Senate Approves Parole Flexibility Bill

The first piece of Gov. Phil Batt’s plan to check a skyrocketing prison population has been approved by the Senate.

The bill giving the parole board more flexibility was sent to the House on Thursday without dissent.

Judiciary Chairman Denton Darrington, R-Declo, repeated Batt’s caution against expecting major savings from it or the other three bills still awaiting final Senate approval.

“This will start to a little bit slow the rate of growth in our Department of Correction,” Darrington said.

Batt has said that he expects the entire package might reduce the number of inmates headed into the prison system by several hundred at a savings of several million dollars a year.