Less Is More: A Legislative Pathway to Parole Reform

SESSION INFO

Wednesday, August 31, 2022
9:45 AM - 10:45 AM
Session Type: Workshop

Last year, the Governor of New York state signed the Less Is More Act into law, a bill that drastically transforms parole within the state. The Less Is More act significantly limits incarceration for technical violations, and includes provisions such as earned time credits, ending automatic detention for technical violations, and establishing the right to counsel in revocation proceedings. The bill was designed and supported by a broad coalition that included people with lived experience, community groups, service providers, county elected officials, and public safety experts. Participants in this workshop will be given the opportunity to hear from stakeholders that were integral to this legislative success. Panelists will discuss the bill in its design, advocacy and its current implementation.

SESSION PRESENTERS

Ms. Kendra Bradner
Director of Research and Policy, Probation and Parole Reform Project, Columbia University Justice Lab

Donna Hylton
Author, Activist and Co-Founder, A Little Piece of Light


A Little Piece of Light’s President & CEO, Donna Hylton leads a community of organizers who are women, men, and gender-fluid individuals directly impacted by the criminal justice system at the forefront of criminal justice reform. Donna's philosophy and work as an activist, speaker, reentry specialist, and author aims to reverse the alarming, ever-increasing rate at which women and girls of color are incarcerated and their communities damaged. Donna is committed to the development of safe and successful pathways of reentry for women, girls, and gender fluid people.


Kenyatta Muzzanni
Director of Organizing, Katal Center for Equity, Health and Justice


Kenyatta Muzzanni is the director of organizing the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice. Since joining the team in 2018, Kenyatta has worked with members on issues including mass incarceration, drug policy, and housing. As Katal’s first on-the-ground organizer in Connecticut, she helped build the statewide membership base and supported the development of other organizers in the field through our BLOC Roundtable.


Emily NaPier Singletary
Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, Unchained


Emily Napier Singletary has worked to dismantle systems of punishment for over 15 years as an organizer, advocate, researcher, and educator. She spent 12 years with the Center for Community Alternatives, first as a research associate and eventually as Director of Justice Strategies, the agency's research, training, public advocacy, and policy division. There she played a lead role in multiple local and statewide campaigns, most recently to remove the criminal history question from the admissions application for the State University of New York (SUNY) and to stop automatically prosecuting 16- and 17-year-olds as adults in New York