Letter to the editor from Commonwealth Attorney Eddy F. Montgomery, Somerset, Kentucky examines another side of the new parole guidelines.
The Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader have written favorable editorials on the state's new parole policy. They fail to see its immense negative impact on our justice system.
The editors uphold this policy as a cost-saving measure, while crying foul that parolees are sent back to prison for "technical violations." To imply that prisons are full of innocent people sent there by mean prosecutors for "technical violations" is dishonest and misleading.
Defendants are sent back to prison for doing heroin, methamphetamine, crack cocaine and getting new convictions. Possession of most drugs is a felony. I fail to see how committing a felony while on parole is a "technical violation." If you have those drugs in your system, at some point you possessed them.
As a prosecutor, I have handled thousands of felony criminal cases. I support drug courts and treatment for drug addicts. I am not a "throw everybody in jail" prosecutor. However, the first step in criminal rehabilitation is to get people to follow the rules of society. If you don't follow the rules, there have to be consequences.
This new system makes a mockery out of that concept. Under this new law, if a defendant gets paroled but violates parole four years later, the state is going to give that defendant four years of jail credit. As punishment for violating parole, parolees will be sent back to prison, have all their time calculated and immediately be released without supervision.
As a victim, would you feel justice was done? We are going to reward the defendant for being able to follow rules for four years for doing the minimum that is expected by society. Explain this to a victim. If the lawmakers don't want people in prison, they should rewrite the criminal code.
If doing methamphetamine, heroin and crack cocaine are technical violations, don't make possession of them a felony. Don't make writing a forged check for $10 a felony. Don't make laws that are felonies and then complain that too many people are violating the law. Don't tell the public you are tough on crime and then let criminals out the back door of the prison. Don't blame prosecutors for enforcing the laws. Prosecutors do not set penalty ranges; we just enforce them.
It is time to have an honest debate about who we want in prison. Since May, over 1,600 convicted felons have been released from prison or parole. That is 1,600 people who have committed felony crimes and are no longer being watched or drug tested. What is going to be the cost to the public for the crimes they are now going to commit? Has anyone figured that into their cost-saving formula?
The new parole law is a blind attempt to save money by endangering the public, frustrating victims, rewarding criminals simply for doing what they should be doing and undermining the faith of law enforcement and prosecutors. And in the end, it won't save money. Worse, it avoids real debate about who should be in prison.
I understand that the new parole rule has been under a lot of conterversity. For those who has never been on parole they do not understand why a "former" criminal walking around on the street is getting credit just like he's in jail. Although, the main reason for this rule is to cut cost, I would like to believe that lawmakers understand what it's like being on parole. Let me shed some light on the subject hopefully allowing everyone to be open minded.
Being on "supervised" parole is a lot like being in prison for many reasons. Some of theses reasons are: the officer makes random visits to your residence and workplace maintaining constant supervision; you have drug screens once a month; the officer visits the public taverns; and the parolee also reports to an officer usually once a month at their office. The list of rules are many including society's and one has to follow them strictly.
On the other hand many prisons are more like camps allowing one to work, have recreation, eat, sleep, have friends, and even get to go out on outings. You do all this without the stress of making payments on anything. There are more stresses and rules being outside than in. The only difference is you don't have the companionship of the opposite sex and the love and joy of doing things with your family everyday.
So you see being on parole is like being in jail and if the parolee can function on the outside and be productive he should get the credit or what is the purpose of putting one in jail, to rot or be rehabilitated. No it' is to rehabilitate and that's what parole does. It allows the former criminal to ease his way back into society and be even more productive than even some of you.
Posted by: aj cobb | Friday, July 25, 2008 at 10:24 AM