PALMER -- An Alaska Department of Corrections proposal to release minimum-security inmates early drew criticism at a Palmer legislative field hearing Tuesday.
Concerns voiced by state legislators, invited guests and a handful of citizens centered on risks to public safety, especially with budget-related cuts to Alaska State Troopers, the potential for released inmates to become homeless and failures in victim notification.
Meanwhile, Alaska's top corrections official put at least some of the responsibility for future inmate reductions on the Legislature.
The state corrections department is starting to review as many as 1,200 non-violent prisoners eligible for supervised early release to a halfway house or on electronic ankle monitoring. The move is driven by Alaska's grim budget situation and tracks with a national trend to reduce unnecessary incarceration.
At this point, the state isn't planning to release all 1,200 but it's not clear exactly how many inmates could leave their prison cells, Corrections Commissioner Ron Taylor told four Valley legislators and an audience of more than 50 people. A previous goal put the release number for this year alone at 176.
A separate process aimed at reducing the state's inmate population comes in response to a Sept. 8 letter to the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission from legislative leaders, Taylor said. The letter calls on the commission to look at three options: avert all future prison growth; avert growth plus reduce the population by 15 percent; avert growth plus reduce population by 25 percent.
At current inmate levels, a 15 percent reduction amounts to about 800 releases and a 25 percent reduction amounts to about 1,300, he said. Research from the Pew Charitable Trusts predicted Alaska's inmate population could swell by 1,400 inmates in the next decade.
"This is being driven by the Legislature, the governor's office and what's going on across the country," Taylor said. "It's not something I would say I'm necessarily in the driver's seat on doing."
Sen. John Coghill, the Senate Majority Leader who created the commission and serves on it, said in an email Wednesday that the two processes -- the Corrections early release proposal and the Legislature's recommendations to the commission -- are completely separate. The Legislature asked the commission to develop recommendations based on an "evidence-based, data-driven process used in many states." That decision is expected to be announced in December.
Corrections officials have said they plan to make a decision on the early supervised releases by spring.
The budget is driving the state's bid to reduce inmate numbers but a cost savings won't be realized immediately, officials say.
It costs $142 a day to put an inmate in a bed, about $90 for a halfway house and nearly $23 for ankle monitoring, according to Taylor. But at least in the short term, early releases might save little money because the state needs more substance-abuse treatment, counseling and other services to handle those inmates' needs. State corrections as well as the judicial system already use ankle monitoring and halfway houses.
In light of criticism Tuesday about a lack of public involvement, state corrections officials said they plan to hold a hearing once they know more about the numbers of offenders they propose releasing.
Tuesday's hearing was convened by Rep. Jim Colver, R-Palmer, a member of the public safety and law budget committees.
Colver expressed concerns about the formula the state plans to use to make release decisions -- officials said they're still developing one -- and lack of consistent victim notification when inmates are released.
"It seems very broad-brush," he said of the matrix. "We need more than that before we roll this out."
Sen. Bill Stoltze, R-Chugiak, grilled Taylor on what he described as a lack of involvement by the Alaska Office of Victims' Rights. Stoltze noted the office arose from a voter-approved 1998 constitutional amendment.
"I don't want to get testy on this, but that's the Constitution," he said.
Rep. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, urged the commissioner to consider releasing inmates to communities separate from their victims.
Colver invited several presenters to speak at the hearing: three high-ranking Alaska Department of Public Safety officials; Vicki Wallner, founder of a Mat-Su online neighborhood-watch Facebook page; and Michelle Overstreet, founder of a Wasilla nonprofit called MyHouse conducting a pilot program aimed at reducing homelessness among recently incarcerated young adults.
Early releases in Los Angeles County resulted in a spike in homelessness, Public Safety Commissioner Gary Folger said. "The population of skid row tripled."
Troopers head Col. Jim Cockrell told the legislators that budget cuts have already left his agency 27 positions down, including seven in Mat-Su. That's going to make it difficult for troopers to prioritize inmates who evade monitoring or walk out of halfway houses, Cockrell said.
"What calls do we not go if somebody violated their ankle monitor? As an agency, that's one area we're struggling with," he said. "We can't cover important calls now with staffing."
Wallner described the level of "anger, frustration and disgust" residents have with the criminal justice system now. She gave several examples of offenders convicted of fairly serious crimes already released on ankle monitors, including William Beasley, convicted of a 2014 armed robbery at Miller's Market in Houston.
"This is a guy that didn't even serve a year in a hard bed for armed robbery," Wallner said. "How does that even happen? This is why people are so angry."
Much criticism at Tuesday's hearing centered on fears of released offenders cutting off the devices that allow probation officers to track them, epitomized by the example of Joshua Beebe, charged with murdering Christopher Seaman in June after he cut off his ankle monitor.
Seaman's mother, Terria Walters, was the only member of the public Tuesday testifying in support of the corrections release plan. Walters, a former felon who kicked a heroin addiction through treatment at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center, said people who aren't serving long sentences like hers don't have the same treatment options inside.
"I fully support what DOC is doing," Walters said. "I have lived within the system and see many many individuals that could benefit from getting on the ankle monitor."
Offenders walk away from halfway houses far more than they escape electronic monitors, officials say.
Right now, the state has 446 people on ankle monitors and 649 in halfway houses, according to Taylor.
A "handful" of former inmates released on ankle monitors have cut them off, he said. Statistics weren't immediately available on the number of halfway house walkaways.
He's asked for a review of why offenders leave halfway houses, where they can't be stopped if they choose to walk out.