African Americans are returned to New York State prisons for “technical violations” of parole at five times the rate of whites, and Latinx people are 30 percent more likely than whites to be reincarcerated for behavior that would not otherwise merit a prison term, according to a research brief released Thursday.
“Structural racism” in New York’s parole system has created an almost insurmountable barrier for people of color to rehabilitate themselves and re-enter civil society, says the Columbia University Justice Lab.