Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Virginia Deserves a Parole Board that Puts Public Safety First

—

by

Bob Rayner
in , , , , ,

Patricia West

by Kerry Dougherty

When Terry McAuliffe was governor he found a loyal Democrat lawyer to appoint to head Virginia’s parole board.

That was Adrianne Bennett, a failed candidate for the House of Delegates in 2011 and undoubtedly the most controversial parole board chair in Virginia history. She was a success if you believe, as McAuliffe apparently did, that the job of that board is to spring murderers and make Virginians less safe.

We wrote numerous stories amount Bennett’s promiscuous freeing of prisoners, including a cop killer and other murderers.

Bennett’s mindset came to light regarding when an email she sent during a frenzy of releasing parolees from supervision. She sent this apparently without seeking recommendations from their parole officers.

In an email exchange with a staffer, Bennett called herself a “bleeding heart” and asked for more names to put on the list to release from supervision.

“Wave that wand of power and let’s cut them loose. There needs to be a silver lining to all of this! Give me more!!!”

Geezus.

Bennett was rewarded for her service on the Parole Board by the then-Democrat- controlled General Assembly with a judgeship in the Virginia Beach Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

Well, the new governor just appointed a Parole Board chair from Virginia Beach with extensive experience in the criminal justice system.

I’ve known Patricia West for at least 20 years. I can’t imagine her waving a magic wand of power and turning killers loose on law-abiding Virginians.

West is a former Juvenile and Domestic Court Judge, retired Virginia Beach Circuit Court Judge, former State Director of Juvenile Justice, former Secretary of Public Safety and most recently a member of the State Corporation Commission. Impressive resume. She’ll head the five-person body that decides the fate of prisoners who qualify for discretionary parole.

There are about 3,000 prisoners whose cases come before the parole board each year. Some were sentenced before Virginia abolished parole in 1995, others have reached geriatric eligibility or are eligible for some other reason.

When I spoke to her yesterday, I asked West if the governor gave her any directions when he asked her to serve as parole board chair.

“None,” she said.

“And I find that to be important,” she noted, adding that Youngkin’s commitment to public safety is well known.

So is hers.

Now if only Youngkin could retrieve the prisoners Bennett freed.

Republished with permission from Kerry: Unemployed and Unedited.

Share this article

ADVERTISEMENT

(comments below)

ADVERTISEMENT

(comments below)

Comments

26 responses to “Virginia Deserves a Parole Board that Puts Public Safety First”

  1. kls Avatar
    kls

    If only victims could sue Parole Board members personally for malfeasance. Currently those on the Board have ‘no skin in the game’. Make them responsible for their decisions — let’s try that for four years and see if anything changes.

  2. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Safer on the inside.

    Ah, the old dichotomy of rehabilitation and retribution

    1. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      Retrubilation?

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        That sounds like a good fancy word for a mugging.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Dept of “Corrections”….

          1. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            To a certain segment of the population, “correction” means beating the stuffings out of a child. In fact, in Virginia the schools were authorized to do just a little of that. That’s what happened when those parents ran the schools.

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            and words like “rehabilitation” and “reformed”…. but even if you’re a non-violent inmate, parolel can be tough in Virginia. We can be thankful I guess that so far we’re not calling them “re-education camps”! 😉

    2. Lefty665 Avatar
      Lefty665

      You have set up a false dichotomy.

      There’s some folks who are dangerous that for the safety of the rest of us it is best to hold onto for the duration of their sentences. We can hope that gives rehabilitation time to work, and in the mean time it protects from further harm. It’s got nothing to do with retribution. Rehabsafteyication.

      Thems what have figured out a better way to live with the rest of us should get out quicker. Sorting them out from the recidivists cannot be an easy task. The more violent the crime that got someone incarcerated the clearer the rehab should be before letting them out early.

    3. Tom B Avatar
      Tom B

      Why are rehabilitation and retribution a dichotomy? I see nothing mutually exclusive about them. In fact, I don’t think you can have rehabilitation without an honest attempt to pay back for the harm done. Avoiding retribution shows immaturity and unwillingness to accept and acknowledge one’s guilt, making rehabilitation impossible.
      Perhaps the failure to recognize that is why Bennett was such a disaster at parole.

    4. Nathan Avatar
      Nathan

      Ah, the old dichotomy of living in the real world vs fantasy land.

      “Wave that wand of power and let’s cut them loose. There needs to be a silver lining to all of this! Give me more!!!”

      That’s fantasy land!

      I think everyone would like for hardened criminals to see the error of their ways and become productive members of society. I take no delight in the suffering of others, even criminals. There are, however, people who cannot control themselves, and if given the chance would do harm to innocent people. It’s the job of the criminal justice system to protect society from those people, to the degree possible.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        I agree. Violent folks belong in jail. Non-violent offenders sometimes deserve a 2nd chance.

        1. Nathan Avatar
          Nathan

          “Sometimes” being the operative word.

          There are others, besides violent offenders, who have a history of doing serious harm to innocent people.

          For example, those who have a history scamming the elderly out of all there money. I’d lock them up as long as possible.

  3. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    Unfortunately, this means West will not be sitting in on SCC cases as a former Commissioner-emeritus. West has done quite a bit of that since the Democrats yanked her off in a fit of pique. And former Commissioner Jagdmann is now building a Main Street practice, keeping her from sitting in.

    The Commission is now dead. IT CANNOT APPROVE AN ORDER WITH ONE JUDGE! IT NEEDS A QUORUM! Shame on me for just realizing this is the big story. 🙂

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      Apparently, no one in the Governor’s office thought of that, either. I wonder if Patricia West brought it up when asked to take over the Parole Board. If she had the best interests of the Commonwealth in mind, she would have declined so that she could continue to enable the SCC to function.

      1. William Chambliss Avatar
        William Chambliss

        There are, in addition to Judge West, at least 5 current living ex-Commissioners who could consent to being recalled to assist in its functioning. However, the legitimate resolution is for the Legislature to elect two new members or for Gov. Youngkin to appoint two new ones and see if the Senate challenges the appointments.

      2. Tom B Avatar
        Tom B

        It is not Judge West’s job to save the Commonwealth from a dysfunctional SCC. In fact, her continuation in that position perpetuates the problem. Better that she go to parole, where her talents are needed at least as much as at the SCC. It’s the legislature’s job to fix the SCC. In moving her out of that position, Youngkin may prove to be smarter than his critics give him credit for.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Pretty good point!

  4. WayneS Avatar
    WayneS

    I am glad Ms. Bennett is no longer on the parole board.

    I do hope that Ms. West is more than just her polar opposite, though. A parole board with too little compassion can be just as damaging to our society as a parole board with too much.

    There is a middle ground between “no parole for anyone” and “parole for all” and I hope she and the new parole board can find it.

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      She can’t get much lower than the Parole Board under Dotson. From more than 3,300 applications last year, 78 were granted. https://richmond.com/news/local/government-politics/youngkin-parole-virginia-miyares/article_58778966-3d27-11ee-a7cb-a74460038cac.html

      1. Nathan Avatar
        Nathan

        Raw numbers seldom tell the whole story.
        What’s the recidivism rate over time? How many serious crimes were committed by those on parole?

        In my opinion, recidivism rates and serious crimes of parolees should be made public, along with their respective parole boards.

        I would also like to see the same information with respect to those pardoned by every governor, Republican or Democrat.

    2. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      She can’t get much lower than the Parole Board under Dotson. From more than 3,300 applications last year, 78 were granted. https://richmond.com/news/local/government-politics/youngkin-parole-virginia-miyares/article_58778966-3d27-11ee-a7cb-a74460038cac.html

  5. Nathan Avatar
    Nathan

    Every aspect of the criminal justice system is enormously important. Without rational people making prudent decisions, society breaks down, and violence becomes more rampant.

    Here’s what it looks like when things start to break down.

    https://nypost.com/2023/09/05/cops-let-suspect-walk-in-harlem-subway-beating-sources/

Leave a Reply

Read More