New York emptied prisons at a faster rate than any other state between 2019 and 2022 except for New Jersey, West Virginia, and Washington.
The total inmate populations in Empire State prisons and local jails fell from 64,306 in 2019 to just 47,003 in 2022 — a 26.9% drop in three years — according to a report released Wednesday by the Vera Institute for Justice.
“Hot labor markets appear to be helping to keep incarceration levels down,” Jacob Kang-Brown, who wrote the 30-page report on incarceration trends by state, said.
“With proper support, reducing incarceration can assist with workforce shortages and help reduce inequality.”
The report drew no conclusions on the exact reasons for the big decrease in incarceration in New York, but progressive policies like bail reform appear to play a significant role alongside the COVID-19 pandemic and decreasing unemployment.
Limits on imposing cash bail that took effect in 2020 have allowed more people to avoid jail while they await their trials while “Less is More” legislation has helped people avoid going back to prison over technical parole violations.
Albany Democrats recently approved “Clean Slate” legislation that would automatically seal criminal records for people that serve their sentences though it remains unclear whether Gov. Kathy Hochul will sign the bill into law.
“My Democrat colleagues are not focused on reducing crime. They are only focused on releasing criminals from prison or making sure they don’t end up there at all,” state Sen. George Borello (R-Jamestown) said in response to the report.
“As a result, we may be #4 in releasing criminals, but we are Number One at increasing crime. This is the direct result of criminal-coddling legislation.”
Assembly Minority Leader William Barclay (R-Fulton) credited Democrats with achieving the goal of reducing incarceration rates while blasting how they supposedly did it.
“The prison population may be dropping, but unfortunately there’s been no reduction in the number of crimes being committed,” Barclay thundered.
“‘Decarceration’ Democrats will celebrate this report. But the reality is that it’s never been a better time to be a career criminal in New York.”
Other blue states in the Northeast have also seen big drops in the number of incarcerated people, including Massachusetts and Connecticut, which respectively say 24.3% and 21.3% drops between 2019 and 2022.
COVID-19 helped drive decreases in prison and jail populations across the country.
Alaska was the only state that saw an increase though Texas had a slight jump in people held at local jails, according to the report.
“This historic drop, which far outpaced decarceration from criminal legal system reforms in the years before the pandemic, was not enough to change the United States’ status as a global outlier in its use of incarceration,” the report states before adding:
“[But] new data compiled by the Vera Institute of Justice shows that most county jails and state and federal prisons have begun refilling.”