tool name

Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009

Supreme Court backs early release of prisoners

The state Department of Corrections acted properly in letting people out of prison under controversial parole-credit rules that prosecutors challenged, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The decision means the state can keep releasing people from prison or parole supervision under the program. The rules give felons more credit toward finishing their sentences than before the legislature approved the changes in 2008.

Since May 2008, 3,565 people were released from prison under the rules, and 4,684 were released from parole supervision, said Lisa Lamb, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections.

Action the legislature took in approving the parole credits “leads to the unmistakable conclusion that the General Assembly intended for the (Department of Corrections) to release or discharge as many prisoners or parolees as possible in order to save as many state dollars as possible,” the court ruled.

All seven justices joined in the overall decision.

The state had been barred from applying the credits to felons from Pulaski, Rockcastle and Lincoln counties because of an injunction in that circuit. The high court’s decision will change that.

The corrections department will begin releasing people from that circuit from prison or supervision as soon as it updates calculations on their eligibility, Lamb said.

One key piece of the fight over the rules was that they give felons credit toward completing their sentences based on time they spent on parole on prior crimes, sometimes called “street credit.” Opponents argued that it was improper for the rules to allow credit for periods before the legislature approved the changes — to apply retroactively, in other words.

The Supreme Court disagreed.

The law that led to the changes didn’t explicitly say they were to be applied retroactively, but it’s clear that’s what the legislature intended to save money for housing prisoners, the court said. Budget analysts estimated the proposed changes could save more than $13 million in the 2008-2010 budget, but that included retroactive application of the credits.

The fact that lawmakers approved a budget incorporating those savings proves they intended for the credits to be retroactive, the ruling said.

An example of the retroactive application: If a person sentenced to five years in prison had served one year under the old rules, then been on parole two years, then violated parole and been sent back to prison, he would have the remaining four years of his original sentence to serve.

Under the new rules, he would get credit for the two years on parole, leaving only two years of the original sentence to serve.

The legislature authorized the changes in the state budget bill in 2008, rather than passing them as a law.

The legislature since approved a law allowing credit for past periods on parole, with some exceptions such as violent and sexual offenders, so the program will continue even after the current budget expires next June.

State Sen. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, who worked on the parole-credit provisions included in the budget, said the program has saved the state money.

“I think it has realized cost savings and still protected public safety,” she said Wednesday.

The legislature had to do something to cut prison costs given the state’s budget crisis, she said.

The number of state felons in prisons, jails and halfway houses — 21,914 — is lower than when the program started, according to the Department of Corrections.

Prosecutors had argued that the street-credit program endangered the public by letting people out of prison before they otherwise would have been eligible. But the Supreme Court rejected that argument.

There is a risk that anyone released from prison will commit a new crime, but there is no evidence people released because of the new rules pose more danger than prisoners released under other circumstances, the court said.

Wednesday’s ruling addressed issues in two cases. One was filed in Pulaski County by Commonwealth’s Attorney Eddy Montgomery, and the other was filed in Franklin County by Attorney General Jack Conway.

Both challenged use of the release rules adopted in 2008.

In Pulaski County, Circuit Judge David A. Tapp issued an injunction barring the use of the rules, but Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd turned down Conway’s request for an injunction.

The Supreme Court upheld Shepherd’s decision and issued an order barring enforcement of Tapp’s injunction.

However, the ruling affirmed that Tapp had authority to issue an order that applied statewide even though he presides in a three-county circuit, and that Conway had legal standing to challenge the rules, which overturned a prior high-court ruling.

Justice and Public Safety Secretary J. Michael Brown said he hoped Conway’s pending challenge to the rules will be resolved soon, given that the Supreme Court strongly backed the Department of Correction’s actions.

Montgomery, the prosecutor who filed the original challenge, said he still believes the credits should not be applied retroactively but respects the court’s opinion.

Use of the credits makes it difficult to figure out how long someone will stay in prison, Montgomery said.

“The bottom line is, God bless us to try to explain it to victims,” he said.