INMATES CAN'T EXPECT EARLY PRISON EXIT
Parole Standards Are Tight For Those Not Affected By Truth In
Sentencing

Madison - For the vast majority of inmates sitting in prison today,
the chances of getting out early on parole are virtually nil, and it
has little to do with the new truth-in-sentencing law.

The new law ended parole as of Dec. 31, but that applies only to new
offenders. People who commit serious crimes today and go to prison
must serve the entire prison term imposed by the judge.

However, parole is still possible for roughly 20,000 inmates, the
so-called old-world offenders, convicted and imprisoned before truth
in sentencing.

Even so, the number of paroles has dropped dramatically. And of those
that are granted, chances are they come late in a prisoner's term,
closer to the mandatory release date.

Under Jerry E. Smith Jr., the new Parole Commission chairman, 73
inmates were paroled in October of last year, according to the latest
available figures, compiled by the state Department of
Corrections.

That's the lowest monthly total since the spring of 1998, when John
Husz resigned under fire as commission chairman. After he quit in
March of that year, the number plummeted to 16 in April, then rose
slightly to 29 in May.

For one year, Michael T. Sullivan, a retired Milwaukee County judge,
took over. Under Sullivan, the number of paroles averaged 166 a month
until Sullivan resigned last April at the age of 74.

Then Gov. Tommy G. Thompson appointed Smith to the job, which pays
$76,625 a year. Since then, the monthly average has been 104 paroles,
but the actual number in the latter months has hovered around 75.

That's in stark contrast to the final months that Husz served as
chairman, when five times as many paroles were granted. Husz paroled
442 inmates in January 1998 alone.

Back then, the commission faced an onslaught of criticism. Democrats
controlling the Senate claimed Husz worked in concert with corrections
to ease prison crowding. Husz maintained that he put public safety
first and applied the parole statutes correctly.

But when it was clear the Senate would not agree to the Republican
governor's decision to reappoint him, Husz stepped down, and he has
declined to discuss the whole episode.

With paroles now running fewer than 100 a month, there are those who
offer a simple explanation: politics.

"The parole board became politicized," said Sen. Gwendolynne Moore, a
Milwaukee Democrat, who blames her Senate colleagues as much as
anyone. "It doesn't matter whichparty did it, for what political
purpose. (But) yeah, it was the Democrats that did it, and I maintain
that the Parole Commission has now been politicized."

In an interview, Smith offered a number of reasons for the decline in
paroles, foremost among them, his absence for more than a month last
fall when his wife, Carol, died of cancer. He said politics play no
role in the board's decision, and what happened to Husz has not
influenced him in any way.

The low number of paroles granted by Smith so far is good news to
Kenosha County District Attorney Robert Jambois, an especially vocal
critic of Husz.

"I didn't know Jerry Smith, and quite frankly, I was concerned, but
I've been pleased with what I've seen," Jambois said. "This is the way
the parole system is supposed to work. We're not supposed to just
parole people when they reach a certain percentage of their time."

Inmates convicted and imprisoned under the old law are eligible for
early release after serving a quarter of their sentence. If denied
early release, or discretionary parole as it is also known, they must
remain in prison until they have served two-thirds of their sentence,
their so-called mandatory release date. At that point, they are
released into the community under the supervision of a parole agent
for the remainder of their sentence.

When judges sent convicts to prison under the old law, they were
mindful of the parole eligibility date and often added years to a
prison term to ensure offenders were behind bars for a sufficient
number of years. Truth in sentencing changed all that, but only for
people who have committed crimes since Dec. 31.

During the truth-in-sentencing debate, the governor and other
proponents called for reform, saying that elected judges, not the
nameless, faceless bureaucrats in the Department of Corrections,
should determine the length of imprisonment.

Smith, 52, a father of three and a Madison School Board member, said
that instead of a bureaucrat, he considers himself a public servant,
influenced at an early age by Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy.

Beyond that, he stressed that the commission - though located in the
Department of Corrections - is an independent body. Furthermore, the
panel was not alone in letting some inmates out early. He said judges
on occasion would reopen cases and show more leniency than the Parole
Commission.

Smith described himself as tough when it comes to granting paroles. He
said that as chairman, he will read the case files, hear an inmate's
appeal for early release, but on occasion, simply defer the request
until the mandatory release date, effectively denying parole.

He gave other reasons for the low number of paroles. They include a
commission that is understaffed and straining to meet a caseload that
has increased as rapidly as the record-breaking inmate population.
While parole is discretionary, inmates have a right by law to a
hearing. This month, Smith and five commissioners have 1,700 cases to
review.

"My folks put about 3,000 miles a month on their cars," he said. The
phone, however, is used for hearings with inmates held in prisons out
of state.