Dear Editor,
I am writing you today because I am concerned with the Governors proposal of Summary Parole. This should be called No parole. This is because Summary Parole is a sham.
In the proposal, it states that a person who is on Summary Parole can only be violated if they are convicted of a new felony. This makes no sense. You are not going to violate a parolee if they receive a new prison term. Why would you, they are already going to prison.
This means you can't violate an individual on Summary Parolee for gang association, possession of a knife with a blade over two inches, contacting their crime victims, for drinking alcohol if they have been convicted for multiple DUI's and other technical violations which control a parolees conduct while in the community.
Just FYI, the felons who will be on this Summary Parole are ones convicted for spousal battery, commercial burglary, cruelty to children, felons in possession of firearms, gang members convicted of the crimes listed above, car thieves and drug dealers.
If you read the legislative change that the Governor proposes, the only felons on "Active Parole" will be ones that are convicted of felonies defined by Penal Code Sections 667.5 and 1192.7. The crimes listed above do not fall under these Penal Code Sections.
I am pleading with your readers to do their research on Summary Parole so that they are fooled by the term parole. Summary Parole is not parole. An individual who is convicted of a misdemeanor who is placed on formal probation will be more closely supervised then a gang member who is found with a gun while dealing drugs. That is because those felonies do not mandate active parole supervision.
This is what our legislators are proposing to save money. This is on the back of public safety. Please do not let the Governor or legislators jeopardize our public safety with this sham. The democrats in the State Assembly and Senate have already agreed to this part of the Governor’s budget in their own budget proposal. Crime will increase and Public Safety should not bear the burden of our budget woes.
Thank you for your time,
COREY ALVAREZ corey.alvarez@sbcglobal.net
