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To: Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Senate

Tell Gov. Cuomo: No more racist Parole Board!

Appoint 12 new commissioners to the New York State Parole Board by the June 21 deadline who reflect the racial and geographic makeup of the people in New York's prisons and bring professional diversity to the Board.

Do not reappoint any of the five Commissioners whose terms expire this year: Otis Cruse, James Ferguson, Kevin Ludlow, Julie Smith and William Smith.

Why is this important?

New York's Parole Board is devastating the lives of tens of thousands of people.

In 2015, the Board denied release to over 80 percent of parole applicants, despite the fact that the majority of the applicants were ready for release and posed no risk to public safety.¹

Fewer than one in six Black or Latino men was released at his first parole hearing, compared with one in four white men, according to an analysis by The New York Times of thousands of parole decisions from the past several years.²

Three of the five commissioners whose terms expire this year were appointed decades ago by Republican Governor George Pataki, whose racist “tough-on-crime” policies led to today’s mass incarceration crisis.

The Parole Board is keeping thousands of parole-ready people locked up indefinitely, and it’s happening on Governor Cuomo’s watch.

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1. http://www.doccs.ny.gov/Research/Reports/2016/Parole_Board_Dispositions_2015.pdf
2. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/04/nyregion/new-york-prisons-inmates-parole-race.html

New York, United States

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Updates

2020-07-07 19:48:40 -0700

1,000 signatures reached

2017-06-13 01:08:21 -0700

500 signatures reached

2017-06-12 12:00:51 -0700

100 signatures reached

2017-06-12 07:42:31 -0700

50 signatures reached

2017-06-09 16:59:48 -0700

25 signatures reached

2017-06-09 11:55:33 -0700

10 signatures reached