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Borrello introduces parole reform bill

It’s been more than a year since the controversy over the release of convicted murderer Edward Kindt from state prison.

State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, hasn’t forgotten.

This week, Borrello introduced S.9872, a bill that establishes the Parole Board Accountability Act. Borrello’s legislation would require incarcerated individuals who are released on parole, via a vote that is not unanimous, be placed in the community where one of the two board members primarily reside. It also establishes a procedure of which of the two board members’ communities the parolee will be released in.

“This legislation is necessary to ensure that if a parole decision is not unanimous, the released individual is placed in the community of one of the members who voted in favor of the release. This direct connection between the incarcerated individual and the parole board members who voted in favor of their release creates a personal stake for board members in the outcomes of their decisions. By doing this board members are encouraged to be more thoughtful and responsible when voting,” Borrello wrote in his legislative justification. “Placing released incarcerated individuals in the communities of the board members who supported their release addresses community concerns about the impact parole board members have on local safety and resources. Members need to have complete confidence in their decision to reintegrate these incarcerated individuals.”

The legislation will largely be symbolic. It’s unlikely Democrats in the state Legislature will allow the bill to even reach a committee vote, much less a floor vote. But it registers Borrello’s displeasure with the Parole Board in the legislative record.

Borrello’s bill would require parolees who are released when a parole vote isn’t unanimous to be placed in a shelter, halfway house, or a transitional residential facility that is geographically closest to the community of one of the two board members who voted in favor of the person’s release. The state corrections commissioner would decide which community the parolee is released into with a coin flip that is publicly available on a live web stream.

“Further, by mandating that the decision of where to place the releasee is publicly available live-streamed coin flip, makes the process transparent,” Borrello wrote. “This openness helps build public trust in our parole board process, demonstrating that decisions are made fairly and without bias.”

In May 2023, The Post-Journal and OBSERVER reported that Kindt was being moved to a hotel in Westfield. That plan sparked plenty of outrage from both Borrello and residents in the county.

Kindt was convicted of murdering Salamanca’s Penny Brown in 2000. On Mother’s Day 1999, while she was out jogging with her two dogs on a nature trail near her home, she was ambushed and sexually assaulted by Kindt, who ultimately strangled her with her dog’s leash.

Because he was 15 at the time of the killing, he was spared a life term on his plea to second-degree murder and sentenced to nine years to life in prison, the maximum sentence available for a juvenile at the time.

Borrello was one of those critical of the decision at the time.

“Kindt had interviewed with the Parole Board in February 2023 after being denied parole several times, but his last request was granted, and the members voted 2-1 to set the murderer free. He became a free man at the age of 39, the same age Brown was when she was killed,” Borrello wrote. “Kindt should never have been released from prison, especially not in Poughkeepsie. The Board members who voted in favor of his release should have been held accountable for their actions, highlighting the need for this legislation.”

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