Now parole officials are looking at the “extent to which whether continued service on a sentence is in the interest of justice,” and other factors involving a prisoner’s conviction. “We’ve expanded our own policies to account for somebody who may not meet the requirements of compassionate release, but who is in that elder category,” said Sparaco. A new policy was implemented in June 2021, lowering the threshold for commutation and giving the parole board more flexibility. The state of Connecticut allows prisoners who was are diagnosed as “debilitated” to receive a “compassionate” release, but that threshold was fairly high, said Sparaco. The prison population has been seeing a rising number of older inmates behind bars, a consequence of longer prison sentences that were imposed in the 1980s and 90s for convicted felons.
Like prison and parole officials around the country, Sparaco said the issue of an aging prison population has become a significant question. “He’s doing well under supervision,” he said. Richard Sparaco, executive director of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, said there had been no problems with Smith since his release.
Smith had initially been reluctant to accept parole when it was offered to him several years ago, according to the Board of Pardons and Paroles, but has since accepted a placement at the 60 West facility, a privately-run operation that contracts with the state for housing elderly parolees.
0 kommentar(er)
