THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC HAS EXPOSED THE ABSURDITIES OF NEW YORK’S PAROLE SYSTEM
“MICHAEL HILTON HAD been back in New York City for two years, after serving a 17-year sentence for robbery at an upstate prison, when the coronavirus pandemic struck. His only daughter died of the virus in the spring, and at 64 and with a host of medical conditions, including HIV, Hilton feared for his health at the homeless shelter where his parole officer had ordered him to stay. “The shelter is the last place I need to be,” he told me in an interview. “Guys are very irresponsible in those types of situations, they don’t wear masks and none of that.””