Does the Wisconsin Parole Commission have an invested financial
interest by not paroling parole eligible prisoners?.jpg)
In
response to the November 30, 2014 article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
there are hundreds of Ramiah Whiteside's in Wisconsin's (US) prisons. In my 16 1/2
years of incarceration for a crime I did not commit, I've seen many guys under
T-I-S get 10 years for homicides. While under old (parole) law 40 years was the
norm with the expectation of getting out some-where soon after the first parole
eligibility date which is 10 years or 25% on a 40 year sentence. In
August 1981, the then parole chairmen, Fred W. Hinckle made a report on
parole. The subject was: Parolability Range. This report detailed not an exact
date of when a parole eligible prisoner would be released, but rather the range
of time to expect to be released on a given amount of time. According to an
October 19, 1984 report on the Parolability Range, three ranges are given. Low.
mid and upper. Low for a 20 year sentence was 5 years, 2 months. That would be
2 months after serving 25% of the 20 years. No one was getting 36 or 48 mouth defers.
Mid was 6 years, 8 months, Upper was 8 years, 3 months. No one did close to
M.R. So in Whiteside's case of 47 years he should have been released soon after
he served 25% or 11 years, 8 months of his sentence as long as he had a
"satisfactory" record. However, no one is being released under old
(parole) law. The question is why?
There are a couple of links to the
answer. 1. In Wisconsin, parole is discretionary or at the will of a parole
board member judging the prisoner from a 30 minute meeting based on unfavorable
documents in the prisoner's file. Thus parole becomes a system of how the
parole board member feels on any given day or how the member feels about a
particular individual or crime, in whether to grant parole
release or not. No one should be given that much power or discretion. Not even
a judge has that much discretion. 2. The parole commission has an invested
financial interest in not paroling parole eligible prisoners. Like Whiteside,
my first parole eligibility was at about 12 years. However, it has been
increased to at least 181/2 years due to getting a 24 month defer on
November 20, 2014 at my last parole hearing. My first defer was 48 months. Thus
is a total of 6 more years in prison only because parole is at the will of a
parole board member.
Now
this is where the financial interest comes in at. Remember, the mass majority
of Wisconsin's 22,000 prisoners are under T-I-S. Only 2,700 are under old
(parole) law. So by continuously 'deferring' old (parole) law prisoners’
sentence 4, 6, 10 or even 20 years past 25%, the parole board members are
giving themselves job security. In my case, by giving me a 24 month defer,
parole board member Emily Davidson, gave herself 2 years of job security. This is
an illegal and immoral invested financial interest. Because I. like most old
(parole) law prisoners, am not a troublemaker. I. too, am a mentor to the
youth. I participated in every program that I could. And was a part of the
Brick program talking to trouble youth.
But
none of our real qualities matter when the parole board has an invested financial interest in prisoners. Remember, prisoners released onto parole went
from 1,146 in 2005 to 152 in 2013. It's only 2,700 old (parole) law prisoners
left and once they are out of the system, the parole board mashers will have to
find new employment. So they keep deferring us for as long as they can with no
real justification. Because in the 1980's doing close to 25% was just fine. and out of these 2,700, not all are even
parole eligible. However, the ones that are must be paroled .
So
the matter may be a little about the crimes we committed, were accused of or the
person we once were. But we've served sufficient time for punishment when
we reached 25% of our sentences. To still have parole discretionary or at the
will of one person that reads a file and determines to defer release
'consideration' for 24, 36 or 48 months from a 30 minute meeting, is arbitrary,
especially when nothing logical in the file can prove sufficient time has not
been served. Or release would involve an unreasonable risk to the public. The
only way sufficient time isn't served is if the prisoner petitions to
see the parole board before reaching 25% of their sentence. If we can have a
hearing at 25%, then 25% must be sufficient time served for punishment.
When
I got my parole paperwork back, it stated, "You have NOT served sufficient
time for punishment" and "Release at this time would involve an
unreasonable risk to the public" as reasons to deny release on parole. But
nothing in my file or anything said can prove that. Prisoners have filed many
lawsuits about the denial of parole and courts have continuously sided with the
'language' of how the parole board is denying release. Stating, "Wisconsin's
prisoners do not have an invested liberty interest in parole because in
Wisconsin parole is discretionary." Parole being at the discretion of
people with a monetary interest in my incarceration is the problem. The
solution is to make parole release mandatory at 25% plus a 'satisfactory'
prison record. And in this, I've seen how what is 'satisfactory' will change to
fit the parole board’s agenda in order to deny release. The language of
"Release at this time would involve an unreasonable risk to the
public" is arbitrary, capricious and oppressive. Especially, with no real
evidence of what makes my, Whiteside's or any other old (parole) law prisoner's,
release an unreasonable risk to the public.
To have no recourse in parole denial
or for Wisconsin's courts to say Wisconsin's prisoners have no invested liberty
interest in parole because it's discretionary means the laws must be changed.
Because being a prisoner in Wisconsin does not take away my (our) US constitutional
inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - once I've
reached the minimum 25% of my sentence.
Revealed
By: Marvin D. Wilson, 27343, NLCI, P.O. Box 4000, New Lisbon, WI. 53950 '
Dated: 12.8.2014
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