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Gov. Hochul signs Less Is More Act designed to improve justice, safety in city jails

Hochul Less Is More
Posted at 1:52 PM, Sep 17, 2021
and last updated 2021-09-17 13:52:13-04

NEW YORK (WKBW) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed the Less is More Community Supervision and Revocation Reform Act, and announced that 191 people are being released on Friday.

Under this legislation, New Yorkers will be able to avoid jail time for most nonviolent parole violations.

I watched the Attica trials and I heard the stories come forth. To me it was more than watching on television. I saw people's faces and I heard what went on in those horrific, horrific circumstances. I'm still in the resolve that that should not have happened 50 years ago - and it sure as hell shouldn't be happening 50 years later in 2021," Gov. Hochul said. "I also believe that what today is about is protecting human life, the lives of the people who are incarcerated as well as the corrections officers. It's about protecting human rights. The right to work in a safe environment, the right to live and exist in an environment that is clean, hygienic, and above all safe. It's also about protecting human dignity, and this questions who we are as a people when we can allow situations as we've seen in Rikers exist in a prosperous, mighty city like New York. The fact that this exists is an indictment on everyone. And I'm going to do what I can and I've taken some actions that I want to explain today because no one, no inmate, no corrections officer, no family members who visit should have to witness the reality of Rikers as it exists today."

The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision created a deal with New York that allows for hundreds of definite sentenced incarcerated individuals, which are those sentenced to at least one day but less than one year, to be transferred from Rikers Island to State custody, where they will serve out their sentences in DOCCS facilities.