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I’m concerned that recent sentence commutations by the Board of Pardons and Paroles may not meet the legal requirements of current state law, specifically that the implementation of new internal procedures permitting the release of persons previously held without the possibility of early release sidestepped the legislature’s Regulations Review Committee oversight. During yesterday’s public hearing, I asked Board of Pardons and Paroles Chairman Giles who created these potentially improper directives, and when were they put into practice. Internal directives like these create rights that carry the force of law, and they are not simple office policy issues, no matter what you call them. These directives are being improperly employed, avoid legislative oversight required by statute, do not properly meet the state’s legal requirements, and have unfairly and improperly reduced or commuted the sentences of a substantial number of otherwise ineligible offenders.
