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NOZZOLIO LEGISLATION TO BECOME LAW – WILL PREVENT RELEASE OF VIOLENT INMATES WITHOUT PAROLE SUPERVISION

Albany--State Senator Michael F. Nozzolio today announced that the State Senate has adopted legislation he sponsored that will prevent the release of dangerous criminals back into neighborhoods across New York State without parole supervision. The bill reflects a three-way agreement among the Senate, the Assembly, and the Governor.

In April, the Court of Appeals ruled that the state cannot impose parole supervision on inmates as they exit prison when the judge who sentenced them neglected to require it. Without the Nozzolio legislation becoming law, the court ruling would have allowed prisoners to be released without parole supervision.

"This important legislation is designed to keep thousands of violent criminals from being turned loose into our communities without proper post-release parole supervision,” said Senator Michael F. Nozzolio, Chairman of the State Senate Crime Victims, Crime & Corrections Commitee. “This agreement is critically important to protecting the public and underscores the important role which Parole Officers play in keeping our communities safe. It is my belief that this legislation will serve to address the technical loophole created by the Judiciary and establish a process to protect the public safety while also balancing individual's legal rights."

The legislation would:

> Require those courts which failed to properly impose sentences as required by law to resentence those inmates affected by the courts’ errors;

> Establish a procedure for DOCS and Parole to identify these cases and to cause the courts to initiate resentencings;

> Impose a prescribed time frame within which the courts are mandated to perform the resentencings;

> Allow District Attorneys to preserve existing convictions in those cases where the defendant would have otherwise have a right to vacate his plea and demand a new trial by allowing the district attorney to consent to the original sentence imposed without the imposition of a period of post release supervision; and

These provision apply to all improperly sentenced inmates currently in prison or released and on parole supervision, and to those who have been reincarcerated on violations of post release supervision.

The bill was sent to the Assembly.

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