DRC Parole Population. Correctional Institution Inspection Committee

Transcription

1 DRC Parole Population October 2, 215 Parole Consideration An inmate may be released on or about the date of his eligibility for release unless the Parole Board determines that he should not be released for one of the following reasons: o o o There is substantial reason to believe that the inmate will engage in further criminal conduct, or that the inmate will not conform to established conditions of release. There is substantial reason to believe that due to the serious nature of the crime, the release of the inmate would not further the interest of justice nor be consistent with the welfare and security of society. There is substantial reason to believe that due to serious institutional rule infractions, the release of the inmate would not act as a deterrent to the inmate or to other institutionalized inmates from violating institutional rules and regulations. Mandatory factors for parole consideration include, but are not limited to, reports by institutional staff members, prior criminal record, presentence or postsentence report, recommendations by sentencing judge or attorneys, reports of physical, mental or psychiatric examination, statements by the inmate, equivalent SB2 sentence range, inmate s ability and readiness to assume obligations, inmate s family status, type of residence in which the inmate plans to live, inmate s employment history and occupational skills, availability of community resources to assist inmate, etc. Changing Parole Population The enactment of Senate Bill 2, which changed Ohio s sentencing scheme to one of primarily definite sentences, dramatically changed the composition of the population that is still subject to the Board s discretionary releasing authority. SB 2 designated that only life maximum sentences (such as murder or child rape) are eligible for parole. Currently, over half of the parole eligible population was sentenced post-sb 2. As a result, the number of non-life maximum inmates eligible for parole has dwindled as they have been released over the years, leaving a population that is serving longer sentences for more serious offenses. Key Statistics The DRC currently houses 8,793 inmates who are parole eligible. These inmates are predominately male, middle-aged, and serving time for aggravated murder, murder, or rape. The passage of SB 2 in 1996 restricted parole to only life maximum sentences, resulting in a decreasing parole-eligible population, composed of inmates serving time for higher level offenses. As a result, total releases are decreasing and the average time served prior to parole is increasing. Due to the changing parole eligible population, releases have similarly shifted to being predominately life-maximum sentences and F1 offenders. The average time served in prison by men for life maximum sentences prior to parole has remained relatively stable.

2 Current Parole-Eligible Population by Gender* January 1, 215 Female: 319 Male: 8,474 Current Parole-Eligible Population by Offense Categories Other Kidnapping Agg Burglary Agg Robbery Murder The enactment of SB 2 in 1996 narrowed the releasing authority of the Parole Board to only lifemaximum offenses. The effect is seen in the predominately high level offenses in the paroleeligible population. Rape Agg Murder *The predominant offense categories for the parole-eligible population are not typically committed by females and result in a low number of females eligible for parole. **Data provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Parole-eligible excludes life without parole and death row inmates. All other offense categories included less than two percent of the parole-eligible population.

3 Current Parole-Eligible Population by Race January 1, 215 Native American Asian Hispanic Other White Black Current Parole-Eligible Population by Age Mean Age: 46.5 Median Age: Under *Data provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

4 total number of releases average time served in years All Parole Releases and Average Time Served for Those Released Each Year CY 1998 to 213 total number of releases average time served The passage of SB 2 in 1996 restricted parole to only life maximum sentences, resulting in a decreasing paroleeligible population, composed of inmates serving time for higher level offenses. As a result, total releases are decreasing and the average time served prior to parole is increasing. The current parole-eligible offenses hold unique risk factors, preventing the board from using any generalized time frame for release decisions *Data provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. All information taken from the DRC s Time Served reports, which can be accessed here: Time served is measured by years spent in prison. Jail time is not included. **DRC staff clarified that the higher average times are not due to stricter Parole Board decision-making, but simply the higher severity offenses of the current parole eligible population.

5 Percent of Total Parole Releases Comparison of Percentage of Total Releases by Felony Level CY 1998 and % % 26.2% 35.3% Due to the SB 2 restriction that only life maximum offenses had to be reviewed by the parole board, releases have similarly shifted from a variety of offenses to being predominately life-maximum sentences and F1 offenders. Most of the remaining pre-sb2 parole-eligible population is convicted of more serious offenses. 13.9% 13.1% 2.2% % Life-Maximum Sentence** 4.7% 4.9% 3.3% 1.6% 2.3% 1.6%.4% Felony 1 Felony 2 Felony 3 Felony 4 Felony 5 Other Offenses Drug Offenses TOTAL RELEASES ,246 1, , *Data provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. **In 213, rape and drug trafficking were added to the Life-Maximum sentence category; in 1998, Life-Maximum includes only murder and aggravated murder. **NOTE: The enactment of SB 2 in 1996 narrowed the releasing authority of the Parole Board. The effect of this narrowed authority is reflected by the shift in releases to predominately felony 1 and Life-Maximum sentences.

6 Total Stakeholder Participation in the Parole Hearing Process CY 212 to Total Participants Following the passage of Senate Bill 16 ( Roberta s Law ) in 213, victim participation in the parole hearing process has significantly increased, which may also impact release decisions *Data provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. **Senate Bill 16 requires the DRC to notify the victim of specified events, including parole hearings, if the inmate was convicted of Aggravated Murder, Murder, a first, second or third degree offense of violence or is serving a life sentence, regardless of whether the victim has requested notification.

7 time served in prison in years Average Time Served for Life Maximum Offenses by Gender CY male female The average time served in prison by men for life maximum sentences prior to release has remained relatively stable over the 15 year period reviewed. Until recently, women generally served less time on average than men for life maximum sentences; however, this may be skewed by the smaller population overall of women serving time for life maximum offenses and the specific details of the individual offenses *Data provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. All information taken from the DRC s Time Served reports, which can be accessed here: Time served is measured by years spent in prison. Jail time is not included. ** Prior to 213, life maximum offenses included only murder and aggravated murder. In 213, rape and drug trafficking were added. ***The number of women serving time for life maximum offenses is significantly less than the number of men, which may skew the numbers.

8 41,457 Parole Releases by Gender* CY 1998 to 213 Total Number of Parole Releases for all Offenses 1, ,112 6,16 5,115 4,428 3,857 4,196 3,665 2,461 2,3 1,52 1, Total Number of Releases *Data provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. All information taken from the DRC s Time Served reports, which can be accessed here: ** As depicted on page 2 of the data brief, women represent a much smaller proportion of the parole eligible population, resulting in fewer women released.

9 Number of Persons Paroled or Re-Paroled, 1998 to 213, Sorted by Felony Level Year Life/max F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 Other/drug Total , , , , , ,4 1, , ,47 1, , ,392 1, , ,37 1, , ,629 2, , ,76 2, ,78 6, ,246 1, ,234 5,488 Total 1,35 13,833 13,38 4,912 2,292 1,32 6,388 43,475 * For persons re-paroled after return for a recommission, they are assigned to the new crime felony level. Notes: 1. There are no parole eligible offenses under SB 2 which are F5. These persons are parole-eligible based on the prior offense. 2. F3 and F4 offenders are not parole-eligible under SB 2 or later. Only a small portion of F3 and F4 offenders from before SB 2 were parole-eligible. (They had to have a violent history.) These F3/ F4 parolees were either from that small segment of pre-sb 2 offenders or they were recommissioned offenders who remained parole-eligible from an earlier parole and were filed under the recommissioned offense. 3. Before 29 all rapists and the most serious drug offenders were filed in the F1 group. In 29 and after those rapists and drug offenders with life maximum cases were moved into the Life Maximum category. Source: Most of the information for the spreadsheet above is taken from information on DRC's publications page at the Time Served report folder.