The September/October edition of Building Bridges has been issued by the Prison Action Network.
Prison Action Network's brief summary is given below. Please see Building Bridges for full details and their current news about parole, ways to help and become involved.
Summaries of articles:
1. Parole News: August releases; News about former parole board member and chair Robert Dennison’s advocacy for certain parole applicants.
2. NYS Parole Reform Campaign reports on the growing energy around the SAFE Parole Act; unveils new and easy Weekly Action readers can join.
3. Ending Parole Abuse - Reuniting Families; a Campaign to Overhaul New York’s Parole System encourages public participation and invites us to their gala Kick-off event on November 8.
4. We can do it! Inspiration from FAMM’s experience.
5. End Mass Incarceration Convergence puts Prisoner Justice Network solidly on the map.
6. Release Aging People from Prison (RAPP) unveils petition drive on WBAI’s Law and Disorder show.
7. Religion, Abolition, Mass Incarceration seminar on October 4-5 includes speakers from RAPP.
8. Bookends, an evening of performances inspired by incarcerated parents and grandparents, to be presented in Albany by Prison Legal Services.
9. Michelle Alexander is expanding her focus to include a radical restructuring of society.
10. Education from the Inside Out is beginning a new season of working to remove the barriers that keep our youth and people with criminal records uneducated.
11. Part 3 in Baba Eng’s address to Building Bridges readers in which he looks at who's responsible and who is going to do something about our failed criminal justice system.
12. Forty-two years after the Attica rebellion Prisoners Are People Too takes a look at what has changed (or not) over the four decades since then.
13. Corey Parks: The race for quality has no finish line. There is always room for more improvement.
14. Small Business Legal Academy offers free consulting day.
15. Special screening of Herman’s House at CSS. Petition to grant him compassionate release.
Showing posts with label Robert Dennison. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robert Dennison. Show all posts
September 25, 2013
November 25, 2012
Ex-Parole Commissioners Decry Rescission of 'Cop Killer' Release
An unprecedented amicus brief has been signed by six former members of the New York State Parole Board, and is accompanied by a petition accusing the New York State Board of Parole of bowing to pressure from the media and the New York City Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA) by rescinding parole for Pablo Costello, who had already been approved for release.
The brief is signed by Robert Dennison, Vernon Manley, Thomas Grant, Barbara Treen, Theodore Kirkland and Edward Hammock. These six former parole commissioners, including two previous chairmen and three parole board members appointed by Governor George Pataki, urge the Appellate Division, Third Department, to hold the Board of Parole to a higher standard and prevent it from revoking an inmate's release simply because victims object after parole has been approved.
At the same time, in a separate case, advocates for Samuel Hamilton are preparing to challenge his repeated denial of parole by the Board, despite his strong support from both the prosecutor who sent him to prison and the state corrections commissioner.
Key points from the amicus brief:
* The Board is aware of how crime affects victims, and it assumes that victims continue to grieve.
* The Board needs clear standards if it is to avoid sitting in judgment of victims' grief.
* The Board cannot treat victims or prisoners fairly in an atmosphere that is easily sensationalized and conducive to improper influence.
For full report, including Pablo Costello's brief, the Board of Parole's reply, and details of Samuel Hamilton's case, see:
Ex-Parole Commissioners Decry Rescission of 'Cop Killer' Release, by John Caher (New York Law Journal, November 26 2012)
The brief is signed by Robert Dennison, Vernon Manley, Thomas Grant, Barbara Treen, Theodore Kirkland and Edward Hammock. These six former parole commissioners, including two previous chairmen and three parole board members appointed by Governor George Pataki, urge the Appellate Division, Third Department, to hold the Board of Parole to a higher standard and prevent it from revoking an inmate's release simply because victims object after parole has been approved.
At the same time, in a separate case, advocates for Samuel Hamilton are preparing to challenge his repeated denial of parole by the Board, despite his strong support from both the prosecutor who sent him to prison and the state corrections commissioner.
Key points from the amicus brief:
* The Board is aware of how crime affects victims, and it assumes that victims continue to grieve.
* The Board needs clear standards if it is to avoid sitting in judgment of victims' grief.
* The Board cannot treat victims or prisoners fairly in an atmosphere that is easily sensationalized and conducive to improper influence.
For full report, including Pablo Costello's brief, the Board of Parole's reply, and details of Samuel Hamilton's case, see:
Ex-Parole Commissioners Decry Rescission of 'Cop Killer' Release, by John Caher (New York Law Journal, November 26 2012)
June 06, 2010
Convicted of Murder as Teenager and Paroled at 41
Convicted of Murder as Teenager and Paroled at 41, by Trymaine Lee (New York Times, June 4 2010)
A story in the New York Times follows Diana Ortiz through all her parole hearings. Ortiz was sentenced to 17 years to Life for her role in the killing of an off-duty police officer in 1983. Robert Dennison was Chairman of the Parole Board that finally freed her, after she had spent more than half her life in prison.
Brief extracts from the article follow, where Robert Dennison refers to the subjectivity and the pressure of parole hearings, particularly in the case of so-called A1 violent offenders:
... Parole Board members, who must have a college degree and five years of experience in criminal justice, sociology, law, social work or medicine, can serve an unlimited number of six-year terms, earning $101,600 a year. By law, they must interview inmates in person and are required to consider their criminal histories, prison achievements and sense of remorse. Ultimately, though, parole decisions are subjective. "It's a real hard issue: how much time should you do for taking a life?" Mr. Dennison said. "Many times, the parole commissioners feel differently than the judge and probably say to themselves or say to one another, 'I don't really care what the judge gave the person, I don't feel comfortable letting this person out. And I am going to hold him for two more years.' And that can go on and on and on forever."
... Governor Pataki, a Republican, at one point tried to change state law so that A-1 offenders could not be paroled, and in 2006, a group of A-1 offenders filed a class-action suit claiming his administration had an unwritten policy that violated their rights by denying parole based solely on the severity of the crime. "I never got any direct pressure from Pataki not to let certain people out," Mr. Dennison said, "but he did make it clear in the newspapers that he didn't want violent felons released."
... Mr. Dennison said he witnessed spirited debate and angry outbursts among the commissioners, and developed a keen understanding of the subtle — or not — messages sent from the offices of elected officials about certain kinds of cases. "The way it works is that you are free to make whatever decision you feel is the right decision," he explained. "However, if you were sponsored by a particular state senator and you made a decision he didn't like, it is conceivable that the next time you are up to be reappointed, he may not push your name to the governor."
... "It is an easy job if you don't have courage and you don't have compassion," he said. "Because then you really don't care. And then it is easy to make whatever decision you want without feeling guilty, without feeling, 'Gee, maybe I made the wrong decision.' "
... Mr. Dennison said he loved the job, taking pride in having an impact on people's lives — freeing those he deemed deserving, leaving caged those he determined were dangerous.
... Having left the board in 2007, Mr. Dennison, now 63, spoke plainly about Ms. Ortiz's case in a recent interview. "He was an off-duty police officer," he said of the victim, "and, basically, people didn't want to let her out because of that."
A story in the New York Times follows Diana Ortiz through all her parole hearings. Ortiz was sentenced to 17 years to Life for her role in the killing of an off-duty police officer in 1983. Robert Dennison was Chairman of the Parole Board that finally freed her, after she had spent more than half her life in prison.
Brief extracts from the article follow, where Robert Dennison refers to the subjectivity and the pressure of parole hearings, particularly in the case of so-called A1 violent offenders:
... Parole Board members, who must have a college degree and five years of experience in criminal justice, sociology, law, social work or medicine, can serve an unlimited number of six-year terms, earning $101,600 a year. By law, they must interview inmates in person and are required to consider their criminal histories, prison achievements and sense of remorse. Ultimately, though, parole decisions are subjective. "It's a real hard issue: how much time should you do for taking a life?" Mr. Dennison said. "Many times, the parole commissioners feel differently than the judge and probably say to themselves or say to one another, 'I don't really care what the judge gave the person, I don't feel comfortable letting this person out. And I am going to hold him for two more years.' And that can go on and on and on forever."
... Governor Pataki, a Republican, at one point tried to change state law so that A-1 offenders could not be paroled, and in 2006, a group of A-1 offenders filed a class-action suit claiming his administration had an unwritten policy that violated their rights by denying parole based solely on the severity of the crime. "I never got any direct pressure from Pataki not to let certain people out," Mr. Dennison said, "but he did make it clear in the newspapers that he didn't want violent felons released."
... Mr. Dennison said he witnessed spirited debate and angry outbursts among the commissioners, and developed a keen understanding of the subtle — or not — messages sent from the offices of elected officials about certain kinds of cases. "The way it works is that you are free to make whatever decision you feel is the right decision," he explained. "However, if you were sponsored by a particular state senator and you made a decision he didn't like, it is conceivable that the next time you are up to be reappointed, he may not push your name to the governor."
... "It is an easy job if you don't have courage and you don't have compassion," he said. "Because then you really don't care. And then it is easy to make whatever decision you want without feeling guilty, without feeling, 'Gee, maybe I made the wrong decision.' "
... Mr. Dennison said he loved the job, taking pride in having an impact on people's lives — freeing those he deemed deserving, leaving caged those he determined were dangerous.
... Having left the board in 2007, Mr. Dennison, now 63, spoke plainly about Ms. Ortiz's case in a recent interview. "He was an off-duty police officer," he said of the victim, "and, basically, people didn't want to let her out because of that."
January 21, 2008
Interview with Robert Dennison, former Chair of the NYS Division of Parole
The audio file of The Fancy Broccoli Show's interview on January 6th with Robert Dennison, former Chair of the NYS Division of Parole, is now available here.
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