Early release rules decided

State: Prison space is limited

Almost eight years after the state Legislature passed a law allowing for the early release of state prison inmates to halfway houses, a state board on Thursday approved rules governing the releases.

The Arkansas Parole Board has released dozens of inmates under Act 679 of 2005, but until Thursday, did not have rules, beyond what’s spelled out in the law, specifying which inmates are eligible, Chairman John Felts said.

Felts said he hopes the releases will become more common once the rules take effect on March 2.

“This is an opportunity for them to start that transition back into society, yet still be in a structured environment,” Felts said.

The law, meant to free up space in state prisons, allows for inmates to be released to halfway houses up to a year before they become eligible for parole.

It requires the Parole Board to determine that “there is a reasonable probability that an offender can be placed in a transitional housing facility without detriment to the community or himself or herself.”

The Parole Board must also impose a curfew requiring the offender to be confined at the halfway house during certain hours.

The offenders are still considered inmates. Those who leave the halfway house without permission can be charged with escape.

Under the rules passed Thursday, inmates considered for release under the law must have spent at least six months in prison and have a good behavior classification.

Those convicted of escape, sex crimes or certain violent crimes, including homicide, first-degree battery and kidnapping, are ineligible.

Felts said the lack of rules came to his attention a few months ago, when he received a call from an attorney who wanted a client to be considered for release under the law.

“The more I looked at it, the more I saw it as an opportunity, for individu-als who are nonviolent, who have no escapes in their past, to give them an opportunity,” Felts said.

According to the state Department of Community Correction, since the law was passed, only one halfway house - the faith-based nonprofit Drug and Alcohol Recovery Program in Decatur - has accepted early release inmates under the law. It was housing two early release inmates as of Thursday.

The nonprofit places offenders in jobs at chicken processing plants, factories and other businesses.

For the first six months, the nonprofit keeps the offender’s entire paycheck. Offenders who stay beyond six months pay $90 a week in rent.

Glenn Whitman, the program’s manager, said the program already does not accept violent or sex offenders. He added, however, that the rules adopted by the Parole Board will help clarify who is eligible, “to where I’m not giving a guy false hope that he’ll get in my program.”

Community Correction Department spokesman RhondaSharp has said other halfway houses have not expressed an interest in housing inmates under the law because no money for reimbursement has been available.

Since 2010, however, the department has been reimbursing halfway houses to take in other offenders - those who have been approved for parole but would otherwise remain behind bars because they lack a place to live upon their release.

Sharp said Thursday that the department has no plans to extend the funding to inmates released under the 2005 law, but Felts said he’s hoping halfway houses that have received money to house parolees will also be interested in housing the early-release offenders.

He added that, with the state’s inmate population falling, prison officials have been unable to use a different law that also allows inmates to be released a year early.

That law, a 2003 amendmentto the Emergency Powers Act, allows the Board of Corrections to authorize the release of inmates up to a year early when the number of inmates in county jails waiting for state prison space to become available exceeds 500.

The 2003 law was last invoked June 8. As of Thursday, the backup of prison inmates in county jails stood at 344.

Benjamin Perkins, founder and director of Chance Sobriety Ministries in North Little Rock, said he might be willing to house offenders under the 2005 early release law, but having state funding would make it easier.

The nonprofit, which provides offenders with transportation and helps them find jobs, receives Community Correction Department funding to house parolees and has some space available for those with no money.

The fee for those who pay their own way is $700 a month.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/01/2013

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