I am amazed, as I know you will be, that in Kentucky an inmate coming up for parole has no legal representation at his parole hearing. Think about that. Here comes this inmate who may or may not be literate, may or may not have any understanding of the parole system, and may or may not be able to express him/herself verbally, to stand before a 3-person parole board and in about 15-minutes convey the story of his life change in such a way that he successfully wins parole. I don't think I could do that!
To be fair, the parole board has, presumably had a chance to review the inmates records in advance. So these individuals, who often attend a parole hearing only by video conference, have the sort of knowledge of this inmate that paper documents can provide. Beyond that however, they have no sense of the person standing before them or who face appears on the video screen. It's up to the inmate to plead his/her case.
Now let's contrast this scenareo with the Florida Parole system in which an attorney appears on behalf of the inmate and another attorney appears on behalf of the State. Witnesses, such as the inmates minister, prison chaplin, former employer or teacher, may be called to appear and testify on behalf of the inmate or against him/her. The Board has access to the inmates' prison record of course, but also has a chance to really get a feel for who the inmates was, is and perhaps could be in the future.
My question is, which do you perceive as the most balanced and fair system? Kind of a no-brainer isn't it?
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