KY- Ky. Supreme Court considers parole credit program

8-19-2009 Kentucky:

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A controversial cash-saving program that has allowed convicted murderers and sex offenders to leave prison earlier is pending before the Kentucky Supreme Court.

The Kentucky Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Wednesday, but did not rule.

Attorney General Jack Conway's office is arguing that state prison officials improperly enforced the plan Kentucky lawmakers approved as part of the 2008 two-year state budget. Conway is seeking an injunction to the halt the program - which has led to the release of thousands of inmates and parolees - until a case pending before the Franklin County Circuit court is settled.

State prison officials, however, say they were just following the General Assembly's orders.

"The actions of the Department of Corrections were proper," attorney Wesley Duke, who represents the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, told the seven-member court.

Kentucky lawmakers approved the measure that's at issue as a way to cut down the cost of what has become one of Kentucky's most expensive budget drivers - state prisons. The state corrections budget last year was about $457 million, out of an approximately $9.4 billion total state spending plan.

Kentucky currently has about 22,000 inmates.

Under the parole credit plan, state prison officials have given inmates more credit than normal for time served on parole. The extra credit has gone toward fulfilling inmates' minimum sentences.

So far, state prison officials have released 3,127 inmates from incarceration and 3,874 from parole since the program started, Justice and Public Safety Cabinet spokeswoman Jennifer Brislin said.

Six of those people have returned to prison following new felony convictions, Brislin said. Their crimes included drug trafficking, burglary, fleeing or invading police and unlawful transaction with a minor, Brislin said. Another three inmates had been returned to prison because of outstanding charges in other jurisdictions, Brislin said.

The program is still ongoing throughout the state, minus three eastern Kentucky counties of Lincoln, Pulaski and Rockcastle. A judge there has blocked the state from applying the credits to inmates convicted in his district, and has tried to extend the block statewide.

Justices on Wednesday questioned whether Pulaski County Circuit Judge David A. Tapp had the authority to make a decision with statewide ramifications.

Kentucky Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. questioned what halting the program now would accomplish, given the number of people who have benefited from it.

"There have been a considerable number of people already released, so what are we stopping? What's left?" Minton said. "To shut the barn door, it's way too late."

When lawmakers initially approved the parole credit program, it was set to expire with the two-year budget in 2010. Since then, the General Assembly has passed subsequent legislation that put the policy into state law, excluding sexual and violent offenders.

Hays Lawson, an assistant attorney general, said prison officials erred when they reversed the agency's handling of a similar temporary program the legislature approved in 2002. Back then, Lawson said, the street credit only applied during Kentucky's two-year budget.

And, Lawson said, Tapp's ruling should be allowed to stand statewide because Kentucky has a unified court system.

If Tapp's ruling were reversed, Lawson said, "Then no court would have power to issue a statewide injunction against anyone." ..Source.. by JOE BIESK