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

DATE: SATURDAY, October 2, 1993                   TAG: 9310020056
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG SCHNEIDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

PAROLE COMMITTEE DOESN'T HEAR ALLEN

With Virginia's parole system taking kidney punches every day in the gubernatorial race, and with new statistics showing that the average prison inmate serves less than a third of his sentence, the state parole board chairman defended the system Friday as a source of hope.

"It provides for a recognition that there are redeemable qualities in people; and given a chance to redeem themselves, some people will be able to accept their punishment and go on," Clarence Jackson told a study commission appointed by the General Assembly.

As he spoke, Republican gubernatorial candidate George Allen was waiting in the back of the room, hoping for a chance to tell the Commission on Sentence and Parole Reform that the system should be abolished.

Allen's opponent, Democrat Mary Sue Terry, has claimed that her plan for toughening parole would end up with harsher consequences for criminals.

Both candidates say less parole will make Virginians safer, but Jackson disagreed. "If this commission or anybody else thinks that putting somebody in prison and locking them up is going to solve the problem of crime . . . they are misinformed," he said.

Jackson compared that reasoning to believing that you have to cure cancer before you can treat any patient's symptoms. "Parole should be part of a process," he said. "You should look at the whole thing as a system of management."

Jackson's impromptu defense, tacked on to the end of a routine "this-is-how-it-works" presentation, carried him past his allotted time and kept the commission from discussing new statistics about how quickly convicted criminals are getting back on the streets.

It also gave Del. James Almand, D-Arlington, an excuse to prevent Allen from taking the lectern. "We're going to adjourn as announced," said Almand, who heads the commission. "We're not having public testimony today; when we do, we'll be happy to hear from Mr. Allen or any member of the public."

The panel's next meeting is Nov. 22 - three weeks after the election.

So Allen, grousing about politics, held a news conference to tout his anti-parole stance and call for tougher sentencing.

And he didn't even have the latest statistics compiled by the state Department of Criminal Justice Services, which show that:

The average first-degree murderer released from Virginia prisons in 1992 served less than 31 percent of his sentence, or 11 years of a 36-year term. Inmates convicted of selling hard drugs served less than 21 percent of their sentences. Rape or sodomy convictions carried the highest amount of sentence served, almost 48 percent.

Overall, Virginia murderers served less time than the U.S. average. Nationwide, murderers were released after serving almost nine years of a 21.5-year sentence. The average Virginia killer got out after less than seven years of a 20-year sentence.

Virginia inmates sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder got out after serving an average of 17.4 years.

A spokesman for Terry, who bemoans such numbers but doesn't believe in scrapping the system, said that Allen's rhetoric is a late-blooming effort to pander to popular sentiment. "In nine years in the General Assembly," said Terry campaign adviser Tom King, "George Allen never proposed a single parole bill."

by CNB