RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — Virginia prison reform advocates celebrated the release of over 800 prisoners thanks to an enhanced earned sentence credit program opposed by Republican leadership.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, along with prison reform advocates and Democratic lawmakers, hosted a press conference Tuesday to mark the full implementation of a 2020 law that rewards certain good-behaving prisoners with time off their sentences. The law went into effect July 1, after two years of Republican-led efforts to delay the program.
“Someone shouldn’t be judged by their worst day,” Senator Jennifer Boysko said. “These are all people who were already having an end date to their sentences and will be returning citizens, and we want them to be successful.”
Inmates only earn credits if they follow prison rules, participate in rehabilitative programming, work a prison job and demonstrate self-education.
“Hope is what we need when incarcerated,” Quadaire Patterson, who served 16 of his 20-year sentence for armed robbery, said. “Life is nothing without hope.”
Proponents of the enhanced earned sentence credit program also say it makes working conditions safer for correctional staff by incentivizing good behavior.
“Good intentions do not equal good results,” Virginia’s Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares said in a statement. “It’s increasingly clear that the enhanced earned sentence credit system poses a serious risk to Virginians.”
In 2020, Virginia’s Democratic-controlled General Assembly passed the law increasing the previous cap of 4.5 days off a sentence for every 30 days served to 15 days off every month. The bill excluded some convictions, like murder, from earning the sentence credits, but Republicans felt it still allowed too many violent criminals out of prison early.
The bill’s effective date was delayed to July 1, 2022, but newly elected Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin included a clause blocking the change for many prisoners in the 2022 budget.
Youngkin’s amendment excluded those with violent and even some non-violent convictions from participating in the expanded program. Those excluded by the clause included inmates serving time for kidnapping, abduction, rape, manslaughter and robbery.
The Office of the Attorney General issued an advisory opinion that further reinterpreted the law to exclude people convicted of many conspiracy and solicitation charges from eligibility.
Even with the governor’s stipulations, the partial implementation of the enhanced sentence credit program has seen over 10,000 people earn early release since 2022.
The ACLU of Virginia filed four cases with mixed success, which reached the state Supreme Court, challenging the Virginia Department of Corrections’ refusal to award expanded sentence credits to people with certain convictions, including attempted murder.
Over 7,000 inmates previously disqualified are now eligible to receive their enhanced earned sentence credits retroactively. Miyares claims that 25% of the newly qualified inmates are at high risk for violent recidivism, meaning they have a high likelihood of reoffending violently.
“I believe in redemption and am a strong proponent for helping our returning citizens re-enter society to live productive lives,” Miyares said. “However, aggressive retroactive sentence reductions for violent criminals with a high risk of recidivism undermines our justice system and disregards victims.”
Advocates claim the program will save Virginia at least $28 million in its first two years by decreasing the number of inmates. Thanks to the increased eligibility for earned time off, 3.5% of Virginia’s total inmate population was released on July 1. Virginia closed four of its prisons on June 30.
Gin Carter of the Humanization Project expressed her optimism for further criminal justice reform. Carter’s fiance, former Radford University criminal justice professor Taj Mahon-Haft, only served ten years of his 15-year sentence for child pornography charges.
“This particular argument has been won with humanity conquering the day,” Carter said. “We discuss the human impacts more while stereotypes, dog whistling and fearmongering win out less often.”
Since 1995, the earned sentence credit program has allowed most people incarcerated in Virginia to earn early release. Before the 2020 bill, the best inmates could earn was 13% off their sentences. The newly implemented bill entitles eligible inmates up to 33.3% off.
ACLU of Virginia policy adviser Chris Kaiser said the organization wants transparency from the Department of Corrections regarding the program’s implementation. Kaiser claims it’s unclear how the department determines who is entitled to what credits and which inmates are subject to heightened monitoring after release.
“We’ve already heard that some folks are being subject to very intrusive monitoring upon their release,” Kaiser said. “These are not accusations. They are questions, but we do need transparency to ensure that this policy is fully, fairly, and lawfully implemented.”