Parole Eligible Persons Dealt Another Setback? A Guest Post

Mr. White has remained infraction free for the past forty-one years
of his incarceration, and has been denied parole 18 times.

Governor Glenn Youngkin has proposed a recommendation for a bill to be entered during the special session of the General Assembly set for Wednesday, April 12, that states:

"Prosecutors will be allowed to weigh in on parole decisions of potential parole review cases prior to any decision or vote of the Virginia Parole Board in a discretionary parole review case for their input in how the release of that potential parolee will affect their jurisdiction in which the offender was convicted and sentenced."

The story was posted in the Daily Press News on March 29, 2023 by staff writer Peter Dujardin.

Many of the current "old law" and other parole eligible offender's who are due to be interviewed for parole in the Second Quarter Parole Review Docket statewide and at the Augusta Correctional Center  have significant concerns about how such a bill would affect current and future parole decision outcomes.

The Augusta Correctional Center's parole eligible population on June 10, 2022 was 290. During that fiscal year only two offenders were granted parole at Augusta of the 63 combined parole grant decisions made statewide by the current Parole Board, whose members were acting in an interim status pending their confirmation by the General Assembly session ending in February. 

The parole release rate statewide has been the lowest in the history of the Virginia Parole Board process over the past two decades. And the Augusta Correctional Center has had the "extremely lowest" parole grant release rate in three decades of all of the VaDOC facilities statewide. In testament to this fact there were 44 potential parole cases interviewed for the first quarter of 2023 at Augusta. None have been granted a parole release!

The second quarter (April/May/June) docket at Augusta has 51 cases scheduled to be interviewed for parole release consideration pending hearings that begin on April 4, 2023 and run through the end of May 2023. There have been a considerable number of parole denials here at Augusta in cases that were reviewed by the Board as far back as November 2022 and the first two weeks of January 2023. Some have also been deferred for the next three years to their next review.

There is a growing concern from potential parole eligible offenders about this recommendation by the Governor for such a bill  becoming law and its continued disenfranchisement of gaining a fair and unbiased parole review by the Virginia Parole Board. Many offenders have more than one jurisdiction in which they have been convicted and sentenced for multiple crimes. Some cases are decades old and the initial prosecutors involved in the offender's case are no longer serving in that jurisdiction. In some cases the parolee will not be returning to the same locality that the conviction/sentence occurred. For example, returning to Norfolk to reside on parole when the sentencing jurisdiction was Fairfax.

PLEASE contact all Senator's who were supporting the parole reforms and parole bills that were introduced in this past General Assembly this past session and urge them to weigh in their concerns in this proposed recommendation and how it further retards the parole reform process. It defeats the interest of public safety to further disenfranchise returning citizens with rejection and burdensome vindictiveness. We should be investing in positive rehabilitation outcomes and in ensuring that the parolees get a fair and just opportunity at a real second chance. 

Your voices are needed to address this at the special session on April 12, 2023. Thank you for advocating for fair and unbiased parole reforms and against injustice in the Commonwealth.

Jonathan White 1161021
Augusta Correctional Center
1821 Estaline Valley road
Craigsville, VA 24430

For a list of Mr. White's accomplishments see https://harvyoder.blogspot.com/2021/08/another-heartbreaking-parole-denial.html