Parole Board letting inmates languish in jail for months past deadline, lawsuit says
The Kentucky Parole Board is leaving people in jail for months longer than it’s supposed to for technical parole violations during a coronavirus pandemic that is proving deadly to confined populations, according to a lawsuit filed by public defenders.
Attorneys for the state Department of Public Advocacy on Tuesday asked Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate for an injunction against the Parole Board and for class-action status for their lawsuit, which currently represents 12 people jailed for alleged parole violations as long ago as last December.
State law requires the Parole Board to hold a hearing within 30 days of a person being incarcerated for alleged parole violation to decide if there is enough evidence to revoke parole or whether release back into community supervision is justified, DPA attorney Tim Arnold wrote in the suit.
However, the Parole Board is letting parole violation defendants remain in jail well past that 30-day deadline, putting their lives at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic that already has killed seven inmates in state and federal prisons in Kentucky, Arnold wrote.
“Petitioners are all state inmates being held at local facilities,” Arnold wrote. “The facilities where they are being held generally do not have the capacity to quarantine incoming inmates or to permit any form of social distancing. As a result, all the petitioners are at significantly greater risk of harm during this pandemic.”
For example, 27-year-old Curtis Wilkerson has been in the Madison County jail on a parole violation warrant since Feb. 27, according to the suit. Despite early release efforts by local court officials and Gov. Andy Beshear, the Madison County jail last week remained overcrowded at 105 percent of its capacity.
“No facilities are more vulnerable to outbreaks than the county facilities that house the petitioners,” Arnold wrote. “County facilities have no way to control their intake — a person arrested must be admitted — making them one DUI arrest away from an outbreak.”
“Moreover, county facilities are generally constructed for short-term custody and therefore do not include a yard or other areas where social distancing can occur. Finally, most county facilities are located in communities without a major hospital or other form of medical care to address infections,” he wrote.
In its response to the suit, the Parole Board said state law does not set the 30-day deadline for revocation hearings until an alleged violator is “returned to prison for violation of his release.” However, the plaintiffs in this suit are held in jails, not in prisons, so the clock isn’t yet ticking, wrote Angela Dunham, attorney for the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet.
Also, Dunham wrote, all of the plaintiffs either have had probable cause hearings before an administrative law judge — an early stage in the revocation process — or else they waived them. While those hearings might not be the proceedings involving the Parole Board that plaintiffs are demanding, they at least had access to a hearing, she wrote.
“These petitioners are waiting for a final order from the board on whether they will be revoked or re-released,” Dunham wrote. State law ”does not mandate a final decision on revocation within 30 days, as such a mandate would be impractical.”
Wingate is expected to rule in coming days.
This story was originally published May 21, 2020 at 4:34 PM.
