Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 22, 1994 TAG: 9409230111
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
But many of the speakers also made it clear they did not want to pay for it on a local level.
``Russell County applauds this plan, but this plan must have zero impact on our local budget,'' Russell County Administrator James Gillespie told more than a dozen state legislators attending the hearing. ``I encourage you to pass a source of revenue for this.''
Wytheville Mayor Trent Crewe, representing the Virginia Municipal League, reminded the legislators that while Gov. George Allen ran on a platform that included abolishing parole, his platform also included no unfunded mandates for localities. Smyth County Supervisor Bill Blevins, president-elect of the Virginia Association of Counties, made the same point.
Virginia Education Association President Rob Jones warned of a ``shift and shaft'' funding possibility in which prisons would end up bankrupting other state programs, including aid to schools.
``I ask members of the General Assembly to remember that education prevents incarceration. It costs far less to educate a child today than it does to incarcerate an adult tomorrow,'' he said. ``If we continue to sacrifice education, we won't be able to build prisons fast enough.''
But the most applause came when victims of violent crimes told of being raped, shot or otherwise victimized by criminals who were free on parole or, despite having been given heavy sentences for their crimes, would soon be eligible for parole or were already free.
A rape victim asked that those in the audience who favored abolishing parole stand up. All but about 30 did.
``I know how it feels to be violated by a convicted criminal who should not have the privilege of freedom,'' she said. ``Again and again, our criminal justice system has proven to be unjust.''
Tom Slusher, a Carroll County man shot several times by a man out on supervised probation who also assaulted and terrorized his wife, said the man was sentenced to four life sentences plus 143 years after being convicted of 14 charges last year. He will be eligible for discretionary parole in 2007.
Some of those convicted of murder serve seven years or less, he said. ``That's not punishment. That's a license to kill ... I'm sick and tired of hearing liberal groups say that criminals need to be reformed and given a chance.''
Penny Martin of Wytheville, whose husband is in prison as a first-time offender, said there would be room for violent criminals in existing prisons if those who deserved parole received it.
``In a sense, parole has already been abolished,'' she said. ``Nobody talks about the ones who go on to lead useful, productive lives.''
Capt. George Keyes of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department said local jails are already overcrowded and are having to hold many state prisoners for whom there is no prison space. ``Between now and the time the state decides what it's going to do, we're the ones in the trenches,'' he said.
The hearing was one of four across the state scheduled by state Senate committees.
by CNB