New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has ordered the immediate release of 191 inmates from the crisis-stricken Rikers Island correctional facility, saying that the individuals in question had served their debt to society but had ended up back in prison due to “technical” parole violations.
Hochul made the announcement at a Sept. 17 event at which she signed the Less Is More: Community Supervision and Revocation Reform Act into law, a criminal justice reform measure meant to reduce instances of parolees being reincarcerated for what she described as “technical violations” of parole conditions, such as missing curfew or failing a drug test.
