Use our email tool to contact your State Senator and Assembly Member asking them to co-sponsor two parole justice bills which would transform New York’s broken parole system. Our legislators need to hear from us: even if they were co-sponsors in previous years, they need to renew their co-sponsorship for the 2025 legislative session.
We are organizing alongside our partners Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) for parole justice in 2025 because our Jewish values teach us that everyone deserves teshuvah — forgiveness and return — instead of endless punishment.
Elder Parole (S454/A514) provides incarcerated people aged 55+ who have already served 15 or more years an opportunity for parole release consideration. This includes some of the state’s oldest and sickest incarcerated people.
Fair & Timely Parole (S159/A127) provides a more meaningful parole review process for incarcerated people who are already parole-eligible, and ensures that people are evaluated for release based on who they are today, including their rehabilitation, personal transformation, and their current risk of violating the law.
Together, these two bills would promote case-by-case consideration for release based on personal transformation and would expand parole eligibility for older New Yorkers who pose no harm to our communities. Both bills had majority support in the Legislature in 2024 – and now is the time to act!
We know that true community safety can only be achieved when elders return home to be part of the social fabric of our communities rather than languishing without hope in prison. Plus this legislation frees up hundreds of thousands of our taxpayer dollars that can be invested directly in the programs and services communities need to thrive like housing and education.
Send an email to your Assembly Member and State Senator now and ask them to sign on as a co-sponsor for these bills.