William Boyland Jr., a former Brooklyn Assemblyman whose influential family has been dubbed “the Kennedys of Brownsville,” was one of 1,583 people granted clemency by the outgoing Biden Administration Thursday.
Boyland Jr., was convicted on 21 bribery and corruption charges in 2014 and sentenced to a 14-year prison term. But in February 2021, he was granted a compassionate release to home confinement on account of the COVID-19 pandemic after serving less than half his time.
Prosecutors, who opposed his early return home, said the Bureau of Prisons hadn’t said whether Boyland would be required to return to a cell once the pandemic ended.
Boyland conceded after his conviction that returning to elected office wasn’t realistic. A street, a public school and a park in Brooklyn are named after his uncle, former State Assemblyman Thomas S. Boyland.
Former Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. (Aaron Showalter/New York Daily News)
Boyland Jr., was elected to the state Assembly in 2003. More than a decade later, the disgraced politician was found guilty of soliciting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from undercover feds and stealing money meant to help senior citizens.
In one scheme, he shook down an undercover agent posing as a carnival promoter, getting more than $14,000 in bribes to grease the wheels for permits, licenses and letters of support from his office. In another, he scammed the state out of more than $71,000 in travel voucher money.
Boyland Jr., said he intended to spend his time behind bars helping other inmates who are struggling with mental health issues.
In September, he asked a judge to shave 563 days of Good Time credit from his sentence because of the work he did in prison.
“While incarcerated, I worked as a GED instructor and provided English as a second language instruction,” he wrote.
While under home confinement, Boyland said he had “actively sought to reintegrate into society and build a build a stable productive life.”
That included going to church, enrolling in an online college program and working with senior citizens.
Boyland Jr. declined to comment to the Daily News when reached by phone Thursday.