The Board of Parole has voted to release former Democratic political consultant Hank Morris from the Hudson Correctional Facility in the wake of a judicial decision accusing it of manipulating the process to keep Morris behind bars for as long as possible. Morris, 59, who was convicted of securities fraud in a scam involving the state pension system, will be paroled by June 3 after serving 26 months of a 1 1/3-to-four year term. He was at the center of a pay-to-play scandal that also brought down state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who served 20 months in prison.
A parole panel consisting of Chair Andrea Evans and Commissioner Ellen Alexander voted to release Morris following an interview on April 22 (See Transcript) that had been ordered by Columbia County Supreme Court Justice Richard Mott (See Profile). Mott initially held that the board had failed to consider the statutory factors for release and based its determination solely on the instant offense (NYLJ, April 15). Mott then issued a follow-up decision accusing the board of ignoring internal reports showing that Morris is unlikely to re-offend. In the follow-up decision, Mott accused the parole board of engineering the process to keep Morris imprisoned and to evade judicial review of its actions (NYLJ, April 18).
