Mission & Core Services

To ensure public safety by granting community supervision when appropriate under the governing standards, revoking community supervision when necessary, and discharging individuals from their sentence when it is in the best interest of society.

The New York State Board of Parole is responsible for discretionary release, parole conditions, and revocations, as well as receiving victim impact statements and clemency recommendations.

Role of the Board of Parole

Overview

The Board of Parole is an independent body and the sole entity that considers and determines parole eligibility, sets conditions of release, and revokes parole when the conditions are violated.

Parole is discretionary release from prison that enables the former offender to serve the remainder of their sentence in the community as long as the terms of conditions set by the New York State Board of Parole are met.

 

Making Release Determinations

The Parole Board determines which incarcerated individuals serving indeterminate sentences in state prison may be released to community supervision. Executive Law (Section 259-i (2) (a)) requires the Parole Board to personally interview incarcerated individuals eligible for release.

The Parole Board panel, generally comprised of 2 or 3 members, reviews the incarcerated individual's file, letters in support of or opposition to release, and recommendations from district attorneys, sentencing courts, and defense attorneys who represented them at the time of the offense to determine release.

Incarcerated individuals do not have the right to counsel at release interviews.

 

Conditions of Release

The Board sets conditions of release for incarcerated individuals released to community supervision.

The Board also sets release conditions for those "conditionally released" to community supervision by statute who have earned time off the maximum sentence for good behavior.

Sentencing reforms enacted in 1995 and 1998 change sentences for violent felony offenders. Violent offenders now receive determinate prison sentences, which are definite terms that are not subject to review by the Parole Board. For example, a sentence of six years is determinate because the individual will spend no more than six years incarcerated (minus time off for good behavior, in certain instances). Individuals with determinate sentences are released to Community Supervision without appearing before the Parole Board for release consideration, but the Parole Board still imposes conditions of release for them. Once the individual is rendered, the Parole Officer may also set conditions.

 

Revoking Parole

Under Executive Law (Section 259-i (3) (f) (x)), the Parole Board has the authority to revoke community supervision when it determines a releasee has violated the conditions of release in an important respect.

Parole Board action may result in returning the individual to state prison or imposing other appropriate sanctions. In some cases, Parole Board action has been delegated to Administrative Hearing Officers, which under the authority of the Parole Board, adjudicates due process violations.

Parole Process

Learn more about the parole process, including when it begins, how to prepare, decisions, and release. 

Board Members

The Board of Parole consists of 16 members. Each member is appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate for a six-year term. One member is designated by the Governor to serve as Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the Division. See the board members' biographies and terms on our Meet the Board of Parole page. 

 

Business Meeting Schedule

PUBLIC NOTICE

 

NOTICE OF NYS BOARD OF PAROLE BUSINESS MEETINGS

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN pursuant to section 104 of the N.Y. Public Officers Law that the Board of Parole will conduct its 2025 monthly business meetings quarterly on the below dates. Said meetings shall take place at the New York State Training Academy of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision located at 1134 New Scotland Avenue, Albany, NY, 12208, and will be posted at 
https://www.youtube.com/@NYSBoardofParole 

        

                

1st Quarter                   Monday, March 9th              11:00AM

2nd Quarter                  TBD                   

3rd Quarter                   TBD

4th Quarter                   TBD

 

*Please note, all meetings are subject to change. 

                                                                       Darryl C. Towns, Chairman

                                                                       Board of Parole

Upcoming Meetings

Past Meetings

November 17, 2025 Business Meeting

 

July 28, 2025 Business Meeting

 

March 3, 2025 Business Meeting

 

September 16, 2024 Business Meeting

 

June 10, 2024 Business Meeting

 

April 15, 2024 Business Meeting

 

September 25, 2023 Business Meeting 

 

July 24, 2023 Business Meeting 

 

June 12, 2023 Business Meeting 

 

April 24, 2023 Business Meeting

 

March 6, 2023 Business Meeting

 

January 30, 2023 Business Meeting

 

December 19, 2022 Business Meeting

 

October 21, 2022 Business Meeting

 

September 26, 2022 Business Meeting

 

August 22, 2022 Business Meeting

 

June 27, 2022 Business Meeting

 

May 2, 2022 Business Meeting

 

March 28, 2022 Business Meeting

 

February 28, 2022 Business Meeting

 

February 7, 2022 Special Meeting

 

January 31, 2022 Business Meeting

 

November 22, 2021 Business Meeting

 

September 20, 2021 Business Meeting

 

June 21, 2021 Business Meeting

 

May 24, 2021 Business Meeting

 

April 19, 2021 Business Meeting

 

March 22, 2021 Business Meeting

 

February 22, 2021 Business Meeting

 

January 25, 2021 Business Meeting

 

November 24, 2020 Business Meeting

 

October 19, 2020 Business Meeting

 

August 24, 2020 Business Meeting

 

February 24, 2020 Business Meeting

 

January 27, 2020 Business Meeting

 

December 9, 2019 Business Meeting

 

October 21, 2019 Business Meeting

 

September 23, 2019 Business Meeting

History

The former Division of Parole was established in the Executive Department on July 1, 1930. At that time, a full-time Board of Parole comprised of three members was created and paroling functions for all the State prisons were transferred from the Department of Corrections to the Division of Parole. The training schools, correctional institutions for mentally disabled prisoners, and the women's reformatory maintained separate parole systems until 1945 when parole was consolidated throughout the state.

In 1967, the New York State legislature passed legislation establishing authority for the Board of Parole to grant conditional release of parole to persons under definite sentences and to persons incarcerated in local reformatories. This legislation also provided for the transfer of duties and functions of the New York City Parole Commission to the New York State Division of Parole.

On January 1, 1971, the Division of Parole was consolidated with the Department of Corrections to form the Department of Correctional Services (DOCS). This merger was based on the premise that a coordinated effort of institutional and community supervision of convicted offenders would be more effective in reducing recidivism.

Parole remained part of DOCS until January 1, 1978, when the Division was once again placed in the Executive Department as a separate agency through the Parole Reform Act of 1977. In addition to reestablishing the Division as a separate agency, the 1977 legislation mandated the formal adoption of Parole Guidelines designed to structure the Parole Board's decisions concerning the minimum period of imprisonment and the granting or denying of parole release. 

In 2011, the New York State Department of Corrections and the New York State Division of Parole merged to form a new agency, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS). As a result of this merger, the New York State Board of Parole is now part of DOCCS with independent decision and rule making authority regarding the powers and duties as described in Article 12-B of the Executive Law.