Wayne East was supposed to be paroled on Thursday. The convicted murderer of prominent Abilene resident Mary Eula Sears had, at least in the eyes of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, paid his debt to society. He had also behaved himself while in prison. It was time to go home.Hall calls East "a man without a county," which about sums it up.
That is, until the good people in Taylor County began complaining; in particular the people who enforce the laws. Police Chief Stan Standridge, District Attorney James Eidson, and Sheriff Les Bruce all wrote letters to the board asking that it not let East come back to Abilene. ...
So on Thursday the board voted to add “Special Condition Z” to East’s parole, which restricts which counties he can go to. He can’t even enter Taylor, Jones, Runnels, Coleman, and Callahan counties. And since he was, by law, required to be initially paroled to Taylor County, now he can’t go anywhere at all. According to Jason Clark at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, “East’s current parole plan has been canceled. The next step is to look at any alternate plans already submitted. If that’s not successful, an institutional parole officer will go and meet with the inmate to try and determine if there is another suitable location for him to reside. The parole division will investigate any parole plans submitted. If a residence can not be found, the offender will be placed on a list for possible placement in a halfway house.”
Monday, November 07, 2011
You can't go home again
We've spent quite a bit of time recently discussing the Board of Pardons and Paroles' "Special Condition X," which applies sex offender status to parolees never convicted of a sex crime. But I wasn't aware of "Special Condition Z" until reading Mike Hall's report in a Texas Monthly web extra:
In Abilene, if you kill the wrong person they don't want you back. This man just wants to go home.
ReplyDeleteTexas Monthly
ReplyDeleteNovember 2011
And East, it turns out, may have lied about at least one other important thing. While reading his files, I came upon a 1971 TYC psychological report that contained several mentions of the sodomy of the five-year-old boy that East once confessed to but now denies ever happened.
How does this fit in with your Census plan to count inmates as residing in the county from which they are convicted?
ReplyDeleteDoes this man have family in those counties who were willing to house him upon release? How can the "officials" deny those who have not committed any crime from having a loved one live with them? How long before other reasons are found to deny residence to a group of people such as homosexuals, voters of certain political parties or those with "other" religious beliefs?
ReplyDeleteIf the BPP are convinced that this man can be paroled (and the Gods know that is hard enough to achieve) then that should be the end of it - just as it would be if the BPP had decided he could NOT be paroled.
Chairperson Rissie Owens has a serious ego,self love problem. She has been taken to court and proven wrong many times...at the Tax Payers expense and not hers. Her methods of granting parole is like pulling name from a box. She continues to deny inmates who have long passed the term, received two degrees and a Masters degree while serving more than 30 years. Rissie is full of hate and vengence since this inmate filed a suit against her she gets even by giving him a 1 year set off, next he received a 3 year set off and the last was to date was a 5 year set off and always for the same reason "nature of crime". He was 17 years old at the time and it has not mattered how many adjustment/ religious/ and educational course he takes (always graduating at the top of his classes); he will never be able to change the nature of his crime when he was a teenager. The Un-Justic Parole Board needs a complete over-haul and a new Governor who will replace Rissie.
ReplyDelete9:49, I haven't seen the data, but I suspect that as a proportion of the 70,000 or so released every year, the proportion given "Special Condition Z" is de minimis.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Inv. A. Bryants statement that you cant change the nature of the crime no matter how many set offs are given. The BPP needs an overhaul. I have seen too many times where their decisions seem to be based on nothing more than what mood they were in at the time or whether their coffee was warm that morning.
ReplyDeleteI was told by some POs who were in the system in the 1980s that it was not uncommon for Texas courts to add, as a condition of probation, a "do not return" condition for certain offenders, barring them from stepping foot in the county of conviction for life. Now, as far as I can tell, this has never been enforced since there's really no way to track such conditions (heck, counties have a hard enough time simply reporting dispositions to DPS), but I hear it was rather common place, especially for some heinous crimes or for those who were passing through the state when they committed their crimes. But in 2011, it seems a bit much to deny this sort of thing. I'm all for denying home plans if there's a legitimate threat to the offender's successful completion of parole, but just because local LEOs don't want him there? Knock it off, Abilene. You don't get to choose who does and doesn't live in your city.
ReplyDeleteGrits, @ 9:49 you refer to the # released as approximately 70,000 per year. The number reviewed for parole each year exceeds 75,000. However, the number paroled is actually about 30-35% of that figure. I'm not trying to nit-pick, but....
ReplyDeleteAs usual, very interesting piece! Thanks for all your hard work!
Kevin, when you include everyone released from TDCJ it tops 70K, at least if you include state jail felons.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the 2010 statistical report (pdf, p. 13), in FY 2010 TDCJ released 42,115 people from prisons, 23,124 from state jails and 5,824 from SAFP, for a total of 71,063 prisoners released that year. The total new receives that year were 72,315.
Isn't there a provision in the Texas constitution prohibiting "banishment"?
ReplyDeleteGrits, you are correct. My bad! I did not include state jail felons or SAFP. I'd suspect you are also correct that the Special Condition "Z" numbers are very, very low.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that victims and trial officials have let their voices be heard; and the BPP responded accordingly. For a minor history lesson, look at the "State wide" tour of Raul Meza in 1993, where communities rose up in protest of having a child killing murderer,albeit with interesting political connections, released to their communities.
ReplyDeleteAnd Sunray, this concept that the BPP is persecuting convicted felons, whose actions were voluntary, rises to the level of persecution of homosexuals or political dissidents, or any other minority being persecuted due to an inherent difference, is ridiculous.
For once, the BPP got it right by taking the safety of the community and the voice of the victims into account.
SEMPERFINE - remember that when they come for your children.
ReplyDeleteIf the BPP had originally granted parole to this man, and then only changed their minds after they have made a decision, based on depositions that could (and should) have been made beforehand, then why can they not behave in the same way for any other inmate, to reverse their decision to disallow parole at that time? Cake and eat it anyone?
Anon 9:04
ReplyDeleteHow do you have access to this person's psychological report?
Good question sfenn, according to some at tyc all those Gatesville records have been mishandled and lost. However I do know that tdc keeps records on all the tyc graduates who come to tdc so anon 9:09 may have access there. With an anon it could be someone like a Mis Rissie trolling or just some ass wipe making stuff up, or both. Overall 87% of tyc kids go to tdc and that’s been consistent across the decades. In a June 1982 Texas Monthly article Where to Turn, Ron Jackasson then tyc ED, states tyc is just housing these kids until they are old enough to go to tdc. He used the 87% number as well. Some things never change.
ReplyDeleteGood comeback Sunray, Superfine if you are capable; educate yourself to our system and who it effects. Minorities and poor whites have been a target for enslavement since the Anglos showed up here in Texas. It was one of the main reasons for coming to Texas. The only visible difference of the type of enslavement is the outfit, some pressed, some not so pressed. Look at the town of Gatesville where poor whites have been enslaved to the politicos for generations. Gatesville was the first prison farms purchased by the state to get around the lucrative convict leasing shenanigans. Spend 5 minutes in any store in that town and you will see the effects of a business based on devaluing human beings. It’s really pathetic.
Jim Crow may be dead and gone but the spirit lives on bigger and better in Texas through the war on poverty, no child left behind, tough on crime and my favorite for the really gullible fools the war on drugs. As long as the WASP leaders can keep people ignorant with these crazy propaganda schemes they can enslave them, be it the guy in a cell doing code 21 all day, or the woman who calls herself running the bpp doing a code 21 all day on their peers parole eligibility.
Ok, Semperfine, let's go with your thinking - All victims should have the right to demand that their offenders not be released to their communities. So, what then...well, I guess all of Abilene's offenders could go to Lubbock, all of Lubbock's too Amarillo, Amarillo's to Tyler, Tyler's to Longview, Longview's to Abilene...you get the idea. Put a little thought into it. All you're doing is redistributing the parolees.
ReplyDeleteBTW, from what Grits posted, it wasn't the "victims" asking that the offender not be returned to Abilene. It was the Police Chief, Sheriff and DA. Those ain't "victims." I think that if this guy ends up in some other town, that town should identify someone they don't want paroled back to their community and demand he be sent to Abilene. Fair trade, don't you think? Can you see the problem with the NIMBY crap?
Furthermore, every time I hear someone holler in the name of "victims" it bothers me a little. Maybe that's because I know these people usually aren't themselves victims. They are usually prosecutors or law enforcement who use the "victims" as a justification for their own biases and prejudices. I was a "victim." So, I know how important it is for victims to forgive. If victims hang onto the hate and anger it will eat them up. If you really care about "victims" you need to help them find a way to let go of the hate and anger, to forgive and move on with their lives. Continuing to stir up their hate and anger for your own purposes does them no good.
Well said 3.04
ReplyDeletesfenn & Sheldon: Anon 9:04 was quoting a line from the Texas Monthly story that you can find here: http://www.texasmonthly.com/2011-11-01/feature2-4.php
ReplyDeleteDon't be so quick to judge.
How did Texas Monthly get access to this person's TYC psychological report?
ReplyDeletepersonaly based on this! IF it is true i think anyone living in texas has the legal right to walk up to the parole board and SHOOT THEM!
ReplyDelete"And since he was, by law, required to be initially paroled to Taylor County,"
if TEXAS state law does prohibite this! then the parole board is now a set of UNARRESTED CRIMINALS! and last time i looked criminals caught in the act can be and a lot of times are SHOT by law enforcement ...heck these days a lot of nice normal CITIZENS are getting shot by law enforcment!
FWIW, when you read the underlying story, the victim family members are split on whether he should be barred from Abilene, and much else about the case.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't seen it mentioned yet but, you can thank the Texas Legislature for the BPP having the authority to do this. It appears plain as day in Texas Government Code 508.
ReplyDelete