N.J. Parole Board teams up with U.S. marshals to bring down violators

It was a sunny morning in Jersey City when the unmarked police cars pulled into the Walgreens parking lot. As shoppers shuttled back and forth, officers clad in bulletproof vests with pistols on their hips clustered together.

Bill Cannon, the ranking U.S. marshal on the scene, passed around copies of a mug shot. The target was Jamal Roach, a fugitive who walked away from a Newark halfway house in July. On this day, he was hanging out at a bodega in his hometown.

Every month in New Jersey about 145 people skip out on parole supervision, failing to show up to meetings or leaving low-security community programs. Some stay clean. Others commit new crimes, from dealing drugs to murder.  Read More...

Mentally ill prisoners get a second chance

Mental health courts are operating in 29 California counties, helping offenders and reducing crime in their communities.

Milton Conley's mental illness has cost him — and society — more than he cares to tally.

An abusive father recruited Conley at age 9 into a life of what he calls "doing wrong things." A psychotic break in his 30s was followed by homelessness and four imprisonments, products of schizophrenia; addiction to crack cocaine and marijuana; and what Conley dolefully labels "being lonely."  Read More...

State's picking ex-cons' poison, hopes new drug Suboxone will keep inmates off heroinState's picking ex-cons' poison, hopes new drug Suboxone will keep inmates off heroin

State officials plan to give some junkies an addictive drug while they're in prison and supply them with it when they're paroled, the Daily News has learned.

The experiment, designed to keep inmates off heroin when they hit the streets, is drawing fire from those who fear it will fuel a black market for the pill.

It's called Suboxone and it's the only opiate addiction treatment prescribed by doctors and available from the local pharmacy.  Read More...

Dallas police 'erred badly' in turning away sex offenders who sought to register

Sex offenders who must update their registration with the Dallas police have been routinely turned away after waiting outside the department door for hours.

"I've got to abide by the law or they put me back in prison," said one offender who asked not to be identified.

Department spokesman C.L. Williams said the department "erred badly" by limiting the number of registrants to about three dozen a day in recent weeks, a short-term response to a manpower shortage during the State Fair of Texas. On one recent day, a small waiting room was packed and lines snaked down to the sidewalk outside the Jack Evans Police Headquarters. Similar scenes had been reported in recent weeks.



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TYC reduces use of anti-psychotic drugs

Texas:  Anti-psychotic drugs meant to treat mental illness were being used instead as chemical restraints on youths incarcerated in Texas Youth Commission facilities, Commissioner Scott Fisher said.

The medications, which have a sedating effect, are intended to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder but were used on youths who did not have those diagnoses.

Fisher, a Bedford pastor, said the commission has worked over the past year to implement a system that focuses on matching drugs to need. Statistics show that since last year the commission has throttled back spending on the drugs.  Read More...

Interstate Commission for Adult Offender Supervision Annual Business Meeting

Along with numerous other criminal justice associations, APAI is an Ex -Officio Member of the Interstate Commission for Adult Offender Supervision (ICAOS). The Commission held its Annual Business Meeting October 12 -12 in San Antonio, Texas. I was invited to attend to represent APAI.

The Commission contains a representative, with voting authority, from each US state and a couple of US territories. This group, along with many other duties, establishes the rules to effectively and efficiently achieve the purposes of the Interstate Compact for the Supervision of Adult Offenders. The role of the Ex-Officio is to serve in an advisory capacity to the Commission.

The meeting started off with a 1/2 day Commissioner's Training where all the participants, my self included, were given information about the legal foundations for the Commission, the role of the National Office, the role of the Commissioners and the role of the Executive Committee. Those in attendance were given a review of the rule proposals that were going to be on the agenda the following day and were given the opportunity to give feedback prior to the official voting session scheduled for the next day.

In the afternoon of the first day the Commissioners gathered for their respective regional meetings where they discuss issues on the horizon and mapped strategy for the upcoming year. They also recruited nominees for the Executive Committee. Later that afternoon a period of time was set aside for public comment on the proposed rule changes that would be voted on the next day.

On Wednesday the meeting convened with reports from the various committees. I was impressed with the hard work of all the committees, but particularly the work done in the area of training, compliance and information technology It was impressive to see the data that is now available on the interstate transfer and supervision functions and the hard work that goes into obtaining voluntary compliance with the rules of the compact through training, much of which is done by the Commissioners themselves.

The majority of the day was dedicated to a comprehensive and thoughtful discussion of the various rule change proposals that had made their way through the respective committees. You may view the proposed changes at www.interstatecompact.org under the "Proposed Amendments" tab. Ultimately, after the debate, several rule amendments were passed and one was defeated. The Commission passed proposals to slightly modify the requirements for the contents of a transfer request and to spell out the scope of investigation that must be done before an offender is declared an absconder. The Commission also passed rules that require that the mandatory re-taking of violent offenders and offenders who commit new felony offenses be accomplished through the issuance of a warrant, not merely ordering them to return to the sending state. The Commission however defeated a proposal (2010-EXEC-5.103) to impose the same requirement on the mandatory retaking of an offender who is being returned because they committed "three or more significant violations" All changes are set to be effective March 1, 2011. For a complete report of the proceeding including the language of the proposals passed and rejected, visit the Commission website.

On a side note, the meeting was held on the beautiful San Antonio Riverwalk. Incidentally this is the site for the 2011 APAI Annual Training Conference. I was in awe of the natural beauty of this area and the many attractions available, including shopping, restaurants and historical sites. I would urge each of your to mark your calenders for May 15 -18, 2011 and plans to attend the training and perhaps spend a few extra days visiting San Antonio.

Controversial parole law goes into effect in NH

CONCORD, N.H.—Robert Audette's son was convicted of setting fire to a vacant building in 2007 and is being released from prison nine months before his sentence is up as part of New Hampshire's new mandatory parole law.

Audette, of Hooksett, says he's glad his son, 20-year-old Robert Shawn Audette, is coming home this week, but he believes criminals should serve their full sentences.
 
"I'm kind of like being put in the middle of two places," Audette said. "Some of the sex offenders are coming out and that worries me. My son wasn't in for a sex crime. But what he did was wrong. They're put in for an amount of time and they should do that amount of time."  Read More...

Prison populations shouldn't trump justice

Violent offenders should not be considered for parole every year.

WEST Virginia's regional jails and prisons are overcrowded, and many state officials don't want to spend scarce money building more cells.

So the administration offered, and the Legislature passed, a bill backers said was intended to accelerate parole hearings for nonviolent offenders.  Read More...

Governor OKs medical parole for incapacitated inmates

Schwarzenegger signs 21 bills, including one allowing the state to parole comatose and physically incapacitated inmates and another restricting motorcycle modifications. He vetoes 14 bills.

Reporting from Sacramento — State prisons can release comatose and physically incapacitated inmates on medical parole under a measure approved Tuesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that is expected to save California at least $46 million annually.
 
The legislation was one of 21 bills the governor signed, including a ban on modifying motorcycles to make them more noisy, a scale-back of an early release program at county jails and a 5-year extension allowing shoemakers to import kangaroo parts to California.  Read More...

APAI Chairs Meeting

On September 22nd and 23rd Parole Board Chairs and Releasing Authority Directors from around the United States and Canada gathered in Louisville, Kentucky for the Association of Paroling Authority's Annual Chairs Meeting/Training. The participants were treated to a combination of facilitated discussion and educational sessions made possible by the generous support of our colleagues and partners at the National Institute of Corrections and the National Parole Resource Center.

The sessions were facilitated by Tom von Hemert, a criminal justice planner from Charlottesville Virginia. The meeting began with a rousing keynote address from APAI President Charles Traughber who used his 40 plus years of correctional experience to put today's budget crisis in context. He reminded the participants of the need to be constantly striving to tailor our practices to those that have been found to work by the evidence and research that currently exists.

The participants then spent some time in small groups discussing the specific issues that they are facing in their agencies. This discussion was meant to create an environment throughout the rest of the meeting, both in session and out, in which the participants could make use of the over 500 years of criminal justice experience that was present amongst the 22 participants.

Cathy Banks, Correctional Program Specialist, from the National Institute of Corrections discussed the current state of affairs at NIC concerning parole, including the current development and pilot testing of a curriculum for training new board chairs. The participants were treated to examples of some of the innovative and thought provoking segments NIC now uses to train new board members.

The participants then heard about a joint initiative of APAI and the Association of State Corrections Administrators (ASCA) to develop a set of principles to guide productive collaboration between state correctional agencies and paroling/releasing authorities. ASCA executive committee members AT Wall , Director of Corrections in Rhode Island and Brian Fischer, Commissioner of Corrections in New York State, discussed ASCA's interest in developing these principles. APAI Executive Committee members described the history and process of this initiative. There was a period of open discussion for the participants to air their views on the draft set of principles. The group was then guided through a series of exercises designed to "test drive" the principles; to see if they could be translated into achievable and measurable action steps.

The next morning the participants heard from noted Canadian researcher Dr. Ralph Serin of Carleton University. He shared the latest news about his criminal justice decision making lab and the promise that holds for parole practitioners. He discussed the latest research relevant to parole decision making and unveiled the research he is going to conduct in two US sites, Ohio and Connecticut.

In the afternoon Peggy Burke updated everyone on the latest activities of the National Parole Resource Center, including the selection of four learning sites; South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Connecticut. She shared with us the 10 practice targets that these site will be focusing on and which the Center as a whole will promote and encourage.

Finally the participants received an inside view of the operations of APAI and all that we have to offer member agencies and practitioners. The chairs were challenged to support APAI and assist us in ensuring the sustainability of this organization.

In addition to the wealth of knowledge that was shared, the participants experienced the warm southern hospitality of the Kentucky Parole Board made possible by Chairman Verman Winburn, Southern Regional Vice President Caroline Mudd and the staff of their Board.

Be sure and stay tuned for upcoming announcements about the 2011 Chairs meeting.