-5

 S. 454                              2
 
 SUBDIVISION  SHALL BE IN ADDITION TO, AND MAY NOT REPLACE, OTHER RELEASE
 ASSESSMENTS AND DETERMINATIONS REQUIRED BY LAW.
   19.  SUBMIT  REPORTS, QUARTERLY, TO THE GOVERNOR, THE TEMPORARY PRESI-
 DENT OF THE SENATE, THE SPEAKER OF THE ASSEMBLY, THE MINORITY LEADER  OF
 THE  SENATE, THE MINORITY LEADER OF THE ASSEMBLY, THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE
 SENATE COMMITTEE ON CRIME VICTIMS, CRIME AND CORRECTION, AND THE  CHAIR-
 PERSON  OF  THE  ASSEMBLY  COMMITTEE  ON  CORRECTION. SUCH REPORTS SHALL
 INCLUDE: (I) THE NUMBER  OF  PAROLE  INTERVIEWS  HELD  PURSUANT  TO  THE
 REQUIREMENTS  OF SUBDIVISION EIGHTEEN OF THIS SECTION; (II) THE OUTCOMES
 OF PAROLE INTERVIEWS HELD PURSUANT TO THE  REQUIREMENTS  OF  SUBDIVISION
 EIGHTEEN OF THIS SECTION; AND (III) WHERE PAROLE WAS DENIED FOLLOWING AN
 INTERVIEW  HELD  PURSUANT TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF SUBDIVISION EIGHTEEN OF
 THIS SECTION, THE ARTICULATED REASONS FOR EACH DENIAL,  THE  MEMBERS  OF
 THE  BOARD  ASSIGNED  IN  EACH CASE AND A RECORD OF THEIR VOTES, AND THE
 RACE, SEX, FACILITY, AND CRIME OF CONVICTION OF EACH  DENIED  APPLICANT.
 SUCH REPORTS SHALL NOT INCLUDE PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION ABOUT
 APPLICANTS.    REPORTS  REQUIRED  BY THIS SUBDIVISION SHALL BE PUBLISHED
 QUARTERLY ON A PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE WEBSITE MAINTAINED BY THE BOARD.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that all persons
 who meet the eligibility requirements established by section one of this
 act upon the effective date of this  act  shall  be  interviewed  within
 sixty days of such date.

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Senate Bill S454

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Crime Victims, Crime And Correction Committee

co-Sponsors

2025-S454 (ACTIVE) - Details

2025-S454 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2025-S454 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S454 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S454

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Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Crime Victims, Crime And Correction Committee

co-Sponsors

2025-S454 (ACTIVE) - Details

2025-S454 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2025-S454 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S454 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments