Arrested, Innocent, Sent to Prison Anyway

by Matt Kelley · 2009-06-05 04:46:00 UTC
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What happens if you're on parole or probation and you're arrested in error - either as a suspect who is later cleared or in a case of mistaken identity? You go home, right? Your parole continues? Not in Rhode Island.

In some states - including Rhode Island, Alabama and South Dakota - simply being accused of a crime while on parole is enough to be sent back to prison. Bob Kerr points to this "medieval" policy in a column in the Providence Journal and he calls for his state to do something about it.

Last year, the Rhode Island House and Senate did the right thing. They passed a bill that would free people charged with probation violations when the violations are disproved.

Governor Carcieri vetoed it in an apparent bid to polish his get-tough-on-crime credentials. But keeping people in prison who shouldn’t be there is not getting tough. It’s just adding to a prison population already overloaded by a lot of tired laws that just don’t work anymore.

The issue was raised again on Tuesday when a new “Justice and Innocence Bill” was heard at the State House. It would free people imprisoned for probation violations when the charge that put them back in prison is disproved.

By continuing punishment after a person has completed a period of incarceration, we're putting up barriers to successful reentry and telling people that we don't trust them and don't want them back in society. Probation and parole are important facets of reintegration, but they shouldn't be overused or applied unevenly. Parole violations happen mostly below the radar and we should make sure violations are only enforced when a crime is committed.

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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