Pubdate: Mon, 07 Feb 2000 Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) Copyright: 2000, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact: 414-224-8280 Website: http://www.jsonline.com/ Forum: http://www.jsonline.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimate.cgi Author: Richard P. Jones, MJS Staff INMATES CAN'T EXPECT EARLY PRISON EXIT Parole Standards Are Tight For Those Not Affected By Truth In Sentencing Madison - For the vast majority of inmates sitting in prison today, the chances of getting out early on parole are virtually nil, and it has little to do with the new truth-in-sentencing law. The new law ended parole as of Dec. 31, but that applies only to new offenders. People who commit serious crimes today and go to prison must serve the entire prison term imposed by the judge. However, parole is still possible for roughly 20,000 inmates, the so-called old-world offenders, convicted and imprisoned before truth in sentencing. Even so, the number of paroles has dropped dramatically. And of those that are granted, chances are they come late in a prisoner's term, closer to the mandatory release date. Under Jerry E. Smith Jr., the new Parole Commission chairman, 73 inmates were paroled in October of last year, according to the latest available figures, compiled by the state Department of Corrections. That's the lowest monthly total since the spring of 1998, when John Husz resigned under fire as commission chairman. After he quit in March of that year, the number plummeted to 16 in April, then rose slightly to 29 in May. For one year, Michael T. Sullivan, a retired Milwaukee County judge, took over. Under Sullivan, the number of paroles averaged 166 a month until Sullivan resigned last April at the age of 74. Then Gov. Tommy G. Thompson appointed Smith to the job, which pays $76,625 a year. Since then, the monthly average has been 104 paroles, but the actual number in the latter months has hovered around 75. That's in stark contrast to the final months that Husz served as chairman, when five times as many paroles were granted. Husz paroled 442 inmates in January 1998 alone. Back then, the commission faced an onslaught of criticism. Democrats controlling the Senate claimed Husz worked in concert with corrections to ease prison crowding. Husz maintained that he put public safety first and applied the parole statutes correctly. But when it was clear the Senate would not agree to the Republican governor's decision to reappoint him, Husz stepped down, and he has declined to discuss the whole episode. With paroles now running fewer than 100 a month, there are those who offer a simple explanation: politics. "The parole board became politicized," said Sen. Gwendolynne Moore, a Milwaukee Democrat, who blames her Senate colleagues as much as anyone. "It doesn't matter whichparty did it, for what political purpose. (But) yeah, it was the Democrats that did it, and I maintain that the Parole Commission has now been politicized." In an interview, Smith offered a number of reasons for the decline in paroles, foremost among them, his absence for more than a month last fall when his wife, Carol, died of cancer. He said politics play no role in the board's decision, and what happened to Husz has not influenced him in any way. The low number of paroles granted by Smith so far is good news to Kenosha County District Attorney Robert Jambois, an especially vocal critic of Husz. "I didn't know Jerry Smith, and quite frankly, I was concerned, but I've been pleased with what I've seen," Jambois said. "This is the way the parole system is supposed to work. We're not supposed to just parole people when they reach a certain percentage of their time." Inmates convicted and imprisoned under the old law are eligible for early release after serving a quarter of their sentence. If denied early release, or discretionary parole as it is also known, they must remain in prison until they have served two-thirds of their sentence, their so-called mandatory release date. At that point, they are released into the community under the supervision of a parole agent for the remainder of their sentence. When judges sent convicts to prison under the old law, they were mindful of the parole eligibility date and often added years to a prison term to ensure offenders were behind bars for a sufficient number of years. Truth in sentencing changed all that, but only for people who have committed crimes since Dec. 31. During the truth-in-sentencing debate, the governor and other proponents called for reform, saying that elected judges, not the nameless, faceless bureaucrats in the Department of Corrections, should determine the length of imprisonment. Smith, 52, a father of three and a Madison School Board member, said that instead of a bureaucrat, he considers himself a public servant, influenced at an early age by Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy. Beyond that, he stressed that the commission - though located in the Department of Corrections - is an independent body. Furthermore, the panel was not alone in letting some inmates out early. He said judges on occasion would reopen cases and show more leniency than the Parole Commission. Smith described himself as tough when it comes to granting paroles. He said that as chairman, he will read the case files, hear an inmate's appeal for early release, but on occasion, simply defer the request until the mandatory release date, effectively denying parole. He gave other reasons for the low number of paroles. They include a commission that is understaffed and straining to meet a caseload that has increased as rapidly as the record-breaking inmate population. While parole is discretionary, inmates have a right by law to a hearing. This month, Smith and five commissioners have 1,700 cases to review. "My folks put about 3,000 miles a month on their cars," he said. The phone, however, is used for hearings with inmates held in prisons out of state. - --- MAP posted-by: manemez j lovitto