CANY Releases New Interactive Dashboard on State Prison Releases
July 16, 2026
Contact: media@correctionalassociation.org
Data Tracks Demographics, Release Mechanisms, and Regional Trends for Individuals Leaving DOCCS Custody
New York, NY – The Correctional Association of New York (CANY) today released a new interactive dashboard containing data on releases from the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) facilities. The dashboard includes releases from January 2015 through May 2026, providing transparency into demographic profiles, commitment counties, security levels, and release types.
Key findings from the new dataset include:
Conditional release has surpassed parole as the leading release mechanism. In 2019, parole accounted for about 50% of releases, compared to approximately 32% through conditional release. As of May 1, 2026, conditional release accounted for about 43% of releases, while parole accounted for roughly 41%. This represents a shift in the composition of release mechanisms, with a greater share of releases occurring when people reach their conditional release dates rather than through Parole Board discretion.
Between 2015 and 2025, the share of releases from medium-security facilities increased from 64% to 69%. This increase corresponded primarily with a decline in releases from minimum-security facilities, which fell from approximately 14% to 11%, including a decline in releases from Drug Treatment Centers from 4% to 0%. The share of releases from maximum-security facilities remained relatively stable at approximately 19%.
People sentenced from counties outside New York City make up a growing majority of both releases and the custody population. The outside-NYC share of releases increased from about 58% in 2015 to 66% as of May 1, 2026. The outside-NYC share of the custody population also increased, rising from 54% in 2014 to about 62% in 2026. In both measures, the outside-NYC share has grown while the New York City share has declined.
Approximately half as many releases from prison occurred in 2025 as in 2015. Annual releases fell from 21,570 in 2015 to 10,042 in 2025, a decline of approximately 50%. Releases reached their lowest level in 2023, at 8,934, and increased modestly in 2024 and 2025. The decline in releases accompanies a decline in the population in custody.
The new dashboard joins CANY’s existing transparency dashboards tracking the state's incarcerated population, unusual incidents, deaths in custody, staffing levels, workers' compensation claims, and mental health care census.
View CANY’s new releases dashboard at:
About CANY
CANY, under §146 of New York’s Correction Law, is charged with visiting and examining the state's correctional facilities to identify and report on prison conditions, the treatment of incarcerated individuals, and the administration of policy promulgated by the executive and legislature. Founded in 1844 by concerned citizens of the state and deputized by the state to provide monitoring and oversight of the state’s prisons in 1846, CANY is one of the first organizations in the country prescribed to administer civilian oversight of prisons.
