Bad apples may destroy parole in Connecticut

Any deserving potential parolees in Connecticut should be very grumpy that some parolee bad apples are threatening the entire system of parole in the Nutmeg State.  This New York Times piece provides the latest news on this on-going story:

Gov. M. Jodi Rell of Connecticut has suspended parole for all inmates serving time for violent offenses after the authorities said a parolee stole a car at knifepoint in Hartford and then drove to New York City, where he was shot by the police.  The move comes two months after a pair of parolees were arrested in the killing of a woman and her two daughters in a home invasion.

“Until we can find a better way to determine who poses a risk to the public if released, we will not add to the ranks of people on parole,” Mrs. Rell said in a news release Friday evening.  In addition to suspending parole for violent offenders, she directed the state’s Board of Pardons and Paroles to immediately review all parolees who were sentenced for violent crimes.  She said any in violation of their parole would be sent back to prison to serve the remainder of their sentences. Typically, inmates convicted of what are classified as violent offenses must serve at least 85 percent of their sentences before parole.

Robert Farr, chairman of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, said on Saturday he that agreed with the governor’s decision and that the board would start its review on Monday. He estimated that one-third of the approximately 3,000 inmates the board paroles each year are classified as violent offenders.

Representative Michael P. Lawlor of East Haven, the co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Judiciary, said in a news release on Friday that the General Assembly would work with the governor to make sure that the Corrections Department had the resources it needed to deal with what he described as a “dramatic increase in population over the next few months.”  The state’s prison population is roughly 19,000 inmates.

The governor said the parole suspension would continue until “reforms of the parole process are complete.” State lawmakers and other officials have been discussing parole overhaul and construction of new prisons since the home invasion and murders, in the town of Cheshire.