
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 22, 1994                   TAG: 9407200038
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                 LENGTH: Medium

ALLEN FIELDS PAROLE QUESTIONS GOVERNOR HOLDS TV `TOWN MEETING'

Gov. George Allen wrapped up a series of town meetings on his parole abolition plan with a statewide broadcast Tuesday night in which Virginians called in questions about the proposal's costs and benefits.

Callers to the hourlong show broadcast on public television stations asked whether ending parole would make prisons harder to run and be more costly.

Allen said the costs have not been estimated. ``It's not as if all of this is going to hit in the first year,'' he said.

The governor said the cost of keeping violent offenders in prison longer would be far less than the cost to society of high crime rates.

Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr, co-chairman of Allen's commission on ending parole, said prisons could still maintain discipline because inmates would be able to reduce their sentences by 15 percent through good behavior.

Allen said he was confident that his plan would pass the General Assembly, but a key Democratic legislator declined to pledge support to ending parole.

``I think a plan will pass'' to require longer sentences, said Del. James Almand of Arlington, chairman of the Courts of Justice Committee.

``There is a recognition that our system needs to be simplified, and violent criminals need to serve longer sentences,'' he said.

The show opened with a parade of crime victims' relatives recounting the grisly murders that took their loved ones.

Among those Allen recruited to his cause was Newport News police officer Carol Schindler, whose fiance, fellow officer Larry Bland, was shot to death in May while making a traffic stop. The man charged with the murder, Maurice O. Boyd, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter in 1983 but was paroled after six years and seven months.

``Why was his murderer on the street?'' Schindler asked on the program. ``Why was this sorry excuse for a human ever released?''

Allen has called a Sept. 19 special session of the General Assembly to consider abolishing parole and reforming sentences.

Allen's Commission on Parole Abolition and Sentencing Reform also held town meetings in Portsmouth, Alexandria and Roanoke. Most speakers supported an end to parole, but some said the promise of early release is needed to keep inmates in line.

Inmates now serve an average of about one-third of their sentences. Allen wants them to serve at least 85 percent, but part of his plan could involve reducing the length of some sentences and keeping nonviolent offenders out of prison.

While the costs of the reforms have not been determined, the state has estimated that it will need to build nine prisons to house an additional 7,000 inmates by 1999. One 800-bed prison the state wants to build in Wise County would cost about $52 million.

by CNB