Petition in Support of Parole Rights
PETITION IN SUPPORT OF PAROLE
We, the undersigned, hereby petition Governor Glen Youngkin, and the members of his Parole Board, to cease and desist from their illegal use of crime-related factors to deny parole, and to limit their parole review to the specific and limited set of factors that state law directs and empowers them to investigate:
“the prisoner’s history, physical and mental condition and character and his conduct, employment and attitude while in prison.” Va. Code §53.1-155(A), clause 1.
In Article III, § 1, of the Constitution of Virginia, the .General Assembly divided the power of government into three distinct and separate branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. It is the sole power of the General Assembly to determine and declare what factors the Parole Board is to investigate; and it is the duty of the Parole Board to limit their parole investigation to the statutory factors the General Assembly directed and empowered them to investigate.
While the General Assembly could have included the crime, sentence, and criminal record among the factors listed in the parole investigation standard set forth above, they chose not to do so. Instead, they used the crime, sentence, and, criminal record to establish the parole eligibility criteria.
In the final analysis, the crime, sentence, and criminal record can only be constitutionally used in regard to parole eligibility. Its use in the parole review process would encourage and allow the Parole Board to arbitrarily deny parole in violation of the state and federal due process clause.
The arbitrariness of using crime-related factors to deny parole is self-evident when they do grant an individual parole, after repeatedly relying upon crime-related factors to deny parole in previous years. There is no rhyme or reason for such decisions because the crime-related factors never changed.
Once again, we petition Governor Glen Youngkin, and the members of his Parole Board, to cease and desist from their illegal use of crime-related factors to deny parole, and to limit their parole review to the specific and limited set of factors set forth in Virginia Code § 53.1-155(A), clause 1.
Parole-eligible prisoners have a right to be reviewed for parole in the manner prescribed by state law, and we demand that the Virginia Parole Board grant them this constitutionally protected right.
