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Friday, May 16, 2025

The Virginia Parole Board-- A Modest Proposal

According to the Virginia Parole Board's website, they
have carried out this mission only once so far in 2025.

Fact #1: In 1995 parole was replaced with Truth in Sentencing legislation that required at least 85% of a sentence being served before one could be released from prison. However, there are still nearly 3500 men and women in the Commonwealth who are parole eligible, including those who were incarcerated before the 1995 law was passed and those sentenced as juveniles. Half of the total are also eligible for geriatric release due to their age and time served.

Fact #2: The Virginia Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by the governor, has a support staff of between 40-50 persons and an annual operating budget of over $2.8 million.

Fact #3: The Board's stated mission is “to protect public safety and contribute to a fair and effective justice system by ensuring that persons who remain a threat to society remain incarcerated and those who no longer present a risk are released to become productive citizens.”

Fact #4: Yet according to the 2025 numbers posted on the Board's official website, only one person, a geriatric case, has been granted release so far this year. One.

Is our Department of Corrections failing to correct the over 20,000 men and women its charge, at a cost of over $1.5 billion annually? Or is the Parole Board not carrying out its mission?

In any case, scores of parole eligible individuals are being denied release year after year, in spite of their 1) maintaining infraction-free records while incarcerated, 2) taking every vocational and self-improvement class possible, 3) serving as mentors and role models in their pods and work places and 4) even earning college degrees behind bars. Many lament that had they been sentenced by “truth in sentencing” guidelines, they would have already been released, without any parole board action.

For those eligible, parole examiners make a recommendation to the board based on both a meeting they have with an individual and an examination of their record, after which cases are voted on by at least three, or depending on the sentence, four, of the five board members in a video meeting. The stated reasons posted for their “not grant” verdicts appear to be computer-generated, as in the following actual example from the website:

Release at this time would diminish seriousness of crime; History of violence; Crimes committed - Kidnap/Abduct, Kidnap/Abduct; Extensive criminal record; Considering your offense and your institutional records, the Board concludes that you should serve more of your sentence before being paroled; The Board concludes that you should serve more of your sentence prior to release on parole; Serious nature and circumstances of your offense(s).

If there are other factors affecting Board decisions, such as resistance from victim families or from a Commonwealth’s Attorney office, that information is not made public.

The Valley Justice Coalition strongly favors Virginia rejoining the majority of states who see that it is in tax-payer’s best interest to have a fully functioning parole system. Mississippi, for example, one of 16 states that once abolished parole, reinstated it in 2021, realizing that the prospect of earning an early release is a powerful incentive for doing well.

We also favor legislation proposed by numerous groups, including by some parole eligible individuals I know, that would create specific criteria for determining whether to grant release. 

Here are 14 items one such group has put together that would create a “Scored Parole Eligibility Level” of either One (75-100 points), Two (60-74 points), or Three (0-59 points), based on the following criteria:

1. PRIOR OFFENSE HISTORY IN VDOC: None (2 points) 2-3 One (-1), Two (-3), Four or More (-4)

2. HISTORY OF INSTITUTIONAL VIOLENCE WITHIN THE PAST FIVE YEARS: None (0), Assault not involving the use of a weapon (-5), Assault involving the use of a weapon (-10)

3. POSITIVE DRUG TEST IN THE PAST 60 MONTHS CONVICTION: None (0), One (-2), Two or more (-4)

4. POSITIVE ALCOHOL TEST IN THE PAST 60 MONTHS CONVICTION: None (0), Two or more (-2)

5. LENGTH OF TIME SERVED: 5 years (3), 10 years (4), 15 years (5), 20 years (8), 25 years (12), 30 years or more (14)

6. THE INMATE ADMITS TO THEIR ACTION IN THE CRIME FOR WHICH THEY ARE CONVICTED: No (0), Yes, (10)

7. THE INMATE COMPLETED THE REQUIRED AMOUNT OF TIME TO QUALIFY FOR DISCRETIONARY PAROLE (Old law, Juvenile, Fishback, Three Strike) OR GERIATRIC PAROLE: 
Discretionary (10), Geriatric (5)

8. THE INMATE HAS OBTAINED THEIR G.E.D. OR HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA, OR IS ENROLLED IN A G.E.D. CLASS: No (0), Yes (10)

9. THE INMATE HAS COMPLETED A VOCATIONAL, TRADE OR JOURNEYMANSHIP, OR IS CURRENTLY ENROLLED: No  (0), YES (10)

10. THE INMATE IS CURRENTLY ENROLLED OR HAS COMPLETED A MENTAL HEALTH/THERAPEUTIC PROGRAM, PROGRAMS: None (0), Yes (10)

11. THE  INMATE PARTICIPATED IN ALL WORK PROGRAMMING OR HAS APPLIED FOR A JOB IN THE LAST 60 MONTHS: No (0), Yes (10)

12. THE INMATE ADHERED TO ANY THERAPY REQUIREMENTS IN THE PAST 60 MONTHS BY ENROLLING ON THE WAITING LIST: No (0), Yes (10)

13. A) THE INMATE COMPLETED THE VADOC COMPASS TEST, AND IF SCORED HIGH RISK FOR RECIDIVISM, AGREES TO ANKLE MONITORING AS A CONDITION FOR PAROLE: No (-5), Yes (5)

B) THE INMATE COMPLETED THE VADOC COMPASS TEST AND SCORED LOW FOR RECIDIVISM: Yes (10)

14.CURRENT AGE: Under 21 (0), 21-29 (1), 30-39 (2), 40-49 (3), 50 and older (4)

We urge members of the General Assembly to consider this or similar legislation that would help Virginia become a model state for best practices in criminal justice.

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

Guest Post: A Song For The Season

JD Martin, who grew up in the Valley, now lives
with his wife Jan near Aspen, Colorado. They
produce and perform music that has earned them
multiple awards.

 A Modern Prayer


Oh Canada I am your friend                           
I take a breath when I come in                                                          
No matter what some people say     
I’m with you today                                         
 
Those giant falls we share with you
On your side, rainbow hues
The water’s pure, cascading down
Now, just look around
 
Oh Canada                                         
 
Oh Mexico I am your friend                           
I take a breath when I come in                                                          
No matter what some people do      
I see a truth in you                                         
 
This little town, down by the sea
There’s always room for you and me
The ocean breeze, the friendly way
Como esta today
 
Oh Mexico
 
                        The loss of heart, the vicious storm   
                        Will fall away ………in the long run
           
Oh Mother Earth, I am your friend
The shining seas, majestic mountains
Please forgive the things we’ve done
Before it’s all gone
 
To every country near and far
I am part of who you are
We are held to hear the call
Oh Mother Earth, you hold us all
 
JD Martin & David Roth ©2025
Gill ‘n’ Goldie Music & Maythelight Music  (ASCAP)

Friday, May 2, 2025

I'm Wearing Honduran and Vietnamese Today

Most of us rarely take note of where all of the clothes in our
closets are made, like this shirt I chose today. 
All the workers you’ve exploited and cheated cry out for judgment. The groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears of the Master Avenger. You’ve looted the earth and lived it up. But all you’ll have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse. In fact, what you’ve done is condemn and murder perfectly good persons, who stand there and take it.
- James 5:4-6 the Message

In a talk at VMRC several months ago Sam Funkhouser, director of the Brethren-Mennonite Heritage Center, made the point that few of us could afford the clothing, food and other exotic amenities we take for granted if we had to pay all the workers who provided them the wages to which we would feel entitled.

An antonym for the word exotic is native, which would mean depending on what is produced and marketed in our local communities. Meanwhile, bananas, produced at a distance of 1000 miles or more from us, are much cheaper than locally produced apples. 

We all benefit enormously from the cheap labor of garment, agricultural and other workers in countries like Vietnam, Bangladesh, China, India, Mexico, Peru, Pakistan, and Honduras, to name just a few of our world neighbors. Honduras, by the way, is the poorest country in our neighboring Central America, with a per capita GDP of just over $3200 as compared to over $83,000 in the U.S. The poorest country, South Sudan, is rated at under $900 per person.

Most of us fail to realize that we enjoy a more luxurious lifestyle than even the wealthiest of monarchs or  magnates prior to the 20th century. Think of life before electric power became widely available, before the availability of automobiles, and before the revolutionary advances in medical and dental science we now take for granted. 

On one of our visits to Pittsburgh we toured the Henry Clay Frick mansion and garden, the home to one of the wealthiest industrialists of his time. I especially remember its extensive stable and carriage complex, providing for the Frick family's transportation needs. In spite of its expanse and efficiency, I'm sure they would have gladly chosen to own a vehicle like our 2012 Toyota Corolla over the best of their prize horses, state of the art harnesses and elaborate carriages. It's hard to imagine the difference in the convenience and comfort provided by the engineering marvel of automobiles alone, something only about 18% of the world's people will ever own.

Rare earth minerals and metals from all over the world are used in automotive and other manufacturing, and especially for catalytic converters and batteries. Workers involved in extracting these minerals, including for our cell phones, computers and other devices, are typically exploited and work in horrific  conditions. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/supply-chain-research/from-mines-to-markets-exposing-labor-exploitation-in-critical-mineral-supply-chains

All of this contributes to the privileged lifestyle most of us take for granted as we travel, shop and enjoy life as the wealthiest people in the world. 

Here is a link to determine how rich we are in comparison to the rest of our world neighbors: https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/how-rich-am-i?income=45000&countryCode=USA&numAdults=2&numChildren=0