SC reschedules parole hearings that were canceled due to the coronavirus
After two months without holding hearings due to the coronavirus, the S.C. Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services will resume parole and pardon hearings in June, according to a department spokesman.
Starting June 2, hearings will be held virtually, with board members, offenders, attorneys and victims who choose to using WebEx to participate, department spokesman Peter O’Boyle said.
Probation, Parole and Pardon Services rescheduled two months of hearings that were originally intended to take place in April and May as the coronavirus spread, causing the governor to shut down businesses, send nonessential state employee home to work and limited some government services. Now, each hearing has been rescheduled for about seven weeks from their original dates, O’Boyle said. A calendar of hearing dates can be found at dppps.sc.gov
In all, about 175 hearings that were scheduled for four different hearing dates were pushed back.
Inmates will participate in the video conferences from inside prisons, O’Boyle said. Attorneys can either participate from the prisons as well or can call in themselves.
Victims and their supporters can choose to call into the hearings, submit written statements, participate by phone with audio only or can submit a DVD recording of themselves, O’Boyle said.
