Pubdate: Tue, 02 Dec 2003 Source: Huntsville Times (AL) Copyright: 2003 The Huntsville Times Contact: http://www.htimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/730 Author: Anthony McCartney, Times Montgomery Correspondent PAROLE PANEL MEETS TO SPEED UP RELEASE OF 5,000 INMATES Goal Is to Cut Costs, Make State Prisons Less Crowded MONTGOMERY - The state Board of Pardons and Paroles doubled its ability to consider parole cases Monday when a new, four-member panel began hearings to release nonviolent offenders under a plan to relieve prison overcrowding. The panel, meeting in an industrial park in Montgomery, was created during the last legislative session to help release up to 5,000 nonviolent inmates - many convicted of petty theft, DUI or drug cases. Releasing nonviolent offenders is also one way the state is cutting expenses in the wake of a budget shortfall and the defeat of Gov. Bob Riley's $1.2 billion tax plan in September. The second parole board, which will operate until 2006, is expected to hear 40 to 50 cases a day, Monday through Thursday, said Cynthia Dillard, assistant executive director of the paroles board. The permanent three-member board also hears roughly 40 to 50 cases a day, Dillard said. On Mondays, both boards consider cases that deal with violent offenders. That day also is typically when attorneys, victims or other witnesses are asked to make a case for or against parole. The rest of the week, the boards hear cases involving nonviolent offenders. This summer, Riley said he planned to release 5,000 inmates to help relieve prison overcrowding. Alabama prisons are running at more than double capacity. Lawmakers approved extra money for the new board and extra parole officers in the 2004 budget to make the early releases possible. Riley's picks - Lowell McGill Jr. of Atmore, Cliff Walker of Bessemer, Don McGriff of Montrose and Jennifer Mullins Garrett of Montgomery - must still be approved by the state Senate when it meets in February. Each member will earn $76,000 a year for their three-year terms. The early release of thousands of inmates won't fix the state's troubled Corrections Department, which as of the end of October had 27,643 inmates housed in prisons built for 12,378 people. Of those numbers, 277 female prisoners and roughly 1,400 male inmates are being housed in private prisons outside the state, in Louisiana and Mississippi. Riley's administration wants to return those inmates to Alabama in coming months. The total inmate population peaked in June with 28,440 and has steadily dropped since then. Also included in the total prison population are inmates who are part of the state's work-release program, where many nonviolent offenders are placed. That means work-release inmates are likely to be the first considered for the new parole board's docket, but that won't necessarily help free beds at the state's 16 correctional facilities. The state operates 12 work-release centers, including one in Decatur. Brian Corbett, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said it's "too early to say" what effect the parole board's extra docket will have on the work-release program. Already, the program's numbers are dropping. In October, 2,857 inmates were housed in work-release centers, down from 3,598 in October 2002. Corbett said the second board's parole hearings could "affect the work-release program statewide." As work-release inmates are paroled, the cost of running the program will drop as well, he said. Work release cost the state roughly $20 million last year, Corbett said, but generated $17 million in revenue. He acknowledged that the likely release of many work-release inmates doesn't help the state's overcrowded prisons, where beds are reserved for violent offenders who aren't eligible for the hearings under the expanded parole docket. Prison Commissioner Donal Campbell told the state Sentencing Commission last month that expedited parole dockets likely would reduce work-release inmate numbers, as well as other nonviolent inmates who might be eligible to enter the work-release program. "The inmates that will be left will not be eligible for work release," he said Nov. 7. Corbett said Monday there are "no plans to do away with ... work release." As the Board of Pardons and Paroles works to release nonviolent offenders, its docket for violent offenders has a 14-month backlog of cases, Dillard said. The culprit, she said, is a requirement to notify victims or next of kin, attorneys, law enforcement agencies and other parties. "It could be a victim from 20 years ago," she said. The board hopes to introduce legislation next year allowing it to notify victims at their last known address, shortening the notification period, Dillard said. Once parole is granted, it usually takes a week or more before the inmate is released, Dillard said. The prisoner has to have a home and job plan first, which has to be checked out by a parole officer. In the case of some inmates who may have conditions attached to their parole - including drug or other rehab programs - the wait could be longer. The paroles board has more than 400 employees and likely will have 450 to 500 by the time it hires the necessary parole officers to handle those released in the coming months, Dillard said. Parole officers make up the largest group of department employees - about 300 workers, including supervisors and managers. She said the training and requirements for a parole officer make hiring new ones a lengthy process. Applicants must have a college degree and must complete a 12-week class. All parole officers are sworn law enforcement members and have statewide arrest authority, Dillard said. "It's not a fast process." She said the biggest misconception the board faces is that the newly paroled inmates will be released, free and clear. The board already is responsible for 30,000 people on probation and another 8,000 on parole. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake