Unlocking Billions: A Fiscal Analysis of Pending Justice Reforms in New York State, which examines several key pieces of pending legislation and initiatives in New York State, all of which already have significant support: Elder Parole, Fair and Timely Parole, the HALT Solitary Confinement Act, prison closures, restoring TAP eligibility for college access, and marijuana legalization.
This report analyzes the fiscal implications of some of these critical measures, finding that implementing them would collectively save and/or generate an estimated $1.52 billion for the state annually.
The savings in human lives and potential from the measures outlined in this report are immense and are more important than any fiscal impact. Predominantly poor, Black and Brown New Yorkers continue to be targeted by the war on drugs, criminalized for having an addiction or mental health need, or for behavior that more wealthy white people are not policed for. Then when people are in prisons, the state subjects them to the torture of solitary confinement and rampant racist brutality, and denies people the opportunity to access higher education. Further, people are left to languish and die in prison, either never given a chance to go before a Parole Board for consideration of release or repeatedly denied release based on the nature of their original conviction rather than on who the person is today.
Read the full report here.