Bill Text: NY S00454 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: 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.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 30-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-08 - REFERRED TO CRIME VICTIMS, CRIME AND CORRECTION [S00454 Detail]

Download: New_York-2025-S00454-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           454

                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                       (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:

     1    Section 1. Section 259-c of the executive law is amended by adding two
     2  new subdivisions 18 and 19 to read as follows:
     3    18. notwithstanding any other section of law, where a person serving a
     4  sentence of incarceration has served at least  fifteen  years  of  their
     5  sentence  or sentences and has reached the age of fifty-five or greater,
     6  conduct an interview within sixty days  of  the  date  of  the  person's
     7  fifty-fifth  birthday  or  the  last  day of the fifteenth year of their
     8  sentence, whichever is later, pursuant to  section  two  hundred  fifty-
     9  nine-i  of  this  article  to  determine  whether  such person should be
    10  released to community supervision. If the board determines that  release
    11  is   appropriate   pursuant  to  the  terms    of  section  two  hundred
    12  fifty-nine-i of this article, then the board shall release the person to
    13  community supervision.   If release  to  community  supervision  is  not
    14  granted,  the  person  shall  be informed in writing within two weeks of
    15  such appearance of the factors  and  reasons  for  the  denial  of  such
    16  release  and  the  board  shall specify a date not more than twenty-four
    17  months from such determination for reconsideration, and  the  procedures
    18  to  be  followed  upon  reconsideration shall be the same. If release to
    19  community supervision is granted, the board shall set release conditions
    20  and the provisions of this section shall otherwise apply as  though  the
    21  person  was  released  after  the  completion  of  such person's minimum
    22  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

     1  subdivision  shall be in addition to, and may not replace, other release
     2  assessments and determinations required by law.
     3    19.  submit  reports, quarterly, to the governor, the temporary presi-
     4  dent of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the minority leader  of
     5  the  senate, the minority leader of the assembly, the chairperson of the
     6  senate committee on crime victims, crime and correction, and the  chair-
     7  person  of  the  assembly  committee  on  correction. Such reports shall
     8  include: (i) the number  of  parole  interviews  held  pursuant  to  the
     9  requirements  of subdivision eighteen of this section; (ii) the outcomes
    10  of parole interviews held pursuant to the  requirements  of  subdivision
    11  eighteen of this section; and (iii) where parole was denied following an
    12  interview  held  pursuant to the requirements of subdivision eighteen of
    13  this section, the articulated reasons for each denial,  the  members  of
    14  the  board  assigned  in  each case and a record of their votes, and the
    15  race, sex, facility, and crime of conviction of each  denied  applicant.
    16  Such reports shall not include personally identifiable information about
    17  applicants.    Reports  required  by this subdivision shall be published
    18  quarterly on a publicly accessible website maintained by the board.
    19    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that all persons
    20  who meet the eligibility requirements established by section one of this
    21  act upon the effective date of this  act  shall  be  interviewed  within
    22  sixty days of such date.