A new study reveals that Black and Hispanic individuals incarcerated in New York state prisons are significantly less likely to be granted parole compared to white inmates—a disparity that has worsened since it was first highlighted in 2016.
From January to June 2024, New York’s Parole Board released 34.79% of people of color compared to 48.71% of white individuals, according to a report by the New York University School of Law’s Center for Race, Inequality & the Law, published online Monday.
Since Governor Kathy Hochul assumed office in 2021, 1,338 fewer Black and Hispanic inmates would be incarcerated today if parole rates for these groups matched those of white individuals, the study estimates.
“The sad reality, as this report shows, is that New York’s Parole Board is going backwards,” said Jason Williamson, executive director of NYU Law’s Center and co-author of the report.
The racial disparity in parole decisions gained public attention in 2016 when The New York Times reported that fewer than one in six Black or Hispanic men were released at their first parole hearing, compared to one in four white men. In response, then-Governor Andrew Cuomo pledged to diversify the Parole Board, which at the time had only one Black member and no Latinos among its 13 members.
