The Associated Press
ECORSE, Mich. (AP) -- A TV blared inside the small, run-down house and a line of clothes hung in the backyard, but no one answered the door when Detroit Police officer Tracey Burgess knocked loudly with her fist, and then her foot.
It’s not the first time Burgess and her two partners have been at the two-story brick house near Detroit. Both times they were looking for a woman who violated her parole.
“What does it take to keep these people locked up?” Burgess asked even before her knocks went unanswered. She’s frustrated by the fact that parole violators often are back on a street just days after being arrested.
State corrections officials are hoping to alleviate some of that frustration and prevent parolees from being sent back to prison with a new policy that could mean 30 days in jail for those who violate their parole.
The new policy, implemented last month, is aimed at getting parolees to check in regularly with the state and attend drug treatment programs. Parolees who don’t are more likely to commit new crimes and go back to prison, according to state prison officials.
The state Department of Corrections is planning to use more than $2 million from a fund set aside for alternatives to prison to pay for the use of 150 jail beds in Ingham and Clinton counties to house parole violators.
Parolees who violate the conditions of their release, even one time, could find themselves in either place for up to 30 days under the new policy. The recommendation for jail time would come from law enforcement officers and parole agents.
“In my mind, there’s no question it has to make a difference when you’re grabbing these guys off the street and getting their attention. They don’t want to do this,” Corrections Department director Patricia Caruso said of the extra jail time.
“For some of these people, what they need is to be separated from their life on the streets and get a little bit of a new approach.”
Former parole agent Cassandra Davis isn’t so optimistic about the new policy.
“When parolees are released from prison, they’re coming back out the way the went in _ no education, no skills, no housing, no job,” said Davis, who now represents parole officers in United Auto Workers Local 6000. “Until we implement some sort of real drug rehabilitation in prison, a 30-day jail sentence will be a waste of taxpayer money.”
Reducing the number of parolees who return to prison has become a top priority for the cash-strapped state. Space in Michigan’s prisons is running out _ corrections officials expect to hit capacity in January 2006 _ and the state is looking for ways to keep the population from growing.
Decreasing recidivism rates is one way to do that. But it’s proving a tough goal to achieve.
Between 2001 and 2002, the rate of parolees who received new prison sentences for committing a new crime went up nearly 20 percent, from 1,191 to 1,429. The following year, it was up 14 percent, hitting 1,643. As of June, 907 parole violators returned to prison, nearly 17 percent more than the same period last year.
Since the new policy for parole violators began last month, 78 have gone to jail, said Dennis Schrantz, Corrections Department deputy director for policy and planning. That number is expected to grow because law enforcement officers in 13 counties were part of a statewide sweep last week to round up 1,364 of Michigan’s most dangerous parole violators.
As of Friday, nearly 200 parole violators had been snagged in the sweep, on par with the 15 percent corrections officials had projected, Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan said.
Burgess’ team is part of a partnership between the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department and the Detroit Police Department called the Fugitive Apprehension Service Team, or FAST, that’s participating in the sweep. The work isn’t much different from what the team does every day.
One day last week, it went to three houses in Ecorse and nearby River Rouge to try to find a woman convicted of manufacturing and delivering drugs in 1996 who had not checked in with her parole officer. They didn’t find her, but they found the place she’s living.
“Some days you make three or four arrests, some days none,” said Wayne County Sheriff’s deputy James Poma, one of Burgess’ partners. “But if we weren’t out here, parolees would be three times as bad. Now, at least, they’re looking over their shoulder.”
The new jail policy isn’t the state’s only attempt to curb the number of repeat offenders. A number of new state and local efforts have been announced in recent weeks to crack down on parole violators, particularly those who have a gun.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm last month announced that parolees caught with guns who have fewer than five years left on their sentences will serve the remainder of their sentences and their cases will be referred to federal prosecutors. The new policy is expected to mean an additional 400 people in prison in its first year, Marlan said.
Last week, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick announced a pilot program to curb gun violence in the city that includes nighttime checks on probationers and puts lawyers from Cox’s office in charge of prosecuting shootings.
Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans said it makes sense to focus on parolees.
“It’s a pre-emptive strike,” he said. “All we’re trying to do is prevent crime.”