Connecticut Governor: No Parole For Violent Offenders

[Greg]

No Parole For Violent Offenders | Hartford Courant

The Associated Press

10:41 PM EDT, September 21, 2007

Gov. M. Jodi Rell on Friday banned parole for all Connecticut inmates serving prison time for violent crimes, in response to another serious offense allegedly committed by a state parolee.

New York City police shot and wounded James Biggs, 45, in the Bronx early Friday when they say he threatened them with a kitchen knife. Police say the car he was in was taken in a carjacking in Hartford on Thursday. Biggs was paroled less than a month ago.

Rell's announcement also came two months after two convicted burglars on parole were charged in a violent home invasion in Cheshire that left a woman and her two daughters dead.

The governor also directed the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to immediately review all current parolees who were sentenced for violent crimes. She said any of those convicts who are in violation of their paroles, no matter how minor the offense, will be returned to prison to serve out the remainder of their sentences.

Robert Farr, chairman of the state parole board, said the governor's request is a "perfectly appropriate step."

"All she's asking for is a review of the violent offenders out there," Farr said Friday night. "We were already reviewing burglars and we'll just expand it. It's more work but it's something we're prepared to do."

Some state lawmakers agreed with Rell's decision, but said the move will cause a major population increase in an already crowded Connecticut prison system. Legislators said millions of dollars will have to be spent on new jail space and other measures.

Rell said the parole ban will be in effect until the state reforms its parole process.

"No more. Security comes first," Rell said in a prepared statement late Friday afternoon. "I will not allow public safety to be jeopardized because parolees return to a life of crime."

All criminals convicted of violent offenses in the state are already required to serve 85 percent of their sentences. The parole ban would boost the percentage to 100.

State lawmakers and other officials have been discussing parole reforms since the Cheshire killings in July.

The legislature's Judiciary Committee, which held a hearing on sentencing and parole reforms last week, is considering several proposals, including building new prisons, enacting a true "three strikes and you're out" law, classifying home invasion as a violent crime to increase prison sentences and expanding monitoring of parolees.

Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven and co-chairman of the committee, said he agreed with Rell's ban because of a series of incidents involving parolees, including the Cheshire killings.

Lawlor also said he expects the legislature to convene a special session before next year's regular session. Majority Democrats at a special session on Thursday defeated a Republican proposal to expand the agenda to include bills related to the Cheshire home invasion.

"This is truly an emergency that we're going to have to deal with," Lawlor said Friday.

Democratic leaders said the reforms should not be rushed into but undertaken deliberately with purpose.

The day before the Cheshire killings, there were 18,864 inmates in the state prison system, which is designed to handle 17,000, Lawlor said. There are more than 19,100 inmates today, he said.

Lawlor expected the state prison population to increase another 1,500 within the next year because of the parole ban. He said it would take about five years to open a new prison.

Last week, Correction Department Commissioner Theresa C. Lantz told the Judiciary Committee that the state could build a new 1,000-bed prison for about $110 million, in addition to annual operating costs of $38 million. She also said existing prisons could be expanded.

A 506-bed wing not being used at the state prison in Cheshire is available to handle more inmates. The Carl Robinson prison in Enfield is constructing facilities to handle another 230 inmates.

Since the Cheshire murders, the parole board has reclassified burglars who break into occupied homes as violent offenders. That means they must complete at least 85 percent of their sentence before being eligible for parole. In the past, they needed to serve at least 50 percent.

Meanwhile, current and future second-degree burglary parolees are now subject to random, unannounced nighttime checks of their homes and workplaces by parole officers.

Biggs, the man shot by New York City police, was in stable condition at a local hospital with a thigh wound.

Meanwhile, the two suspects in the Cheshire killings, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky, are both being held in $15 million bond and face the possibility of the death penalty if convicted. Their cases are pending in New Haven Superior Court.

Hayes and Komisarjevsky are charged with capital felony and other crimes in the killings of 48-year-old Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11. Hawke-Petit's husband, Dr. William Petit Jr., was badly beaten but managed to escape after his home was set on fire.

Copyright © 2007, The Associated Press

[Greg]

A Prison Population Shift
Some Inmates May Get Out Early To Make Way For Violent Offenders In Parole Freeze | Hartford Courant

By MARK PAZNIOKAS

Courant Staff Writer

September 25, 2007

As many as 1,200 inmates serving time for nonviolent crimes will be considered for early release to make room for violent offenders ineligible for parole under new policies ordered by Gov. M. Jodi Rell.

Rell, who indefinitely suspended new paroles for violent offenders Friday, said Monday that the early releases will allow the state Department of Correction to manage any population increase caused by the parole suspension.

"We will ensure that violent offenders who pose a risk to society stay behind bars while continuing to help nonviolent offenders make the most effective transition possible back to society," Rell said.

The governor tightened the rules for parole Friday in response to the arrest of James Biggs, a career criminal paroled Aug. 30 for the third time in two years. He was released without the electronic monitoring that Rell had ordered for violent offenders after two parolees were charged in the slayings of three members of a Cheshire family in July.

Biggs was shot and wounded by New York police early Friday as he exited a car that police say he had stolen at knife-point Thursday from a 65-year-old man in Hartford.

In addition to barring violent offenders from parole, Rell ordered correction officials to examine the records of 1,590 current parolees to see if there are grounds to reincarcerate any of the 600 to 800 parolees with convictions for violent crimes.

Rell also ordered parole officials to delay the release of between 400 and 600 inmates who have been approved for parole until she is assured that all records were reviewed in their cases. The suspects in the Cheshire killings were released without such a review.

The governor's office said that correction officials had returned to temporary custody a half-dozen parolees who should have been fitted with electronic monitoring.

The increased use of electronic monitoring since the Cheshire slayings has caused a shortage of the equipment, Rell's office said.

Rell said she has no plans to transfer inmates out of state or to seek emergency steps to expand prison capacity.

The co-chairmen of the legislature's judiciary committee invited Rell to testify at a public hearing next week about how her administration intends to manage the parole suspension, but Rell declined, saying that the statement she released Monday about her parole policy spoke for itself.

Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the judiciary committee, said the committee still might invite correction officials to testify about how they would screen the nonviolent offenders for early release.

State law requires nonviolent offenders to serve at least half their sentences, and inmates who committed violent crimes must serve at least 85 percent, he said.

Lawlor and his co-chairman, Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, said they agree with Rell's decision to suspend parole for violent offenders until the program is reviewed.

But Lawlor said one likely outcome - greater electronic monitoring, including the use of sophisticated global positioning satellites to track parolees - will require additional funding.

"All these options come with a price tag," he said.

One new parole officer will be needed to monitor every 30 inmates placed on GPS tracking, Lawlor said.

Lawlor also said he believed the tighter scrutiny for parole will lead to a larger inmate population.

The state's prison system was designed for 17,000 inmates and now has 19,000.

The population has increased by 280 since the Cheshire slayings, he said.

Without new capacity, a higher inmate population will pose dangers for staff and provoke the intervention of the federal courts, Lawlor said.

Robert Farr, chairman of the board of paroles and pardons, said he supports the moratorium ordered by Rell, but that eventually the parole of violent offenders will resume as a matter of public safety.

With proper monitoring, parole remains a valuable tool, he said.

Studies show that inmates who are released to parole or other supervised programs are less likely to commit new crimes than those who are freed without supervision after completing their sentence.

Contact Mark Pazniokas at mpazniokas@courant.com.

Copyright © 2007, The Hartford Courant