THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 9, 1994 TAG: 9408090428
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Only 6 percent of parole requests from Virginia inmates were granted last month, continuing a trend under Gov. George F. Allen that could increase jail crowding and heighten the need for more prisons.
The parole panel, dominated by Allen's appointees, had estimated earlier that the rate would settle at about 15 percent.
As recently as last year, the board had approved 40 percent of the parole applications.
Allen, a Republican, had called for abolishing parole, and his opponents claim that because of the low rate of paroles granted he has done just that.
The lower grant rate also is keeping up pressure on state prison officials to provide more space to receive inmates now being housed in crowded local jails.
The state has an estimated 20,000 inmates.
``All they've seen since Allen walked in is crackdown, crackdown, crackdown,'' said Marie Deans, an inmate advocate. Prisoners now feel ``hopeless and it's going to get worse. These prisons are going to blow up.''
State corrections officials said Monday that the parole rate was not a factor in a weekend disturbance at the Dillwyn Correctional Center.
Corrections and parole officials concede they will need more prison space than they thought with so low a parole rate.
``I don't think that inmates have no hope for parole. I think they definitely have hope for parole,'' said John Metzger III, the parole board chairman.
``But I'm inclined to be perfectly frank . . . this board has already shown itself to be more conservative,'' he said.
``We fully support the governor's plans to end parole.''
Allen this year replaced the parole board and named Metzger as the new chairman. The rate then dropped from 29 percent in April, to 22 percent in May, 10 percent in June, then six percent last month, Metzger said.
Allen's plan, dubbed Proposal X, calls for an end to parole and for ``truth in sentencing'' so that criminals will serve at least 85 percent of the sentence imposed by a judge or jury.
The plan is to be considered during a special session of the General Assembly next month.
The Virginia Association of Commonwealth's Attorneys on Monday endorsed the plan to abolish parole, according to James S. Gilmore III, Virginia's attorney general.
The discretionary parole grant rate is a key factor used by the Department of Corrections in planning for growth and future prison construction.
The discretionary grant rate, as high as 47 percent for 1992, began dropping under the old parole board from a high of 40 percent in April of last year.
By this April, legislators were warned the drop would require some 7,100 more prison beds - at a cost of $600 million - by 1999.
Gene M. Johnson, deputy director of the state Corrections Department, said the lower grant rate has caused some backups in jails where state inmates are being held until there is room for them in prisons.
``At this point, where it's putting the pressure on is the local jails,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: PROPOSAL X
Gov. George Allen's plan, dubbed Proposal X, calls for an end to
parole and for ``truth in sentencing'' so that criminals will serve
at least 85 percent of the sentence imposed by a judge or jury. The
plan is to be considered at a special session of the General
Assembly next month.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA STATE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS PAROLE
by CNB