New York imprisons more people for technical parole violations than any other state, and at a rate almost three times higher than the national average. A new report from Columbia University, shared with the Times Union, estimates there are about 35,000 under parole supervision at a given time. Two years ago, more than 7,200 people were re-incarcerated for rule violations. The re-incarceration of those individuals cost taxpayers at least $683 million, the report estimates.
"It would be one thing if we were just helpless to help these people, but we're making a policy choice, and a policy choice has profound economic implications," said Vincent Schiraldi, an author of the report and co-director of Columbia's Justice Lab. He said the researchers estimate that a person incarcerated for a year costs taxpayers about $78,000, based on staffing costs and overhead, but that is a conservative estimate as it doesn't include pensions or benefits.
