Chairman Questions Parole Releases

Grand Junction Sentinel - The chairman of Colorado’s parole board attributed a recent, controversial statistical spike in the state’s discretionary parole releases to faulty figures.

David Michaud, chairman of the state’s parole board and a former Denver chief of police, said when he saw the Department of Corrections had recorded an 80 percent jump in early, discretionary parole releases from fiscal year 2006 to fiscal year 2007, he was baffled.

According to Colorado Department of Colorado statistics, the number of prisoners released on discretionary parole during that period spiked from 2,813 to 5,069 after nearly a decade of relatively flat release numbers.

“It’s just insane. It’s crazy,” Michaud said. “Those numbers are not accurate.”....

.....He said a spike in the number of inmates whose mandatory parole dates came up last year on weekends or holidays could have increased the statistical spike in the number of discretionary parole releases that lawmakers and others have criticized..

“If an offender’s discharge date, his mandatory release date or his statutory release date comes up on Friday, Saturday, Sunday or a holiday, they will for reasons of transportation and reporting to their parole officer when they go out ... release them two to three days early,” he said. “They will mark that as a discretionary parole (release).”

Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, said he has been working with the governor’s office to prepare an audit on the parole situation, but he had not heard Michaud’s explanations.

Penry said his first concern is that a new board, with a majority of Ritter appointees, has decided to change its policies without any public discussion.

“This is a potentially major change in policy with no discussion or debate,” Penry said. “Obviously something is different.”

Vern Saint Vincent, a former Aurora police chief and former parole board member, said the surge in discretionary parole releases prior to July 1, when his appointment ended, was partially because of his board’s desire to get hundreds of persons granted parole but not released out of the system.....

....An open records request filed with the governor’s office last week revealed no correspondence between Ritter and the parole board concerning discretionary parole releases.

Grand Junction Sentinel