There are many scary and shady characters that are in prison in CT, some like the felon depicted in this picture are beginning to get breaks they never before imagined.
Prison overcrowding has earned felons two major breaks so far. The first has been a lift on the parole ban of violent offenders, the second the lessoning of time in prison for drug related charges. Upon introduction back into society these felons will be assigned a probation officer who will expect them to get a job and be productive.
The first break came courtesy of Gov. Rell who was confronted with maxed out prisons that demanded some immediate answers. The lift on the Parole ban now means that Felons who were never eligible for parole can now be released at the discretion of a parole board. The judgment of the people on these parole boards was already problematic after two felons who were released committed some terrifying crimes against a doctor and his family in Cheshire about a year ago.
The other big break came courtesy of the Federal Government who felt minorities were serving unjustly long sentences for narcotics possession and use. The argument was that the punishment mandated by federal statue was too extreme for the casual user who kept getting caught up under the three strikes rule and then sentenced to a long prison term. To remedy the problem sentences are expected to be reduced and offenders are going to be subjected to more intense rehabs and programs like NA or AA.
The bigger picture here is that our streets, already pretty rough in some towns in CT are about to get rougher. The statistics and odds of repeat offences by parolees and narcotics convicts are very high. To make matters more interesting these inmates are excellent complainers who are able to exert their rights in court. Many judges, knowing that horrific deteriorating conditions are threatening the stability of the prison system are putting a lot of legal pressure on the state of CT to either reduce the prisoner population to acceptable levels or to build new prisons.
Both of these prospects are absolutely hard to accept, the state mired with debt, combined with a sensible populous here in CT do not want a prison built in their town. Prisons are the proverbial NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) of chaos in politics. The problem goes full circle when these early release prisoners raise local crime statistics and the cyclical debate of crime and prison construction come full circle.
This is a problem we can all monitor through local law enforcement and your police reports, should the new prisoner reduction policy in our state create a surge in crime we have our first clue that our state is now engaged in "revolving door" justice and on the path to NIMBY politics.
http://www.courant.com/news/custom/topnews/hc-ap-parole0127,0,7949647.story
http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/uncategorized/court-eases-cocaine-sentencing/
http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/general_news/new_haven_neighbors_press_stat.php
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