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House lawmakers on Thursday passed presumptive parole legislation.
(File photo)
LANSING, MI -- Prisoners who present a low risk to society would be more likely to serve only their minimum sentences under legislation passed by the Michigan House of Representatives Thursday, despite opposition from Attorney General Bill Schuette.
House Bill 4138 creates what's been referred to as "presumptive parole" -- essentially giving prisoners who have been assessed as not being a menace to society the presumption that they will automatically be eligible for parole consideration after serving their minimum sentences. Prisoners are ranked, and only those with the highest ranking get the presumption.
Even then, there are a number of reasons that person could be kept in prison, including new DNA evidence that links them to an unsolved crime or evidence of substantial harm to a victim that was not available for consideration at sentencing.
The legislation passed the chamber in 67-39 vote.
"The one thing that this bill does is, it says to the parole board that you must give a substantive reason for denying parole to those prisoners in that highest category," said Rep. Dave Pagel, R-Berrien Springs, speaking in support of the bill.
But Schuette, along with the president of the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan, urged a no vote in a letter distributed to representatives on Wednesday.
"Specifically, we oppose putting Michigan's parole system on auto-pilot by creating presumptive parole for certain dangerous felons, as this bill would do," the letter reads.
But bill sponsor and House Criminal Justice Committee Chairman Rep. Kurt Heise, R-Plymouth Twp., said the letter was misleading.
"That's a great bumper sticker argument but it does not comport with the reality of what this bill does," Heise said, explaining that rapists and other dangerous offenders wouldn't be eligible for the presumption because their scores would disqualify them.
According to a House Fiscal Analysis, the legislation could lead to a reduced prison population over the next few years and eventually save the state $30 million annually. The current corrections budget hovers around $1.9 billion.
"We're spending billions of dollars to put people in prison when we could be spending that money on our kids, on our roads, or maybe even giving some of it back to the taxpayers," Heise said.
But some who voted against the bill questioned what those savings would be in relation to the potential societal and community costs of letting offenders out.
"I cannot support a policy that would put our communities at risk," said Rep. John Chirkun, D-Roseville.
The vote was not split along party lines. Members of both parties voted for and against the legislation.
House Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant, called the legislation a great reform.
"A minimum sentence has to mean something. Why are we given the minimum, why are we giving a range if that does not serve as a minimum?" Cotter said.
Schuette released a statement about the legislation after it passed.
"This legislation jeopardizes the safety of Michigan citizens. The so-called 'presumptive parole' measure provides for the automatic and early release of violent criminals without the parole board determining the risk and safety dangers of violent criminals," Schuette said.
A poll commissioned and released by the Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending on Thursday morning indicates the 64 percent of the public is in favor of presumptive parole when asked the following question: "'Presumptive parole' is a policy that means people in prison that are eligible for parole will be released on their first parole eligibility date if they are not a risk to public safety. Would you say you support this policy or you don't support this policy?"
The poll of 800 likely voters was conducted by Target Insyght, CAPPS and Grassroots Midwest.
CAPPS Associate Director of Research and Policy Barbara Levine said right now Michigan is keeping prisoners for an average of 2.5 years beyond their earliest release date.
"Keeping people an extra year or two and then letting them go anyway presents virtually no gain to the public," Levine said.
The bill now heads to the Senate, where Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof said Thursday there are pieces of it he likes, but he has some reservations.
"We have people which we're scared of, and people we're mad at. And maybe we can do some different things for people which we're mad at," Meekhof said.
Gov. Rick Snyder, meanwhile, has outlined criminal justice reform as one of his top priorities for the rest of the year.
Update: This story has been updated with comments from Attorney General Bill Schuette and House Speaker Kevin Cotter.
Emily Lawler is a Capitol/Business reporter for MLive. You can reach her at elawler@mlive.com, subscribe to her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter: @emilyjanelawler.