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Our chief areas of interest include drug policy reform, women in prison, racial injustice, the impact of incarceration on children and families, the problems associated with re-entry and stopping the practice of using private prisons in our state.

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Monday, October 21, 2013

Paralyzed inmate says keeping him locked up serves no purpose

As you may remember this story was first reported a few years ago in the Westword in a story written by Alan Prendergast  Paralyzed.
the Denver Post


A prolific car thief says keeping him in prison is extremely expensive and serves no purpose because he can no longer swipe cars after he was paralyzed by a policeman's bullet.
And Darrell Havens, 26, has an unlikely ally: David Michaud, a former Denver police chief who later was appointed state parole board chairman.
"I don't see the point in keeping him locked up," Michaud said. "The cost is enormous. His risk to the community is minimal."
But opponents of Havens' fourth request for an early medical parole release argue that his punishment is appropriate after he nearly ran over a police officer. They say he should get no allowances because of injuries he caused.
Colorado Department of Corrections authorities say Havens' medical care costs the state about $22,000 a year. If he serves his entire 20-year sentence for first-degree assault, it would cost nearly a half-million dollars. Havens is eligible for parole in 2016.
Arvada police have argued that Havens was shot because he nearly ran over a police officer while trying to escape in a stolen Audi, and that even after he was arrested, he managed to break the law by smuggling marijuana into prison.
The Denver Post interviewed Havens at the Denver Reception and Diagnostic Center last week. Havens, who uses a wheelchair, said by the age of 16 he was stealing and burglarizing cars to buy cocaine, and by 18 he stole about 50 cars and had graduated to methamphetamine.
Havens had a record of putting victims and himself in harm's way when he stole cars. Undercover officers were following him on Aug. 4, 2006, when he plowed into the side of a car. Despite permanent injuries including paralysis in his right arm, Havens was stealing cars again within weeks after coming out of a seven-week coma, he acknowledged.
On Jan. 3, 2007, more than a dozen officers set up a sting in which Havens thought he could trade a stolen black Audi for an "8 ball of meth" and $200. Instead the plan called for boxing him in behind a Target store at Interstate 70 and Kipling in Arvada and arresting him. Havens claims members of the task force rammed his car before he realized what was happening. Paralyzed, he couldn't take his foot off the gas pedal, he said.
But several officers said Havens refused to stop and was very close to running over Arvada Officer Bill Johnson when the officer fired nine times, striking Havens in the mouth, chest and neck, according to court documents.
Havens was charged with attempted murder and pleaded down to first-degree assault in an agreement in which he was given a 20-year sentence in 2008.
In 2010, because of the high cost of caring for a paralyzed man with only partial use of his left arm, prison officials requested that Havens be released before his scheduled parole eligibility date because of special medical needs, Michaud said. The parole board initially voted to release him on parole.
But when Arvada Police Chief Don Wick and former Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey learned of the decision, they objected.
"We understand Mr. Havens' physical condition, but serving less than one and a half years of a 20-year sentence flies in the face of the original sentence," Storey wrote in a March 22, 2010, letter to Michaud.
One of the arguments by police was that Havens proved he was still capable and willing to break the law when he had someone sneak marijuana into him while he was in prison — twice. Arvada police declined to comment, citing ongoing civil litigation.
But Michaud said marijuana smuggling doesn't make Havens a dangerous criminal. He said parolees regularly violate more serious laws and are not sent back to prison.
"I didn't see where that rose to the level that Havens should be denied parole," he said. But the parole board voted a second time and rejected his parole.
Havens has refiled for early parole release. He said his sister, who is a medical aide, would take over his care, and he has Medicaid.
In the past three years, DOC has granted special medical paroles 17 times for seriously ill offenders.
Each day in prison, Havens must be bathed and dressed. He takes a cocktail of drugs to control pain and reduce the spasms in his left leg.
"I require help from inmates to put on my boxers and pants," he said.


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