Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Editorial: An unofficial parole ban
Virginia inmates sentenced before parole was abolished should get a fair hearing.
From the RoundTable blog
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Legally, Virginia's no-parole law should not affect inmates sentenced before it took effect in 1995. Yet, it seems to. In the past five years, the state parole board has granted parole to an average of just 5.6 percent of eligible inmates each year, down from 42 percent 20 years ago.
Time after time, prisoners are turned down years after they could have expected to be freed under early-release rules in effect at the time they were sentenced. Almost half the time, the only reason is: "The serious nature and circumstances of the crime."
No doubt, the parole board is doing society a service in many of these cases; almost certainly not in all of them.
In every case, the board should look at all 14 factors it is supposed to consider for felons sentenced under very different rules than today's. Justice demands it because before "truth in sentencing," the uncertainties of the system cut both ways.
Then, a first-time offender would be eligible for parole after serving only a quarter of his sentence or 12 years, whichever was less.
Violent offenses drew long sentences that were not always what they seemed, allowing cold-blooded predators back on the streets and enraging the public.
Yet, in some cases, judges imposed longer sentences than they might have, simply to assure a reasonable minimum for a crime that was terrible -- but not so heartless as to demand a lifetime behind bars.
Such seems to be the case with Henry Stump, featured in a March 7 story. As a drunken 19-year-old, he went to rob a bootlegger, hit him in the head with a pipe and killed him. Stump has served almost 30 years of a 93-year sentence, been a model prisoner for the last 20, and been turned down for parole 18 times.
He is one of 11 inmates to file a federal lawsuit seeking to force the parole board to consider them seriously for "early" release. If the suit is expanded to a class action, it would cover almost 5,000 prisoners. Incarcerating them costs Virginia more than $150 million a year.
The state is asking for the suit to be dismissed, and its legal arguments may well prevail. If so, the parole system it has in place should not.
Inmates likely serving sentences longer than intended should have a real chance at parole. If they don't need to be imprisoned for the public safety, let them out, and ease the strain on the public purse.
