By Jessica Taloney Reporter
Published: Mon, February 25, 2008 - 10:50 pm
Last Updated: Tue, February 26, 2008 - 10:34 am
Last Updated: Tue, February 26, 2008 - 10:34 am
Jessica Taloney
"It's a farce," said Rep. John Knight (D), Chairman of the Alabama House Appropriations Committee, "It's just a political game when people say oh, I'm gonna lock them up and throw the keys away."
Of Alabama's felony offender population, only 39% are actually behind bars, 9% are out on parole and more than half, 52%, are on probation.
"Unless you get life without parole or the death penalty, even on a life sentence, chances are you're going to return back to the community," said Steve Green, who runs Mobile County's Community Corrections program. Green says there could be as many as 25,000 convicted felons living in Mobile County.
Three thousand of them are still finishing out their sentence under some kind of court ordered supervision. But, just as the prisons are overloaded, so are the state's case managers. On average, a supervisor is overseeing more than 150 people on parole or probation. "And, that's three times the amount someone should be supervising," said Robert Oakes, the assistant director of the state's parole board. "Generally you get to about 50 or 60 offenders is all any officer can really manage to give that full 100-percent amount of time and effort in to," said Oakes.
Oakes says Alabama's parole board generally hears 60 cases a day, sometimes even 70. "That's not counting pardon hearing," he says.
But, how safe should that make you feel? When you look at the state's statistics on re-offenders, it certainly doesn't feel good. According to the Department of Corrections, more than 60% of people currently in D.O.C. custody had been there before, and one out of four offended again within three years of being released.
"They'll get in trouble. They'll go to jail. They'll get convicted. They'll serve their time and come back out, "said Lt. Jud Beedy of the Daphne Police Department.
"I don't know what makes them do it but typically we run into them again," he said.
Beedy says investigators are used to seeing the same criminals over and over, but each time there are new victims. A Daphne woman, who was attacked last year with a 2 x 4 near Lake Forest Subdivision knows that all too well. The man accused in that attack was a parolee living in a Baldwin County halfway house.
"I don't think people realize that people in the halfway houses are out in the general public doing what's required of them to being the halfway house which is be employed," said Beedy.
So how do you know if there's a criminal living near you? We've told you before how easy it is to find a sex offender. But, what about a murderer or someone convicted of another violent crime. We found that's not nearly as easy.
Green says there's no public database for criminals other than sex offenders, and he says it's not likely there will be on any time soon.
"But I certainly think it's a viable question on the part of someone in the community. I'd like to know who's living next door to me," said Green.
We also learned it's even tougher to track down someone who lives near you if they are out on parole. According to Oakes, Alabama's Supreme Court has sealed all parolee files. "The court ruled it's priviledged information, and the board can't wave that priveledge," said Oakes.
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I think we should spend some money on putting up great fences around a bunch of tents -