SB 23-EXTEND TERMINATION DATE FOR BD OF PAROLE      MR. LARRY JONES, Executive Director, Board of Parole, said the board acts under the sunset rule for boards and commissions. The Board of Parole is up for reinstatement June 30, 2001 and SB 23 extends the date to 2006. The extension is usually three years but SB 23 allows for a five year extension. There is a constitutional mandate in Alaska for a parole system and the parole board meets that constitutional mandate. The board is autonomous, it is not officially part of the Department of Corrections (DOC) but it is integrated into DOC. MR. JONES said the board consists of five members. Each board member is appointed for five years. The appointments are staggered with some members having served for many years. MR. JONES said the board meets for face-to-face hearings and also face-to-face parole hearings. The board feels strongly that the face-to-face, eye contact, body language part of the hearings are very important for proper decision-making. MR. JONES commented that the board is please with their decision- making, with statistics showing that less than five percent of the discretionary parolees have revocations and these are usually technical revocations. The greatest role of the board, in terms of time consumption, is revocation hearings - 95 percent of the revocation hearings are for mandatory parolees. Mandatory parole is when a prisoner has served his time and is being released without consideration by the parole board. MR. JONES noted that public safety is the primary consideration for a release. Extension is also a considerable factor in inmate population control. It costs $100.00 a day for an inmate in a "hard bed" (prison), and less than $10.00 a day for being released to community corrections supervision on the street. The state saves $8 to $10 million dollars by releasing prisoners to the street. The parole board budget is less than $500,000. Number 352 SENATOR DONLEY requested copies of the legislative budget and audit report for the board of parole and said there should not be a sunset bill until the audit has been released and is available for public comment. Number 434 SENATOR COWDERY asked for the location of the parole board hearings. MR. JONES responded that there are hearings at every prison site in the state. There is a general policy that if there are fewer than five people up for a hearing, the board will not go to that prison. For equity though, if there is an in-person hearing, a teleconference can be used to hear from other prisoners. There are even hearings at the contracted private facility in Arizona. SENATOR COWDERY asked what the average pay is for a board member. MR. JONES answered that the governor establishes compensation for the board. The rate is $150 a day and $75 for half a day when conducting business for the board. Yearly pay is $15,000 to $30,000, depending on the amount of time a member puts in. This figure has not been changed since 1984. SENATOR COWDERY asked if this amount is adequate. MR. JONES replied that what was equitable in 1984 does not meet inflation and other factors today. The audit speaks to this matter. Number 570 SENATOR COWDERY asked if a five-member board is adequate for a quorum. MR. JONES responded that five members are adequate. This is a working board, traveling two full weeks a month. Having more than five members could make the decision process more complex. Number 610 SENATOR THERRIAULT said the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee (LB&A) reviewed the parole board audit in its last meeting. The audit is now with the Department of Corrections for their review. The final audit will be out at the next LB&A meeting. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked when that would be. SENATOR THERRIAULT said that has not been determined yet. It may depend on whether the Administration has any revised program- legislative (RPL) for the committee. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked Mr. Jones how long he has been on the parole board. MR. JONES said he has been on the board for five years. Number 690 CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked if there has been any political pressure put on the board to expedite people out of prison. MR. JONES replied no. The parole board is a quasi-judicial board and it does not receive this type of pressure. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked about the recidivism rate. What is the percentage mandated by law? MR. JONES said of all the revocation hearings the board holds, about four percent are for people who are allowed out on discretionary parole. 96 percent of revocations are for people who are released because their sentence was over. CHAIRMAN TYALOR asked about people who have done a certain amount of time and are then released on mandatory probation. MR. JONES replied that after a revocation hearing, the board sets conditions for all mandatory parolees prior to their release. There are conditions of parole the parolee has to abide by. If they fail to abide by the conditions, parole is revoked. The board can then decide to put them back in prison, let them out, or revoke a portion of the time. Number 800 CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked if the violations of parole are just technical violations? MR. JONES said the vast majority of the offenses are technical violations. If the person commits a new criminal offense, the board does not see them until there is a resolution in the court system for the new offense. The parolee then goes into "limbo," in terms of the board seeing them, until the court resolves what will happen. Sometimes the parolee will spend a lot more time in prison for the new crime than the board has time to control them. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked if the parolee would be on the street during this "limbo" time. MR. JONES said no, but in some cases they could be bailed out. The board is notified of the offense and depending on the crime, such as rape, the board is very likely to keep them in prison so they cannot be released on bail. MR. JONES gave the committee copies of the parole board's annual report and said the report is also on the board's web page. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR said SB 23 would be held until the committee can see the budget and audit report.