EARLY RELEASE: State Law Governs Parole

SENTENCES NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY APPEAR TO BE WHEN GIVEN IN COURT

— Drug dealer Vernell Conley was a frequent flyer until he was sentenced to 97 years at the Arkansas Department of Correction.

Conley, 36, of Fayetteville had 11 prior felony drug convictions and one prior federal conviction for forgery. He also had four prior misdemeanor convictions.

He'd been sent to the Arkansas Department of Correction three different times between 1997 and 2007, but by 2009 he was out. Each time, Conley was sentenced to 10 years, served a portion and was paroled.

AT A GLANCE

What Is The Difference Between Probation And Parole?

Probation is an act of the court, not of the Parole Board. Probation instead of imprisonment may be ordered by a court for all or part of a person's sentence. Parole may be granted only by the Parole Board after a person has served part of their sentence in prison.

Source: Arkansas Department of Community Correction

"In cases like his, people see he's committed crime after crime after crime and when he's let out, they know good and well he's going to go commit another crime because that's what he does for a living, he commits crimes," Washington County Prosecuting Attorney John Threet said. "I think that gets frustrating for us and also for the jurors and the general public."

But, the reality is that the Arkansas Department of Correction can house only so many inmates. State law provides guidelines on how much of a sentence a convict must serve before being eligible for parole. The parole process provides a way for authorities to keep an eye on inmates after they're released from prison.

"With any of these sentences it is our hope that they will serve all the time, but reality is, quite often they don't," said Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Denis Dean. "So, juries just need to be educated that 60 years is not always 60 years."

Prosecutors can only tell deliberating jurors parole is part of the equation, but nothing about how much time is typically served.

In Conley's case, jurors sent out a note asking whether "life" meant life behind bars or whether there was a possibility of parole. The judge responded that he could not answer the question.

BY THE NUMBERS

People On Parole

There some 53,000 people under state supervision in Arkansas, either on probation or parole. Around 20,000 of those are parolees who would otherwise have to be housed in the prison system were it not for the parole system.

About 6,500 inmates are paroled each year.

In Benton, Madison and Washington Counties there were 6,552 people on probation or parole as of Sept. 1. Sharp said about 1,900 of those are parolees.

In fiscal 2008-09, the latest information available, 11,300 hearings and screenings were conducted by the Parole Board. There were 5,092 hearings and 6,208 screenings. Of that number, 53 percent were approved releases with no programs, 9 percent were approved releases contingent upon additional programs, 11 percent were deferred decisions, 5 percent were denied or not recommended for release, and 22 percent fell under "other" board actions.

The Parole Board has 22 employees, including board members and staff. They are assisted by 40 employees of the Department of Community Correction Institutional Release Services, who compile files and prepare paperwork, and 25 Institutional Release Officers who are based at various institutions within the prison system and initiate the parole review process. There are about 350 parole officers in various counties.

Source: Arkansas Parole Board

Jurors are not the only ones who ask about how much time a given sentence really means. Defendants want to know, too.

"They always ask us," Public Defender Denny Hyslip said. "They all want to know."

Defense attorneys can usually make an "educated guess" that's pretty close, Hyslip said.

A spokesman for the state parole board, Rhonda Sharpe, said there are variables, but many parole decisions are dictated by state law.

"The amount of time he serves is determined by statute," Sharp said. "The calculation of how much of that sentence he spends is all set in law and it's a very complex calculation. It's done by computer now."

Sharp said typically someone receiving a 10-year sentence will be eligible for parole after two or three years, then their case is presented to the parole board. Some crimes require 70 percent of a sentence to be served. Others require one-quarter or half.

"The board looks at roughly 1,200 cases a month. That would include parole, clemency and pardons, with the majority being parole," Sharp said.

And, state statutes determine whether parole is an option. There are 14 offenses for which the board has absolute authority to deny or grant parole, Sharp said. In the remainder of offenses, parole cannot be denied after an inmate reaches their parole eligibility date, but they can be deferred in certain circumstances.

The board holds hearings in the case of potential parolees convicted of violent crimes, Sharpe said. Separate hearings are held, one for the inmate and their supporters and another for the victim or victim's family, who may oppose their release. Local law enforcement and prosecutors are also allowed to weigh in. The board has more discretion about parole in cases involving violence or sex crimes.

For cases such as drug dealing, where there is no obvious victim, the board utilizes a screening process that takes into account the person's prison record -- whether they entered rehabilitation or substance abuse programs, whether they completed those programs and whether they had disciplinary issues while incarcerated, Sharp said. The board starts looking at inmates several months before they are eligible for parole so that if an inmate has not completed a program board members think they should have, the inmate can be required to finish it before they're released.

If an inmate serves all their time, there is no parole supervision when they're released, Sharp said. The board often feels it's better to release an inmate prior to them serving their entire sentence so that there can be supervision and support in their transition back to the real world, even if there is some opposition to releasing them on parole.

"Parole can be the difference between success and failure," Sharp said.

Once an inmate is paroled they are transferred to the custody of the Arkansas Department of Community Correction. They are assigned to a parole officer, whose job is to ensure that all conditions of parole are followed.

If a parolee is convicted of a new offense or violates any condition of their parole, the Parole Board can have its parole revoked and have the offender returned to prison. Terms for parole violations are typically six months but could be as much as a year.

In Conley's case, the Washington County Circuit Court jury solved the problem. Jurors added three more felony drug convictions in August when Conley was convicted of delivery of a controlled substance, crack cocaine; possession of marijuana, second offense; and, possession of drug paraphernalia.

The convictions allowed Dean to introduce Conley's prior criminal history and jurors, based at least in part of that information, recommended almost 100 years in prison for Conley.

Washington County Circuit Judge William Storey then sentenced Conley to 60 years at the Arkansas Department of Correction for delivery of crack cocaine. The marijuana and drug paraphernalia charges netted Conley an additional 30 years. Storey also imposed the remainder of a suspended seven-year sentence from an earlier drug-related conviction. The sentences are ordered to run consecutively for a total of 97 years.

Still, Dean and Threet expect Conley to serve one-quarter or half the sentence.

"For some of them, hopefully, they can keep them down there long enough to where it'll at least slow them down when they get out," Threet said. "They'll at least be at an age where they're not quite as quick as they used to be."

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