SC parole hearings postponed due to the coronavirus. Lawmakers, ACLU decry decision
Parole hearings originally scheduled for the next two months have been canceled due to the coronavirus and rescheduled for later, a spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services.
All hearings in front of the Board of Paroles and Pardons have been suspended until June 1, department spokesman Peter O’Boyle said. The change was put in place Wednesday.
About 175 hearings that were scheduled for four different hearing dates were canceled and pushed back, O’Boyle said.
Department employees are trying to find a way to use technology to conduct the hearings in the future, O’Boyle said.
Lawmakers and officials with the South Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union decried the decision.
“Prisons are dangerous breeding grounds for COVID-19, with incarcerated individuals tightly packed into small spaces, living in unsanitary conditions and struggling with poorer health outcomes than the rest of society,” said Shirene Hansotia, the ACLU of South Carolina’s Criminal Justice Policy and Legal Counsel.
Last month, the ALCU of South Carolina called on officials to work to release inmates and detainees who are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus from jails and prisons across the state. Their request included inmates who are elderly or who have preexisting medical conditions like diabetes, heart or lung disease or immune system impairments.
Other states and local jails have released inmates in response to the spread of COVID-19. California released 3,500 inmates who were scheduled to release within the next 60 days. Officials in Richland and Kershaw counties released 27 inmates from local jails. North Carolina officials are considering releasing inmates as well.
Ten employees at the S.C. Department of Corrections have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a running count kept by the department. Five of those employees worked at state-run prisons.
S.C. Rep. Todd Rutherford, House Minority Leader and a Columbia defense attorney, called the decision “completely tone deaf to what is going on in society at large.”
“That is the worst decision that could ever be made,” the Richland Democrat said.
Rutherford said the Parole Board, who already uses video conferences to speak with potential parolees, should expand the use to members of the board. There’s “no excuse” for why they couldn’t implement that policy immediately, he added.
“There’s no reason they can’t figure out how to use Zoom like everyone else,” Rutherford said, referring to the popular teleconferencing app.
S.C. Rep. Eddie Tallon, a Spartanburg Republican who heads up a committee that is set to examine the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services when the legislative session resumes, said he would like to see the hearings continue as originally planned.
“I would like for them to be able to do these parole hearings,” Tallon said. “If there is a possibility that a person should be out, they should go ahead and let them out.”
Rutherford called on S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster to consider releasing nonviolent inmates who committed victimless crimes to lessen the chance of a major coronavirus outbreak within state prisons. An outbreak behind bars could take away supplies, medical personnel and bed space that could ultimately be used by people who are not criminals, he added.
“We are better off if murderers and rapists and those people who a lot of people think need to be locked up are not using all of our (personal protective equipment) and medical equipment to be treated,” Rutherford said.
This story will be updated.
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 11:45 AM.
