Legislature(2007 - 2008)BELTZ 211
03/13/2008 09:00 AM Senate STATE AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB284 | |
| SB153 | |
| HB296 | |
| HB286 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 153 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 296 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 286 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 88 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| = | HB 284 | ||
HB 296-EXTENDING BOARD OF PAROLE
CHAIR MCGUIRE announced the consideration of HB 296.
10:04:42 AM
MICHAEL SICA, Staff to Representative Bob Lynn, said HB 296
extends the Board of Parole for another eight years, as
recommended in the legislative audit report.
SENATOR FRENCH requested a description of what the board does.
MR. SICA said its primary responsibilities are to determine
prisoner suitability for discretionary parole and setting
conditions for that. They also hold revocation hearings.
KATHY MATSUMOTO, Executive Director, State Board of Parole,
Anchorage, said the board has about 1,200 cases on active
supervision at any given time. There were 497 hearings, and the
board set mandatory parole conditions for 800 offenders who are
released into supervision. The board sees quite a number of
people who are incarcerated and who request an early release.
Those hearings are conducted throughout the state, and some are
conducted electronically because the board can't always travel.
The five members of the board are very busy. They conduct
preliminary hearings for those on parole supervision who get
arrested and consider if they need to be incarcerated pending a
final hearing, or if there are any options for releasing them
back into the community. The board has a lot of contact with the
Department of Corrections and victim groups. The board works
with transition programs to help offenders stay out of jail. It
has an active role in helping protect the public and working
with offenders to make them productive citizens.
10:09:06 AM
SENATOR FRENCH asked what percentage of discretionary parole
requests the board grants.
MS. MATSUMOTO said last year it was 57, or 40 percent of the
people seen by the board.
SENATOR FRENCH asked if only 110 people asked for discretionary
parole release and 57 were granted.
MS. MATSUMOTO said the board saw about 140 individuals and
granted parole to 40 percent and denied it to 46 percent. There
are some who the board was not prepared to make a decision on.
CHAIR MCGUIRE asked about parole at the federal level.
SENATOR FRENCH said it may be that a person can win
discretionary parole in the federal system. Why is there such a
high rate of discretionary parole? He noted recent incidents of
people released and committing other crimes, and the community
has zero tolerance for that. He acknowledged that the board is
under a mandate to look closely at each set of circumstances,
but "folks in my community are hostile to individuals who get
out of prison and then commit another crime."
10:11:36 AM
MICHAEL STARK, State Board of Parole, Juneau AK, said he is in
Fairbanks at a board meeting. Discretionary parole hearings are
only a small part of the board's duties. They are only 28
percent of the hearings that the board conducts. There are
probably hundreds of prisoners who are eligible for parole that
don't bother applying because they don't believe it will be
granted. "And in most cases, they're probably right." It is only
those with the most promising records that even seek a
discretionary parole, although there are exceptions and those
are denied by the board. Parole is granted to persons with the
most impressive records and are very good risks in the
community. That is borne out because only a very small handful
of discretionary parolees commit crimes. Technical violations
are more frequent. The board has the same concern that
constituents have; the board feels that its client is the people
of Alaska, and its primary obligation is the protection of the
public, and secondarily it wants to assist offenders in
succeeding in the community. Almost all offenders are out in the
community eventually, "and we want to make sure that they have
the tools to succeed."
10:14:00 AM
SENATOR FRENCH asked about success rates.
PAT DAVIDSON, Division of Legislative Audit, Juneau, said there
was a review and the report is in the packet. The review looked
at the risk factors that the parole board uses for making
decisions and tested those based on parole revocations. For
people with the lowest category of risk, the board granted the
highest percentage of paroles. The highest risk got the lowest
percentage of discretionary paroles. Running those numbers
against parole revocations, "we saw the correlation that we had
hoped to see." Those with the lowest risk had the lowest rate of
revocations. There was not a sufficient apples-to-apples
comparison when trying to compare the revocation rate between
discretionary parolees and mandatory parolees. The evidence
suggests that discretionary parole revocation rates are lower
than those with mandatory parole. The audit report asked the
board to put out more information so that the public can see it.
The board concurred with that recommendation.
10:17:08 AM
SENATOR BUNDE said it seems logical. The board cherry picks
those with the greatest potential of rehabilitation.
MR. STARK said anyone who gets a sentence of two years or
longer, except repeat sex offenders, gets out on parole
automatically for the amount of good time that they have earned
- a third off for good time for those who follow the rules. So
they are supervised on mandatory parole for the amount of good
time they have earned, and the board has no say in that, and
they are much more likely to violate their parole than the
discretionary parolees.
SENATOR BUNDE said the good-time carrot should be looked at.
10:19:21 AM
SENATOR BUNDE moved HB 296 from committee with individual
recommendations and attached fiscal note(s). There being no
objection, HB 296 passed out of committee.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|