jail cell

After considerable scrutiny, a legislative panel Tuesday declined to halt rules, set to take place next month, that will allow the Iowa Board of Parole to make release decisions based on the unanimous vote of three members using a more-sophisticated system of assessing the risk that a prison inmate could re-offend if placed in the community under state supervision.

Members of the Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee let stand proposed rule amendments by the parole board that will modify current procedures that require super majorities of four or five affirmative votes to release offenders with higher-risk assessment scores. The new rules, slated to take effect Dec. 5, will allow a three-member parole panel to free eligible inmates from prison upon a unanimous vote.

Read the story linked above for more background. Do you agree with the change in parole procedures?