Petition for Specific Parole Rule or Policy changes

We the undersigned, ask Parole Chairman Dean Stenberg to affect positive changes that would free the over 2500 Wisconsin prisoners who were convicted of crimes committed before 2000, have long been eligible for parole and can prove themselves rehabilitated. These are our “old law prisoners” and although there have been new parole rules submitted which would affect the changes needed, we also acknowledge that these rules would not be needed if the current statutes were followed. They worked fine before 1994, when the prison boom was put in motion. Truth in sentence (TIS) nearly closed the system in 2000 when all prisoners were treated as if parole did not exist.

There are three changes which would make the biggest difference and we ask that you set them in motion either through PAC rule changes or give written directives to your staff. Of course we would like to see all the proposed changes enacted but these are the most important.

1) For inmates sentenced for crimes committed prior to December 31st, 1999, the mandated 25% of their sentence, set forth in the statutes, shall be considered sufficient time for punishment. Afterwards, release on parole shall be granted, absent substantive extenuating circumstances or sentencing judge’s order, based on conduct and accomplishments while incarcerated.
2) The Parole Board shall have the widest possible view of the prisoner. In addition to allowing victims and victim advocates to testify at the hearing, prisoners shall be able to invite family members and advocates. Also, the prisoners shall be allowed to submit letters of recommendation by WIDOC staff and WIDOC volunteers who have worked with him/her.
3) The endless deferments for old law prisoners must stop. Most parole decisions contain the catchall provisions: “insufficient time for punishment” or state that release will “diminish the seriousness of the crime” which makes no sense since most old law prisoners have been eligible for parole for decades and are long past time when they are dangerous. Also there is no statutory requirement that a prisoner be transitioned to a minimum security institution, that he/she has a work release job or must work outside the prison before release from prison. Likewise, the use contradictory rulings between various departments and the excuse of lack of availability of programming must stop . All these “excuses” keep the old law inmates and their families forever in limbo and sap the system of any sense of credibility. Instead we demand that if parole is not granted, the Parole Board must state in written detail the specific requirements an eligible inmate must meet to be granted parole and if programming is the reason given, those programs need to be made available within 3 months, the prisoner needs to be allowed to complete the program in the community or the requirement needs to be waived.

We ask Chairman Stensberg to reverse the 15 year old practice of using verbal rules and contradictory rules to keep Old law prisoners incarcerated. We are an evolving society and more and more people understand that people do change. Our Old Law prisoners, all incarcerated for more that 15 years, are not the same people who made those mistakes years ago and they deserve a second chance. We as taxpayers demand this waste of money and lives stop.