UPDATED Kilmartin - No Early Release for Violent Criminals
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Attorney General Peter Kilmartin Tuesday announced legislation that would bar the most violent offenders from being released early from prison based on good behavior. The new law also would change how other offenders are credited for good behavior.
The move comes after news that admitted child killer Michael Woodmansee is set to be released 12 years early thanks to credits he has earned for good behavior while in prison.
“Those who commit the most heinous of crimes should not qualify for early release from prison for good behavior," said state Sen. Susan Sosnowski, D-New Shoreham, South Kingstown, one of the sponsors of the legislation. "As a South Kingstown mother whose children were just a little younger than Jason Foreman at the time of this atrocity, I know the fear and anguish that gripped the community, but can only imagine the pain that the families continue to endure."
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTUnder the proposed legislation, offenders convicted of the following would be excluded from getting credit for good behavior: murder, kidnapping, first, second, and third degree sexual assault, first and second degree child molestation, child pornography, and first degree child abuse.
Those offenders also would not be able to receive any credits for taking courses or working while in prison.
The law is too late to affect Woodmansee, but Kilmartin said he hopes it will prevent similar situations in the future.
Keeping communities safe from 'monsters and predators'
"The time off for good behavior for those who commit egregious crimes was enacted in an era when we believed our communities were safe from monsters and predators," said Kilmartin, who noted the law was first passed in 1960, before he was born. "We have an obligation to continually look at the laws that are designed to protect our community to ensure that they remain relevant in an ever changing society."
Some violent offenders—such as those convicted of first degree arson and manslaughter—would still be able to earn good-time credits. But they would only be able to earn as many days a month as there are years in their sentence, up to 10 years.
The law would preserve credits for good time for the other offenders, but it changes how those credits are awarded. Under the proposed system, offenders could be released early under community supervision, but their sentences would not actually be reduced. That means if they land back in prison, they would have to serve out the rest of their sentence.
Nonviolent offenders could still earn up to 17 days a month based on good behavior, work, and courses, plus up to an additional 30 days when they finish the courses.
The legislation is sponsored by Sosnowski and Rep Teresa Tanzi, D-Narragansett, South Kingstown.
Why didn't Kilmartin change the law when he was a state rep?
In 2008, while he was a state rep, Kilmartin actually voted to expand the credits available to inmates, excepting sex offenders.
Asked why he voted in favor of increasing the credits, Kilmartin said the bill was the product of an intensive study of overcrowding in prisons and prisoner rehabilitation. He noted that it did not affect the Woodmansee case.
And, he added, he introduced a bill in 2010 that would have repealed the 2008 reform. Kilmartin said he introduced the bill so the House could hold hearings on the 2008 law to see what effect it had had on prisons, whether it had achieved its goals, and whether it was resulting in the release of people who should not be let back into the community.
"Unfortunately, the full vetting of the bill never really came to fruition," Kilmartin said. "But I was concerned about it last year."
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