Legislators hear testimony on problems in parole system: UPDATE

• TREAT FELONS LIKE RECIDIVISTS, NOT CLIENTS: Saline Prosecutor Ken Casady told legislators today that more parole violators need to go back to prison for longer stretches. Parole system too easy on them.

Leslie Newell Peacock will be back before long with a report from the legislative committee hearing on the state parole system.

The Department of Community Correction isn’t always getting the job done on communication and rapid response on parole violators and repeat offenders.

Also, anybody can produce a litany of new crimes committed by not only parole violators but parolees who are NOT yet in violation of parole terms.

It sounds from Tweets from the event that some are getting at the core issue. Parole is a safety valve on prison population, as well as an incentive for better behavior by convicts. It will be relatively easy to crack down if we think parole is broken. Fewer parole options. Longer sentences. Summary return to prison for the smallest violation. And so on.

Then comes the multi-million-dollar question: How do we pay for the operation of more prison beds?

Update on the jump. Lots of comment from a meeting that stretched from 10 a.m. into the afternoon.