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November 18, 2002
News
Specialist Jill Atwood reporting
There's
a disturbing trend in Utah. Serious crimes are being committed
by people who are technically already in the custody of the
state prison.
An Eyewitness
News investigation shows recent parolees are turning up at
more and more crime scenes.
It's a
case of crime and punishment -- veteran cops will tell you
there's too much of one, and not enough of the other.
But parole
officers will tell you we no longer live in a time of "lock
them up and throw away the key" -- these days, it's more
a case of "catch and release."
Ogden
Detectives Reaves and Gent are on the prowl, looking for thieves,
drug addicts, gang members.
They know
these guys by name. They've arrested them before, and they'll
arrest them again.
"I
had a parolee this week that I arrested for strong-armed robbery
of a guy."
Each week
Ogden Police go on a one day citywide sweep looking for parole
violators. They say there are so many they could spend all
day everyday scooping them up.
"You
have to treat every parolee as dangerous."
Take Justin
Davis, a known gang member, booked into jail 15 times since
1993, recently paroled. He quickly was named Public Enemy
No. 1, and re-arrested, for the 16th time.
Steven
Johnson, a.k.a. "Thumper," was released from prison
in July of 2001. Ten days later he killed a man in a gang-related
incident.
Trent
Kezior, paroled in March for murder. Five months later he
shot another man over a car stereo.
Shallon
Lestrick, paroled in January of this year. He's a known gang
member, has a history of aggravated assault, theft and drug
possession.
On June
3, Lestrick violated his parole with an open container. Four
days later he violated it again with a simple assault. Still,
Lestrick was not sent back to prison.
Instead,
he was hanging out with known gang members. A block away,
little Jesse Martinez was sitting next to his mom in a park.
A gang fight broke out, shots were fired, and a stray bullet
hit the boy.
"There
is just a lot of emptiness and just a lot of hurt," says
Laura Martinez, Jesse's mother.
"A
little boy sitting on his mother's lap at a park 1700 feet
away gets a single bullet through the brain as the result
of brainless morons who should be sitting in prison,"
says Lt. Scott Sangberg with the Ogden Police Department.
"It's
not a perfect system. We are in the risk management business,
and I wish with all my heart that I could see into a crystal
ball and know what's going to happen," says Mike Sibbett,
chairman of the Board of Pardons.
This is
the parole board hearing room at the Utah State Prison. This
is where Chairman Mike Sibbett and four others decide who
goes and who stays. It's a much tougher decision these days.
Recently
handcuffed by a hefty budget cut, the corrections department
has what it calls a new "re-entry initiative."
With less
money for beds in the prison, there is pressure to put more
prisoners on parole, and keep them on parole -- the new initiative
emphasizes rehabiliation in the community.
In just
one year, 200 more parolees are on the street. The prison
hopes they'll behave. Police say they're dreaming.
"When
our guys to to meth houses and look for methers, tweekers,
they're finding guns. They're finding knives. They're finding
explosives."
These
Ogden detectives are frustrated, and they say so are the parole
officers they work with, who are overwhelmed with impossible
caseloads.
Each officer
handles 50 to 75 parolees. The ideal number is less than 40.
"I
do think public safety will be jeopardized by doing this.
If this is going to be the trend, you are going to see crime
rates go up, I'm almost convinced of it."
Some parole
officers have almost twice as many parolees to look after
than guidelines say they should.
This situation
has come about because of a complicated set of policy decisions
made to accommodate severe budget cuts in the corrections
department.
Coming
up tomorrow night in a second report, we'll show you just
how we got here.
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