In the Fall and Winter of 2019-2020, CANY conducted a survey about the parole process with 1,994 incarcerated people across 49 New York State prisons who had gone before a parole board and been denied parole at least one time previously. As an accompaniment to the survey, CANY curated a 5 part documentary series, in which CANY aims to unpack the true nature of New York State’s parole process as told by those with lived experience.

With limited time to consider each case and carry out an in-depth interview with those up for parole, the NYS Board of Parole inadequately acknowledges the individual whose future is being determined. As the videos demonstrate, parole board denials negatively affected not only incarcerated people but also their families and communities. As a whole, this series aims to break down the harmful and unjust elements of the current parole process and provide recommendations for what should be done moving forward.

As CANY urges the public to fundamentally rethink the nature and purpose of incarceration, CANY recognizes that parole must be included in that reimagining, and adequate opportunities for release in New York state must be bolstered. Achieving the goal of decarceration means reducing barriers to releasing people on parole as one of many simultaneous strategies to shrink our criminal justice system.

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