In response to the story carried today by our newspapers about the budget-driven decision to bring back early release furloughs for prisoners, Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell issued the following statement:
“Re-establishment of the 45-day re-entry furlough program was included in the budget passed by the Legislature that became law without my signature. While the previous program required little supervision of the former inmates after their release, the new program places far more control over newly released inmates and puts even more emphasis on their successful reintegration into society.”
“Public safety is always the first consideration when evaluating an inmate for the re-entry furlough program. An inmate’s overall criminal history, his or her behavior while incarcerated and the inmate’s participation in counseling, education and other programs is also considered.”
“After release, inmates on a re-entry furlough are required to meet with a parole officer on a regular basis; the frequency of those meetings varies with the severity of the original offense. Furloughed inmates must also seek job training and look for work, take regular drug tests and may even be required to wear GPS bracelets or other electronic monitoring devices.”
“I want to stress again: Throughout this process, the focus is always on public safety, first and foremost. The experience of the Department of Correction is that inmates are more likely to succeed in returning to society through this gradual process than if they are simply released the day their sentence ends.”
However it should be noted that Rell does indeed have her fingerprints on the furloughs.
It is true Rell did not sign the General Assembly’s budget BUT in early October legislators reconvened to vote on bills to implement the budget. And Rell did in fact sign the bill that authorized the furloughs. Click here, then click on “Bill Analysis” and then scroll down to section 35.
UPDATE:
I recently had a conversation with a Democratic lawmaker who did not understand why our newspapers were making such a big to-do about the return of the furloughs.
I reminded this individual that the General Assembly’s Democratic majority made a big deal of getting rid of the furloughs back in January, 2008.
Brian, who has the super majority in the state legislature? This dreadful notion of furloughs is not a Rell solution, its a budget cure from the democrats. Am I wrong?
Comment by Cos Cobber — December 5th, 2009 @ 11:49 am
Cos Cobber,
Democrats control the General Assembly. Right now they have a veto-proof majority.
However the Governor proposed the furloughs in her budget AND she could have vetoed the budget implementer legislation I described above that authorized the furloughs to go forward.
Comment by Brian Lockhart — December 7th, 2009 @ 9:35 am