Jan. 27 – 8am – Public Hearing on HB 2521 – Bringing Back Parole

ACTION ALERT!  HB 2521 takes the first steps toward bringing back parole in Washington state, and can begin to move the focus of criminal justice policy away from the knee-jerk “tougher laws, longer sentences” approach that has dominated policy for 30 years. If you can be in Olympia on Friday morning at 8:00 am, January 27, please come to Hearing Room D in the John L. O’Brien building on the Capital Campus. The House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee will be holding a public hearing on HB 2521.  Our main goal at the hearing is to demonstrate through our numbers and our testimony that there is a great deal of public support for a parole-like system, even though this bill is only a start.

Or, if you are unable to be in Olympia for the hearing, please contact your legislators expressing your support for bringing back parole, HB 2521.  It is especially important and helpful to contact representatives on the House Committee on Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness. They are listed here, including links to their legislative web pages where you may also send email messages.

In general, you may call the State Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000 and your message will be passed on to your legislators from your address.  To find your district and legislators yourself, go to the “Find Your District” tab from http://www.leg.wa.gov/pages/home.aspx,  You may then email legislators using the formula  .

HB 2521 is sponsored by Representatives Fred Finn (35th LD), Mary Helen Roberts (21st LD), Kathy Haigh (35th LD).  If they represent you, a quick note of appreciation is always appreciated.  

A LITTLE MORE ON WHY BRINGING BACK PAROLE MAKES SENSE:  A parole system could release individual men and women who’ve served substantial portions of their prison terms if they can clearly demonstrate, through their behavior record and their educational achievements in prison, that they have redirected their lives. Since our state did away with parole in 1984, there is currently no system designed to get the people out of prison who no longer need to be there.  

No public good is served by keeping people locked up who don’t need to be in prison. It simply wastes lives and millions of tax dollars–at a time when we desperately need the money for programs that save lives.

So please either come to Olympia on Friday or contact your legislators about the parole bill! For more information on this issue, please go to People4Parole.org, the organization led by our former policy advocate, Carol Estes, which is devoted to bringing back the parole process.