Comments on: Bacino’s Parole Bid Meets Brass-Knuckles Politics, Updated X1 http://blogs.e-rockford.com/inchambers/2008/05/31/bacinos-parole-bid-meets-brass-knuckles-politics/ The judge will see you now. Step into Springfield Bureau Chief Aaron Chambers’ chambers for an insider’s view on Illinois politics and government. No, Chambers isn’t a real judge. At least not in the sense of wearing a robe, wielding a gavel and issuing orders. But like a good judge, Chambers tells it like it is. Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:24:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.2.4 By: Bookworm http://blogs.e-rockford.com/inchambers/2008/05/31/bacinos-parole-bid-meets-brass-knuckles-politics/#comment-304 Bookworm Sat, 31 May 2008 17:00:50 +0000 http://blogs.e-rockford.com/inchambers/2008/05/31/bacinos-parole-bid-meets-brass-knuckles-politics/#comment-304 I would assume the Prisoner Review Board is intended to be "conservative" in the sense that the burden of proof is (or should be) on the inmate to prove he/she is worthy of parole, not on the board or any other party to prove that the inmate should stay in prison. I realize many of the board's most controversial cases are left over from the 1970s and earlier when the law was different and prisoners were guaranteed parole hearings every year or two after a certain point in their sentences. Still, isn't parole supposed to be a privilege, not a right? The inmate has no "right" to be freed until his sentence has been completed (minus time off for good behavior, which is another issue). I would assume the Prisoner Review Board is intended to be “conservative” in the sense that the burden of proof is (or should be) on the inmate to prove he/she is worthy of parole, not on the board or any other party to prove that the inmate should stay in prison.

I realize many of the board’s most controversial cases are left over from the 1970s and earlier when the law was different and prisoners were guaranteed parole hearings every year or two after a certain point in their sentences. Still, isn’t parole supposed to be a privilege, not a right? The inmate has no “right” to be freed until his sentence has been completed (minus time off for good behavior, which is another issue).

]]>