Findings from this report include: during 2009, there were a total of 25,976 releases from the New York State Department of Correctional Services; 37 percent of total releases were individuals released to parole supervision as a result of a Parole Board decision, 45 percent were released after reaching their conditional release date, and 11 percent were released with no further supervision; 32 percent of men released were committed for violent offenses, compared to 18 percent of women; and 16,406 of the releases in 2009 were for inmates released to the community for the first time on their current sentence. Data for this report came from the New York State Department of Correctional Services on the characteristics of inmates discharged from the Department during the 2009 calendar year. The report presents information on overall releases and then concentrates on inmates released to the community for the first time on their current sentence, as opposed to those released after a return to prison for a parole violation or a violation of post release supervision. Information is presented on length of time served in custody according to various legal history criteria that include commitment offense, felony class, category of commitment offense, and minimum sentence length. Tables, figures, and appendixes