NY State Senate Bill 2025-S5802

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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Date of Action	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Mar 03, 2025	referred to crime victims, crime and correction

co-Sponsors

2025-S5802 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Crime Victims, Crime And Correction
Law Section:: Executive Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §259-i, Exec L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2019-2020: S7651
2021-2022: S2787
2023-2024: S4918

2025-S5802 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to incarcerated individual interviews by the state board of parole; requires such parole board interviews of incarcerated individuals to be conducted in person and in the correctional facility where such incarcerated individual is housed.

2025-S5802 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S5802

SPONSOR: SEPULVEDA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to incarcerated individ-
ual interviews by the state board of parole

 
PURPOSE:

To require in-person parole interviews instead of video interviews.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Sections 1 and 2 amend Executive Law 259-i(2)(a) to require the board to
conduct in-person parole interviews inside correctional facilities.

Section 3 is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Since 1997, most parole interviews have been conducted by video confer-
ence. Prior to that time, all interviews were in person inside of
correctional facilities. Video conferencing was introduced to make the
system more efficient but is in fact maximally inefficient. Three parole
board commissioners now drive from their home offices, usually in
different parts of the state, to a video conference center at a parole
office near the prison where the parole applicant is housed.  For exam-
ple, a parole interview for a prisoner at Elmira Correctional Facility
may include a commissioner from Buffalo, a commissioner from Albany and
a commissioner from New York City, each traveling separately to a parole
office in Syracuse.

Inmate records are not digitalized so DOCCS employees must also travel
from the prisons where they work to the video conferencing sites, bring-
ing the applicants' paper records with them. The DOCCS employees, who,
unlike the commissioners, are paid time and a half for overtime if the
interviews extend past their normal shifts, stay with the records until
the commissioners have finished all their interviews for the day.
Reportedly, there is pressure on the commissioners to keep interviews
short so that DOCCS will not incur overtime charges. Commissioners may
interview 30-35 people in day, without breaks, trying to fit them all
into an 8-hour shift.

Parole commissioners generally use state cars to travel to the video
conference sites and stay overnight, or sometimes two nights, in hotels
near the parole offices where the video conferencing equipment is set
up. There is no cost savings for travel to video conferencing centers,
since they are going to the same areas where the prisoners are housed
and staying in hotels, just as they would if they actually traveled to
the prisons to interview prisoners. According to the Daily News, the
Department of Corrections spent approximately $270,000 over five years
for parole commissioner travel expenses, a number that would not change
much were the commissioners to travel to the prisons themselves rather
than the video conference centers. This is a negligible amount of money
in a 3 billion dollar budget for the department, which would be more
than offset by eliminating travel by DOCCS employees to bring the
records to the commissioners.

Most importantly, the video interviews are dehumanizing and make prison-
ers uncomfortable and nervous. The parole applicants can only see one of
the three commissioners at a time on the video screens used by DOCCS. If
a commissioner bends down, or twists around, only his or her shoulders
may be visible on the screen. It is nearly impossible for either the
commissioners or the parole applicants to make eye contact or read body
language. The individuals seeking parole cannot tell what the off-camera
parole commissioners are doing during the interview. Since most people
who have been incarcerated for long sentences are not tech savvy, having
spent years or decades in a technology-free environment, they tend to be
uncomfortable with any use of technology, let alone the primitive video
conferencing used by the Board. It is difficult to build rapport, evalu-
ate demeanor or accurately assess a person's sincerity under the condi-
tions set up by the Board for video interviews. Both prisoners and
parole commissioners have expressed a strong preference for in-person
interviews.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S.4918 of 2023-2024; Referred to Crime Victims, Crime and Correction;

S.2787 of 2021-22: Referred to Crime Victims, Crime and Correction;

S.7651 of 2020: Referred to Crime Victims, Crime and Correction

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None or a slight savings.

 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DA'Z'E:

This law shall take effect on year after the date on which it shall have
become a law; provided that the amendments to paragraph (a) of subdivi-
sion 2 of section 259-i of the executive law made by section two of this
act shall be subject to the expiration and reversion of such subdivision
pursuant to subdivision d of section 74 of chapter 3 of the laws of
1995, as amended, when upon such date the provisions of section three of
this act shall take effect.

2025-S5802 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5802
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               March 3, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by Sens. SEPULVEDA, COMRIE -- 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 incarcerated  individ-
   ual interviews by the state board of parole

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subparagraph (i) of  paragraph  (a)  of  subdivision  2  of
 section  259-i of the executive law, as amended by section 14 of chapter
 486 of the laws of 2022, is amended to read as follows:
   (i) Except as provided in subparagraph  (ii)  of  this  paragraph,  at
 least  one  month  prior to the date on which an incarcerated individual
 may be paroled pursuant to subdivision one of section 70.40 of the penal
 law, a member or members as determined by the rules of the  board  shall
 [personally]  CONDUCT  AN IN-PERSON interview OF such incarcerated indi-
 vidual IN THE CORRECTIONAL FACILITY WHERE SUCH  INCARCERATED  INDIVIDUAL
 IS HOUSED and determine whether [he or she] SUCH INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL
 should  be paroled in accordance with the guidelines adopted pursuant to
 subdivision four of section two hundred fifty-nine-c of this article. If
 parole is not granted upon  such  review,  the  incarcerated  individual
 shall  be informed in writing within two weeks of such appearance of the
 factors and reasons for such denial of parole.  Such  reasons  shall  be
 given  in  detail and not in conclusory terms. The board shall specify a
 date not more than twenty-four months from such determination for recon-
 sideration, and the procedures to be followed upon reconsideration shall
 be the same. If the incarcerated individual is  released,  [he  or  she]
 SUCH  INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL shall be given a copy of the conditions of
 parole. Such conditions shall where appropriate, include  a  requirement
 that the parolee comply with any restitution order, mandatory surcharge,
 sex offender registration fee and DNA databank fee previously imposed by
 a  court  of  competent  jurisdiction  that  applies to the parolee. The
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10284-01-5

 S. 5802                             2
 
 conditions shall indicate which  restitution  collection  agency  estab-
 lished  under subdivision eight of section 420.10 of the criminal proce-
 dure law, shall be responsible for collection of restitution,  mandatory
 surcharge,  sex  offender  registration  fees  and  DNA databank fees as
 provided for in section 60.35 of the  penal  law  and  section  eighteen
 hundred  nine  of the vehicle and traffic law. If the incarcerated indi-
 vidual is released, [he or she] SUCH INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL shall  also
 be  notified in writing that [his or her] SUCH INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL'S
 voting rights will be restored upon release.
   § 2. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 259-i of the  executive
 law,  as  amended  by  section 15 of chapter 486 of the laws of 2022, is
 amended to read as follows:
   (a) At least one month prior to the expiration of the  minimum  period
 or  periods  of  imprisonment  fixed  by the court or board, a member or
 members as determined by the  rules  of  the  board  shall  [personally]
 CONDUCT  AN IN-PERSON interview OF an incarcerated individual serving an
 indeterminate sentence IN THE CORRECTIONAL FACILITY WHERE SUCH INCARCER-
 ATED INDIVIDUAL IS HOUSED and determine whether [he or she] SUCH  INCAR-
 CERATED  INDIVIDUAL  should  be paroled at the expiration of the minimum
 period or periods in accordance with the procedures adopted pursuant  to
 subdivision four of section two hundred fifty-nine-c of this article. If
 parole  is  not  granted  upon  such review, the incarcerated individual
 shall be informed in writing within two weeks of such appearance of  the
 factors  and  reasons  for  such denial of parole. Such reasons shall be
 given in detail and not in conclusory terms. The board shall  specify  a
 date not more than twenty-four months from such determination for recon-
 sideration, and the procedures to be followed upon reconsideration shall
 be  the  same.  If  the incarcerated individual is released, [he or she]
 SUCH INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL shall be given a copy of the conditions  of
 parole.  Such  conditions shall where appropriate, include a requirement
 that the  parolee  comply  with  any  restitution  order  and  mandatory
 surcharge  previously  imposed by a court of competent jurisdiction that
 applies to the parolee. The conditions shall indicate which  restitution
 collection  agency established under subdivision eight of section 420.10
 of the criminal procedure law, shall be responsible  for  collection  of
 restitution  and mandatory surcharge as provided for in section 60.35 of
 the penal law and section eighteen hundred nine of the vehicle and traf-
 fic law. If the incarcerated individual is released, [he  or  she]  SUCH
 INCARCERATED  INDIVIDUAL  shall also be notified in writing that [his or
 her] SUCH INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL'S voting rights will be restored  upon
 release.
   §  3.  This  act shall take effect one year after the date on which it
 shall have become a law; provided, that the amendments to paragraph  (a)
 of  subdivision  2 of section 259-i of the executive law made by section
 one of this act shall be subject to the expiration and reversion of such
 subdivision pursuant to subdivision d of section 74 of chapter 3 of  the
 laws  of 1995, as amended, when upon such date the provisions of section
 two of this act shall take effect.

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Senate Bill S5802

Sponsored By

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

Actions

co-Sponsors

2025-S5802 (ACTIVE) - Details

2025-S5802 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2025-S5802 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S5802 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

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Sponsored By

Luis R. Sepúlveda

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

Actions

co-Sponsors

Leroy Comrie

2025-S5802 (ACTIVE) - Details

2025-S5802 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2025-S5802 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S5802 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments