More Prison Releases Sought To Combat Overcrowding

Operating under the weight of a burgeoning inmate population, the chairman of the state Board of Correction pressed the parole commission on Friday to increase releases from the state prison system.

John Hayden told members of the Commission on Pardons and Parole that of the recommendations Gov. Phil Batt has made to ease pressure for more cells even modest changes in parole policies have the potential for greatest relief.

But even though the commission has gotten an extra $350,000 in the last two budgets to hire seven hearing officers to help the five part-time, citizen commission members expedite cases, Hayden said the system is not seeing a payback.

“We’re spending a lot of money to do it, and we’re not getting the additional paroles yet,” he told the commissioners. “If we don’t soon, we’re going to have to look at what we’re doing.”

The commission has been using the hearing officers to provide more detailed information on each parole applicant, and the members said that combined with better coordination of prison programs preparing inmates for release has made them more comfortable with more parole approvals.

Last year the commission hear handled 1,300 parole requests and granted almost 800, or 63 percent. Two years earlier, it handled 1,100 cases and granted 600 paroles, or 54 percent.

The commission has been working toward a system that would allow it to handle cases involving those relatively minor crimes based solely on the review of a hearing officer’s written report, eliminating the need for a formal time-consuming hearings. And Director Olivia Craven said that process could begin in January.

But commission members appeared uncomfortable with the idea of ceding any of the responsibility for granting paroles to hearing officers. They also raised questions about the value of granting more paroles than the number they now deem justified.

“The decision is to get them out if you can,” Camille Tillinghast said. “But how do you keep them out. I’m just as concerned about that.”

Friday’s session came just three days after Batt released his recommended alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders that included reducing the requirements parole candidates need to meet to gain release and giving the commission more discretion in deciding just how much additional time an parolee should serve in prison for violating conditions of his release.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Denton Darrington, R-Declo, told the commission he generally endorsed the governor’s proposals in principle and reiterated his belief that the panel should remain completely independent of outside influences.

But House Judiciary Chairman Celia Gould expressed reservations.