The Legal Aid Society praised Governor Kathy Hochul for her timely signing of the Less Is More Act, legislation that will comprehensively reform the State’s parole system, as reported by Spectrum News.

The Less Is More Act – which has garnered wide-ranging support from public defenders, prosecutors, criminal justice reform advocates, and impacted communities – reforms New York State’s parole revocation system by eliminating incarceration for most minor non-criminal violations, requiring prompt judicial review of parole violation charges, placing caps on revocation sanctions, and providing a path to earned discharge from supervision.

“With the stroke of a pen, New York now finally turns the page on a draconian parole revocation system that helped perpetuate mass incarceration for decades, said Tina Luongo, Attorney-in-Charge of the Criminal Defense Practice at The Legal Aid Society.

The bill will also help to alleviate the crisis unfolding in City Jails by allowing many New Yorkers being held on these types of parole violations to be released. In order for that to happen, its provisions must be implemented without delay, as the Governor has instructed.

“The legislation – if implemented by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) immediately – will provide essential relief to the ongoing humanitarian crisis at Rikers Island by securing the release of over two hundred people currently held on non-criminal, technical parole violations,” Luongo continued.

“The Legal Aid Society lauds Governor Kathy Hochul and the Legislature for enacting this critical bill into law which will literally save lives.”