KEEP POLITICS AWAY FROM PAROLE DECISIONS

Iowa's nine state prisons are about 20 percent over capacity. The
Department of Corrections' current budget has been cut $13 million -- 5
percent -- because of state revenue shortfalls.

We'd bet that most of you would consider that to be a potentially dangerous
situation. Overcrowding of prisoners, especially dangerous ones, combined
with less money for staffing and other prison expenses, leads to more
tensions between guards and inmates.

But the conditions would have been worse by now if not for the State Parole
Board's move to increase the number of paroles -- up 21 percent for the
year that ended June 30.

That's not to say more dangerous felons are on the loose in our
neighborhoods. The Parole Board is granting earlier releases only to more
of the nonviolent offenders considered less of a threat to the public.
They've been convicted of such crimes as drug possession, drunken driving,
forgery and prostitution.

The Parole Board's move makes some sense to us. Parole and probation seems
like a better way to discipline and treat many lesser offenders. Probation
also costs a fraction of the nearly $30,000 a year it takes to house an
inmate these days.

Still, many of you, we suspect, may wonder if the Parole Board risks making
more mistakes by opening the release doors wider. And when the Parole Board
makes the decision to grant more paroles, it also raises suspicions of
political pressure. Last week, some GOP leaders claimed that Democratic
Gov. Tom Vilsack imposed a quota system on the Parole Board, a charge the
governor and the board strongly denied.

True or not, it seems unwise to have the Parole Board change the rules on
early release. The board's primary duty is simply to determine if an inmate
is ready to be paroled, and there should be no political influence on its
decisions.

Rather, the state judicial system should review sentencing rules and
recommend legislative changes that would keep more nonviolent, lesser
offenders out of prison in the first place, or at least shorten their stay.
The court system is in the best position to judge the impact of such
changes on our society.