Civil rights advocates say it could also send more rehabilitated Alaskans home.
By Claire Stremple. Alaska BeaconSylvester Byrd Jr. and Megan Edge testify in the Senate State Affairs Committee regarding parole board reforms on March 7, 2023.
Byrd is one of a shrinking number of Alaskans granted parole each year. Reasonable hope for parole, he said, helps inmates work toward better lives like he did, which is why he testified at the Capitol last week in support of reforms to the state’s parole board. Requirements like these are in use in other states. In Montana, one member of the parole board must be a member of a local tribe. In Oklahoma, two parole board members must have training in social work or mental health. The proposal would cap the amount of time each board member could serve at two five-year terms. Currency there are no term limits.
Edge is a former employee of the Department of Corrections and so had access to parole hearings, which are ordinarily closed to the public, and said she supports removing the board’s latitude to deny parole if its members think granting it would diminish the seriousness of the crime. She called the provision “vague” and said that it has the effect of retrying the crime rather than examining the rehabilitative success and potential of the incarcerated person.
Leitoni Tupou, chair of the Board of Parole, said the board weighs the seriousness of the offense provision heavily. “We’re not taking it lightly because the degree of the conviction determined the seriousness of the offense,” he said. “From my perspective, a murder case with a sentence of 100 years versus a DUI or shoplifting — there is a difference in the seriousness of the offense.”
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