ParoleBoardGA

Petition to Georgia's Governor and LegislatureRe: Georgia's State Board of Pardons and Parole As informed and concerned citizens we ask that you require the State Board of Pardons and Parole (SBPP) to make parole decisions that (1) protect the public from violent offenders and career criminals and (2) exhibit fair and ethical treatment for non-violent first offenders.As informed and concerned citizens we ask that you require the SBPP to renounce the practice of retaining prisoners for the sole purpose of meeting the time-to-serve quotas established under the Violent Offenders Incarceration-Truth in Sentencing Act (VOITIS), 42 U.S.C. 13704.As informed and concerned citizens we are fully aware that many troublemakers and repeat offenders are being released from Georgia prisons based solely on the Sentencing-Parole Grid; while many first time offenders and model inmates are required to serve 90% of their sentences just so the State can qualify for federal funds under VOITIS.As informed and concerned citizens we deplore the practice of releasing career criminals and other trouble makers when their Grid dates come up, a practice that endangers the public and contributes to the increase in crime throughout the State. While prison staff may prefer a population of first timers and model prisoners, decisions based on greed do nothing to protect the public.As informed and concerned citizens we can point to the 90% rule being applied by the SBPP to hundreds of first time offenders who have earned the trust of their jailers, some functioning as full trustees, working away from prison grounds, on a daily basis, with transport and minimal supervision provided by unarmed civilians not associated with the Department of Corrections nor Law Enforcement. In other words, even trustees and model first time offenders are being required to serve 90% of their sentences just so the State can get funds under VOITUS.Since the SBPP implemented their secret agenda, prompted by VOITIS and motivated by greed, State courts have twice ruled their practices illegal. In the decade since the SBPP adopted their illegal secret agenda prison populations have skyrocketed and medical services have been reduced. Costs to train prison staff have grown in direct proportion while funding has lagged. As informed and concerned citizens we demand that the SBPP renounce their secret and illegal post-judicial "re-sentencing" practices by increasing "time to serve" for vague reasons such as "the severity of the crime." The judge presiding at trial is properly tasked to consider the severity of the crime in his sentencing deliberations; the SBPP's greedy, de facto "re-sentencing" practices are illegal and serve no legitimate purpose to society.In spite of VOITIS, Georgia's overcrowded prisons are under-funded and under-staffed by poorly trained personnel. There are but two distinct beneficiaries to the SBPP's secret agenda--(1) prison staff now have a higher percentage of model prisoners and fewer troublemakers under their care and (2) career criminals are free to prey on the public in greater and greater numbers thanks to the SBPP's notorious revolving door.As informed and concerned citizens we the undersigned demand a return to pre-VOITIS practices by requiring career criminals and troublemakers to serve 100% of their judicial sentences, making room for them by releasing non-violent first offenders under the Parole Grid system.

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