New State Parole Chief Faces Pressure From Justice Reform Advocates

Activists Push For Speedier Parole For Prisoners Sentenced Under Old Rule

By
Gilman Halsted/WPR

Prison reform advocates want the newly appointed chairman of the state’s parole commission to streamline the parole process for inmates known as “old law prisoners.” They were sentenced before the year 2000 when a law passed effectively abolishing parole.

Family members of some of the 400 old law inmates who are now eligible for parole testified at the confirmation hearing for the new parole chief Dean Stensberg. Judy Cooper said her husband Tony has served 24 years in prison for robbery and attempted homicide and has met all criteria for release but he has been denied parole 14 times.

“You committed a violent crime and, yes, that’s true, victims are never forgotten. But do you believe in change?” Cooper asked. “It says ‘corrections’ but when you’ve taken all the corrective measures that have been given to you, then why isn’t it recognized?”

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Stensberg said he’ll follow current law on granting parole and will pay particular attention to whether inmates have completed all their required treatment programs and pose little risk of committing new crimes.

Reform advocates from the group WISDOM said the current parole system is broken because it ignores the intended sentences handed down by judges before so-called “truth in sentencing” changes went into effect. The most common reason the parole board gives inmates for denying their parole is that they have not served enough time to be punished for their crime. But reformers argue judges who sentenced these inmates expected them to be eligible for parole long before they completed the sentences.

The percentage of inmates eligible for parole who have been granted release has declined steadily since over the past decade. More than a thousand were paroled in 2003-04 but only 140 in 2012-13. Stensberg said the number increased last year to 200.

Reform advocate Ralph Jackson of Madison said he supports Stensberg’s appointment but urged him to consider national studies that indicate most violent offenders who do get paroled don’t go on to commit more violent acts.

Reverend Jerry Hancock, who runs a prison ministry program in Madison, said releasing the 400 old law prisoners who are now already in minimum security prisons would save the state $20 million a year.