NOTE: THIS BLOG Was put together a few years ago- The history is still good, some of the essays excellent. To give you an idea of where parole stands now; in 1993 the parole board released 3,624 old law prisoners; IN 2013, 150 old law prisoners were released.
"The entire prison industry is not so much a moral failure as it is a designed systemic failure, geared to maintain exploding prison populations and satisfy the requirements for obtaining the billions of dollars in federal grants. Moreover, from a public-safety point of view the system is making matters worse. And from every perceivable angle, it is by design. Can it be turned around? There has to be a commitment to make sweeping changes in the system, but I do not imagine those sacrificial changes coming on their own. The system will not sacrifice itself for the sake of correcting corrections, or doing the right thing for the public good. " Ron Schilling
This is a short introduction to a big problem effecting all of us. We will be setting up a parole blog giving more information and including other inmates caught in the system. Here we will list the problem and give some explanation.
Put these five ingredients together and you get the enormous prison population we have today-
1) The federal Government gives big bucks to states that keep their violent offenders in prison as long as possible .
2) Each state is allowed to interpret the meaning of "violent " and Wisconsin has one of the stricter interpretations. The weapon does not need to be shown or used, noone needs to be hurt, and even if the perpetrated has no weapon- if the victim THINKS he/she has a weapon, it counts as a violent crime.
3) In 1994 Tommy Thompson signed a secret directive telling the DOC to keep violent offenders in prison as long as possible using any means possible.
4) Truth in Sentencing was passed in 1994. and is being illegally interpreted by the corrections departments around the country to keep in prison for far longer times than the original intent of their sentences prisoners who were sentenced before the law was passed. (a big subject see newspaper articles in this blog)
5) Catch 22 and no parole- this is one of the ways the prisons keep their people- the parole commission and the DOC each says the other has to give the inmate clearance for transfer to minimum security- a prerequisite for parole. This makes the parole hearings meaningless.
To Elaborate:
1)The Federal LAW -big bucks to keep and build for MORE inmates:. The law is 42 U.S.C. 137-13704., "violent crime control act of 1994." has been giving Wisconsin millions of federal dollars to keep a sub class of prisoners, classified as "violent' locked up as long as possible.(will have copy here soon)
2)Tommy Thompson's Directive: On April 28, 1994, then-governor, Tommy G. Thompson, issued a Policy Directive, sub rosa (under the table-secret, not put through the legislature), to the Department of Corrections Secretary which essentially abolished parole in Wisconsin for many prisoners
It should be noted that in addition to appointing the Secretary of the Department of Corrections, the governor also appoints the Chairperson of the Wisconsin Parole Commission, which is situated within the Department of Corrections. The Policy Directive reads as follows:
"I recently proposed and subsequently signed into law a bill to end mandatory parole for violent offenders in Wisconsin. In enacting that important change legal counsel advised that any retroactive change in the law would be unconstitutional.
Therefore, although 1 have ended mandatory parole for violent offenders, there are some inmates already in prison who are still governed by the old release law.
1 believe that mandatory release of violent offenders is wrong. That is why I called a Special Session of the legislature in 1987 to pass a "life means life" sentencing bill, and that is why 1 moved to end mandatory parole for violent offenders this year.
In order to implement this policy as fully as possible, ] hereby direct the department of corrections to pursue any and all available legal avenues to block the release of violent offenders who have reached their mandatory release date.
The policy of this Administration is to keep violent offenders in prison as long as possible under the law."The Governor was advised by legal counsel that any retroactive change in the law would be unconstitutional. Knowing that it would be unconstitutional and fall under the ex post facto prohibition, he still issued his Policy Directive to the Department of Corrections, sub rosa in order to circumvent the Constitution. Knowing that he could not legally apply his Policy Directive to those prisoners who fell under the old release laws, the governor essentially "backdoored" his Policy.
The only way that the Department of Corrections/Parole Board can honor the former Governors Policy Directive is by denying these offenders a meaningful parole hearing; by giving these offenders one-defer-after-another, until the offender is very close to his mandatory release date, and then the Parole Board will give the inmate a parole grant, calling it a discretionary parole. Sadly, for many men and women serving old law life sentences, the new Policy Directive imposed has become a death penalty.
By honoring the Policy Directive to keep violent offenders from earning a parole, they have successfully circumvented the United States Constitution Article
Wisconsin Public Television aired a program in January of 2000, entitled "Wisconsin Prison and Politics", which addressed current parole practices in Wisconsin and pointed out that prisoners in Wisconsin -are serving their sentences up to their mandatory release dates. . In fact, Richard P. Jones, of the Journal Sentinel Staff wrote a very telling story about the Wisconsin Department of Corrections as early as February 7, 2000, recognizing "that the vast majority on inmates sitting in prison today, their chances of getting out early on parole are virtually nil, and it has little to do with the new truth-in-sentencing law.
3) statistics-Drastic decline in paroleThere has been a drastic and overwhelming change in the parole board's practices since the life of the Policy Directive of April 28, 1994, showing the drastic decline in release of inmates serving life sentences and the incredible increase in all other inmates having to serve their maximum time and being denoed early parole.
In 1992 , 2 years before the Thompson directive, 608 inmates were released on mandatory release ( latest date barring bad conduct) ,
in 2000, 4,424,inmates had to wait for their mandatory release- there were few early releases.
here are some other significant statistics.
1992, the board released 2,921 prisoners on parole and 648 prisoners did MR.
1993. the board released 3,624 " " 607 "
1994. " 3,325- 698
1995. " " 3,941 - " 965 "
1996. " - 3,705 - " 1,086
1997. " - 3,637 - " 1,291
1998. " " 2,627 - " 2,006
1999. " " 1,567 " " 3,347
2000. - " 2,325 " 4,424
2001. " 1,872 " " 4,131
4)Truth In Sentencing- a big subject. (see newspaper articles in this blog)
5)Pac rule and DOC rule: the catch 22of no parole.PAC1.06 ;7e
A recommendation for parole and a grant of parole shall be made only after the inmate has: (e) Reached a point at which, in the judgment of the commission, discretionary parole would not pose an unreasonable risk to the public
DOC 302.07 Factors in assigning a custody classification. The department may consider factors that include but are not limited to the following in assigning custody classification:
(12) Parole commission actions and stated expectations, and in the absence of any stated expectations, the likelihood of a release during the
review period.
Another ruse is the parole rule that states: parole will be considered(b) Served sufficient time so that release would not depreciate the seriousness of the offense (.PAC 196-b) yet there is no criteria for determining when the punishment is enough. AS is stated in one case ( Flynn vs DOC) . Flynn claims that it vas arbitrary, capricious and unlawful to deny him parole because he has not served 'sufficient time for punishment' when there is no subjective or objective criteria to define just what "sufficient tine for punishment * is AND that the Code which he was sentenced under shifted from the parole board to the sentencing court the responsibility of seeing to it that the •Punishment' aspect of his sentence would be satisfied when he his parole eligibility date, ..Thus, denying him parole without procedural due process when he was not allowed to present evidence that might reasonably make the determination of the decision in question more in favor of discretionary parole. (Entire Flynn case will be on Parole blog soon)
Here is Ron's explanation:
"The Department of Corrections in the State of Wisconsin currently has in place and enforces prison classification rules and parole rules which conflict with one another, making it virtually impossible for prisoners to ever be properly classified and earn their release on parole; a right they retained prior to the implementation of the rules. A fair reading of the enclosures presents that a clear and unequivocal "catch-22" is created by the rules' combined operation.
If the mis-classification issue were properly addressed it would impact the correctional system on a fundamental level. As the enclosures depict, there is a definite problem with the way the classification and parole rules conflict with one another, forcing every prisoner to serve until their MR, PMR or discharge dates. The matter is made worse for Lifers since they do not have those options to begin with. It ultimately leads to the classic "catch-22" situation where a prisoner cannot be properly classified. Potentially forever.
I have personally been litigating against this precise issue in various State and Federal courts since 1989. After I prevailed in 1990, where the Judge declared the rules to be in violation of the Constitution, I was properly classified until 1998, when DOC began using the rule again. This rule still creates the same effect of the "catch-22" controversy mentioned in the enclosures, and is a designed result of the rules' operation. Consequently, it is the predominant reason for the massive overcrowding in the prison system, needlessly costing the taxpayers many billions of dollars." Here is Ron's final eloquent plea for overhaul of the system :
"The entire prison industry is not so much a moral failure as it is a designed systemic failure, geared to maintain exploding prison populations and satisfy the requirements for obtaining the billions of dollars in federal grants. Moreover, from a public-safety point of view the system is making matters worse. And from every perceivable angle, it is by design. Can it be turned around? There has to be a commitment to make sweeping changes in the system, but I do not imagine those sacrificial changes coming on their own. The system will not sacrifice itself for the sake of correcting corrections, or doing the right thing for the public good.
In closing, I thank you in advance for any and all attention you can bring to this important matter. Please feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions about any aspect of this matter. " Ron's address is:Ron Schilling #32219;OCI;PO Box938; Oregon, Wi53575
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