Virginia, It’s Time For Some Real Parole Reform

(This was published in the February 5 issue of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.)

“Any discussion of potential reforms in Virginia’s parole system must start with the recognition that parole is a societal good. A decision to grant parole recognizes the successful rehabilitation of a prisoner. In other words, a parole grant is the result of the penal system functioning as we want it to.”                          - quote from a 2021 report by law professors Bruck, Donovan and Engle and the W&L University School of Law’s  “Parole Presentation Project”

Virginia is one of a minority of states that has abolished parole. The only exceptions it makes are for those incarcerated before 1995, when this was decided, and more recently for those who were sentenced as juveniles and for Fishback cases. But of the over 2500 individuals eligible, only 163 were granted parole last year, 53 of whom qualified for geriatric release.

One bill recently introduced, HB435, would require the unanimous vote of all five members of Youngkin’s newly appointed board to approve any release, which could virtually eliminate parole releases altogether. And our newly elected Attorney General has stated that no person with a life sentence should even be considered for parole

According to a February 17, 2021 Richmond Times Dispatch article, over 4000 Virginia inmates are currently serving life sentences, 1,628 are serving life without parole; and 1,326 are serving virtual life sentences of 50 years or more. In all, the number of Virginia inmates serving life has increased 90% from 1970 to 2020, according to the Times.

Are our current incarceration numbers really in our Commonwealth’s best interest? Should a parole board make it ever more difficult for deserving prisoners to be given a second chance to become productive, taxpaying workers if they have been infraction-free for decades and have demonstrated thoroughly changed lives? Should the (completely understandable) negative voices of victims and members of their families become a primary limiting factor, or should victims be a part of determining the kind of reparations repentant offenders should make, and where released persons might be relocated?

The non-profit and non-partisan Prison Policy Initiative, which does extensive research on the societal cost of mass incarceration, gives Virginia (and many other states, including California) a failing grade on its parole system. The very red and rural state of Wyoming earned its best rating, a B-, with Mississippi and Utah, along with two more urban states, Michigan and New Jersey, each earning C-’s. 

The states with at least passing grades do not use the “seriousness of the offense” as a sole reason for denying parole, although the Board may consider all the facts of a case. They mandate in-person, face-to-face parole hearings, and provide caseworkers to incarcerated individuals to help prepare them for their hearing. They allow incarcerated people access to the information the Board uses to determine whether to grant or deny, and allows them to question the accuracy of that information. They allow prison staff who have day-to-day perspectives on an individual’s character and growth to provide in-person testimony, and allow individuals on parole to reduce their length of supervision by accruing good time. To the best of my knowledge, none of these things have been true of Virginia’s parole system. Meanwhile, the grant rates the above states are as high as 65%, closer to that of Virginia’s prior to 1995, and with positive outcomes.

Today’s Virginia  release rates are well below 10%, and of those who are eligible, most have already been denied countless times, and are at the point of giving up hope. At nearby Augusta Correctional Center last year, for example, nearly 200 men, many with excellent behavior records and who had positive interviews by parole investigators, nevertheless were all denied release. Every one.

Having said that, our message to those behind bars should be clear. If you remain violent, anti-social and unrepentant you will remain incarcerated until you have served your time. But we are all better off having an active and engaged parole board that carries out its stated mission, “to grant parole or conditional release to those inmates whose release is compatible with public safety.” 

Not only will that improve the safety, security and morale of everyone in prison, but in light of the growing medical and other costs of incarcerating an ever greater number of elderly and infirm people behind bars, it will save us all a ton of money.

And maybe even result in our earning an A+ for having a Department of Correction that actually corrects.