New Parole Commissioners Voted: What Could This Mean For the Future?

New Parole Commissioners Voted: What Could This Mean For the Future?
By Tristan Darshan

For those of you who do not know, new parole commissioners have been appointed to the New York State Board of Parole. This would seem truly exciting initially to anyone that is appalled by mass incarceration or affiliated with parole injustices but one must not be too optimistic about the future of the parole board. The good news here is that the terms of 3 of the supposed corrupt parole commissioners of the Patacki Era (Ludlow, Smith, and Ferguson) have been allowed to expire; The reason for this being that most criminal justice advocates have protested against the reappointment of these commissioners. However, one commissioner from the Patacki-era, Walter William Smith Jr., remains, and it will be interesting to see what impact this will have on the future. In addition, 5 new members have been appointed:

• Tana Agostini- a policy analyst for the Assembly’s corrections committee.
• Erik Berliner- a former deputy commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction.
• Caryne Demosthenes- a former employee with the division of parole
• Tyece Drake- a clinical supervisor at New Jersey-based Community Education Center.
• Carol Shapiro- the founder and former president of Family Justice, a nonprofit organization.
  
  

What one may find interesting are the accolades of these new parole commissioners. They seem to have hands on experience with corrections as well with the community, so it would be safe to assume that they would understand the impact of not releasing re-entry ready inmates back into their communities. They seem to be more lenient and liberalistic in their ideologies. As a result, they may not be as gruesome and harsh in their decisions as Ludlow, Smith, and Ferguson may be. It also may be interesting to see how the views of William Smith (re-appointee) may clash with the views of the other 5 when it comes to the decision-making after parole interviews. The best thing to do now is to not have any high expectations and to see what the future holds (with these new commissioners). However, the fact that Ludlow, Ferguson and Julie Smith can still continue practicing as Commissioners and making decisions, which can impact the lives of many if the Governor decides to put them on a holdover is unacceptable… there’s still work to do.  We have to make sure they are gone!! So lets continue to focus and fight for the injustices of parole.