Governor Patrick may sign ‘three strikes’ bill

But urges lawmakers to agree to changes

Governor Deval Patrick signaled Tuesday that he may be open to signing a high-profile crime bill if lawmakers agree to make changes next year.

At the same time, Patrick said he had made no final decision about the bill, which is currently on his desk.

“It’s a good bill; it’s not a great bill,” Patrick told reporters just ­before he entered a meeting with House and Senate leaders. “There’s a lot of work that has not yet been done, and I’m hoping that I can get a commitment from the leadership, a commitment to come back and do some of it at the beginning of the next session.”

The bill approved by lawmakers last week would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for drug ­offenses, a Patrick priority, while making many repeat violent offenders ineligible for parole under a much-debated “three-strikes” provision.  Read more...

Sheriff slams prison overhaul

Gov. Deval Patrick wants to build two to three assisted-living centers with bars for golden-ager inmates to serve their time in comfort, as part of an ambitious overhaul of the state’s prison system due to be released today, the Herald has learned.

The 400-page Corrections Master Plan obtained by the Herald, though years in the making, was only shown to sheriffs for the first time yesterday by the Division of Capital Asset Management and the Executive Office of Public Safety. It drew immediate criticism.  Read more...

Paroled lifers pose high risk of new crimes

More than a third of the most serious criminal offenders paroled in Massachusetts over the past five years were returned to prison for committing new crimes or violating the conditions of their release, a Globe review has found, raising questions about the public risk posed by granting early release to scores of convicted murderers, as well as the state’s ability to supervise violent criminals on parole.

The Globe analysis, undertaken after last December’s fatal shooting of a Woburn police officer by a career criminal on parole from a life sentence, found that the Parole Board freed 201 prisoners serving 15 years to life from January 2006 through December 2010.  Read more...

Patrick pushes probation takeover: Sees Parole Board merger, then cuts

Governor Deval Patrick, unable to resolve a power struggle with House and Senate leaders, pressed ahead yesterday with a plan to merge the troubled state Probation Department and the embattled Parole Board, put them under his control, and slash their budgets.

In doing so, Patrick was acting on his long-stated goal of combining the agencies and seizing control, which he said would lead to better monitoring of prisoners before and after their release.  Read more...

Outrage, restraint on parole inquiry - Governor, speaker differ on response to officer’s slaying

Governor Deval Patrick, facing widespread anger from police chiefs and victims’ advocates, pleaded for patience yesterday as his administration completes a review of the state Parole Board’s decision to free a violent career criminal who shot and killed a Woburn police officer last week.

House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, however, expressed outrage at the board’s decision and vowed to make it a “major focus’’ of legislative action in the new session.  Read more...

GPS tracking limited by SJC - Rules in case of sex offender; Sets conditions for probation use

Judges cannot change probation conditions for convicted sex offenders by requiring them to wear GPS monitoring devices unless the former inmates have violated the terms of their release, the state’s highest court narrowly ruled yesterday.

In a 4-to-3 decision, the Supreme Judicial Court upheld a lower court judge who refused to add GPS monitoring and a ban on visits to playgrounds, schools, and libraries to the probation restrictions of a former Lowell man who spent about 20 years locked up for the abduction and rape of a 7-year-old boy.  Read More...