Hundreds are still jailed for technical parole violations in NYC, which means decarceration is happening far too slowly

As cities attempt to reduce their jail populations, they should pay attention to the lesson of NYC’s slow decarceration: Even releasing "low-level offenders" is a complicated process liable to be bogged down by delays.

by Wanda Bertram and Emily Widra

On March 21st, the Board of Correction of New York City recommended that the city decrease its in-custody population by at least 40%, or over 2,500 people.¹ But a full month later, NYC has brought the jail population down from pre-pandemic levels by only 27%. And while NYC may be a model for cities that have done much less, like New Orleans, Miami, and St. Louis², it is also a cautionary tale for doing so little. The infection rate on Rikers Island remains 5 times higher than that of New York City and over 7 times higher than that of New York State.

The city could bring down the infection rates in jails by releasing more people: A smaller jail population allows for physical space for social distancing and quarantining, reduces the burden on correctional healthcare staff, allows for accommodations for staff sick leave, and slows viral transmission both within the jail and to the community at large.

While all incarcerated people should be considered for release, it's particularly shocking that NYC has been slow to release people held on "technical violations" of parole — that is, for infractions that are not even crimes. As of April 22nd, there were still 293 people held in NYC jails for technical parole violations.

There are a few reasons to be surprised by the number of people still jailed for technical violations in New York City. First is that it seems to run contrary to Governor Andrew Cuomo's March 27 order that 1,100 people incarcerated for technical violations in New York state — including 600 in NYC jails alone — be considered for release. Second is that the city is facing significant pressure to release people held on technical violations, not only from community advocates, but from authorities within the parole system. (In early March, a coalition of current and former community supervision executives called for the nationwide suspension of arrests for technical probation and parole violations.)

It's not clear who is responsible for holding up the release of people held on technical violations — city officials, state parole officials, judges, or some combination of the three. But what is clear is that this failure to act quickly will make it much harder to reduce the dangerous conditions in New York City jails, leading to more coronavirus infections and deaths. These deaths will disproportionately be people of color, who are overrepresented among technical parole violation detainees in the city's jails.

As we previously reported in Technical violations, immigration detainers, and other bad reasons to keep people in jail, technical violations account for a significant share of prison and jail populations across the country. A 2019 Council of State Governments report revealed that up to two-thirds of annual prison admissions in some states are for technical supervision violations, though these minor infractions involve no actual threat to any individual's safety.

But as other state and local governments attempt to reduce the number of people held for these minor violations, they should pay attention to the lesson of NYC's slow decarceration: Even releasing "low-level offenders" is a complicated process liable to be bogged down by delays. State parole officials, city correctional leaders, judges, prosecutors, and other decisionmakers all must cooperate in order for hundreds or thousands of people to be released in a short time frame. During a pandemic, any of these officials holding up the release process will mean more deaths.

Footnotes

1. The NYC Board of Correction recommended over 2,500 people be reviewed for release in a March 21st letter to the city's district attorneys and chief judge, the NYC DOC, and the NYS DOCCS. According to the Vera Institute for Justice, the NYC jail system held a total of 5,447 people on February 29th, 2020.
2. Using the Vera Institute for Justice's jail population tool, we compiled a table showing recent population reductions in the largest jails in the U.S. To view the table, visit the footnotes section of the web version of this article.