For a place that is well down the list of most dangerous states in America (near the bottom, by most accounts), crime accounts for an outsize share of public debate in Connecticut. Most people in this state are not in danger of being victimized on a regular basis, and yet we often talk as though we were.
The issue of crime came to the fore again recently with the question of prison commutations. The state Parole Board increased the number of people who were being released before serving their full sentences, which followed a near-total shutdown of the process during the COVID pandemic.
The board was acting as it was supposed to. There is a process, a long and arduous one, before a prisoner can qualify for a commutation, and no one pointed to any dangers to the public by shortening certain sentences. Still, complaints from victims' families, amplified by legislative Republicans and rewarded by Gov. Ned Lamont, led to a pause in the commutation process.
Victims and their families deserve to be heard. Their trauma cannot be minimized. There are, however, other considerations that are of value to the state, including reducing the enormous expense of keeping people incarcerated long after the likelihood of committing further crimes has decreased to near zero. It is not good enough to lock people up and simply forget about them.
In response to Lamont's commutations pause, which included replacing the head of the Parole Board, state legislators have looked to further formalize the commutations process. This shouldn't have been necessary, but it's worthwhile if it allows the Parole Board to start functioning again. Here, too, however, legislative Republicans have put up roadblocks, appealing to emotion and vowing to block the reforms.
The irony is that if Senate Republicans are successful and reforms fail, it would resort back to the Parole Board to make the rules regarding commutations, which is supposedly what had opponents riled up in the first place. This was pointed out by Republican state Rep. Craig Fishbein, who is about as far from a liberal as you're going to find in Hartford but who has worked successfully with Democrats to move the legislation through the House.
There's not much time left in the legislative session. With no limit on debate, opponents of a bill can simply talk something to death, knowing that when the clock strikes midnight that all the work that has gone into crafting legislation will go for naught. That could be where we're headed with parole reforms.
Whatever happens legislatively, the important work of the Parole Board must not stop. There are many strategies to fighting mass incarceration, and individual commutations are not the most efficient means of doing so. But they remain an important tool. It does no one any good to keep people imprisoned if they are capable of contributing positively to society, including in their families and communities.
This does not disrespect families. Victims and their loved ones should be part of the process, and they have been. They simply can't be the entire process.
-- Hearst Connecticut Media, June 1, 2023.