THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 16, 1994 TAG: 9408160344
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Parole would be ended and prison terms would increase sevenfold for some violent offenders under a plan Gov. George F. Allen's Commission on Parole Abolition and Sentencing Reform plans to present today.
The program would also establish truth-in-sentencing guidelines and establish up to 10 new work camps for nonviolent offenders, all for less than $1 billion, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported for its editions today.
The newspaper quoted two sources familiar with the proposal, however, as saying the plan does not call for reducing prison sentences for nonviolent offenders as other states have done to ease prison crowding.
Virginia's prison system is split evenly between violent and nonviolent criminals. If the General Assembly approves the proposal next month in a special session, violent offenders would become the majority behind bars.
The newspaper's unidentified sources said Monday the cost will be ``comfortably under'' $1 billion in new prison construction over a 10-year period. The estimate did not include increased operational costs.
Allen campaigned heavily last fall for ending parole. But abolishing parole would require $3 billion to $4 billion in new prison construction, parole proponents argued.
Richard Cullen, a co-chairman of the Allen commission, declined to comment on the plan Monday. However, he said Allen will decide how to finance the plan, not the commission.
``I think the public will be very pleased with the substantial increases to be recommended for the violent, especially the repeat violent offenders,'' he said.
``Proposal X,'' as the commission plan has been called so far, calls for criminals to serve at least 85 percent of the sentences imposed by a judge or jury - thereby substantially realizing a truth-in-sentencing system.
The present parole system allows early release for good behavior, allowing a model inmate to serve as little as one-sixth of a sentence.
Initially the proposal called for imposing mandatory sentencing guidelines. It was later modified to make the guidelines voluntary - as they are now in Virginia - permitting the current minimum and maximum sentences to stay on the books.
A key difference with the new guidelines, however, is that they will be based on the current time actually served by criminals instead of a suggested range that could be shortened substantially by parole and good time.
Unlike other states that have tried sentencing reform, Virginia has an extensive computer database of the time convicts actually serve. In developing the recommendations to be disclosed today, the Department of Criminal Justice Services has used that database to project the costs of various reform proposals. by CNB