Inmates sue Rendell over parole moratorium

Gov. Rendell's four-week-old moratorium on paroling state prison inmates was challenged today in a state Commonwealth Court lawsuit contending that the governor has no constitutional authority to unilaterally halt parole.

Civil rights lawyers Leonard Sosnov and David Rudovksy sued on behalf of four state inmates whose paroles were cancelled at the last minute by Rendell's order.

Sosnov called the moratorium "blatantly unconstitutional."

"It's very clear that the governor cannot second-guess sentences or the grant of parole," said Rudovksy. "Does the Governor have the power to hold someone forever, even after the expiration of their sentence?"

Rudovsky said he would seek expedited review by the Commonwealth Court - the appeals court for state governmental disputes - and an order reinstating parole.

Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said the state would defend against the lawsuit.

"Clearly the Department of Corrections is an entity under the executive branch," Ardo said. "Therefore, the governor has the authority to determine how the Department of Corrections operates."

Rendell froze parole on Sept. 29 in reaction to the Sept. 23 murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Patrick McDonald by a paroled felon.

Rendell then named John S. Goldkamp, head of Temple University's criminal justice department, to do a top-to-bottom review of how the Board of Probation and Parole decides who gets paroled.

Though Goldkamp's review will presumably be expedited, Rendell did not set a deadline. That fact drew immediate criticism from prisoner advocates who say the state prison system is overcrowded and depends on the monthly release of about 1,100 parolees to safely operate.

The Sept. 30 census of the state's prisons tallied an inmate population of 46,883 - 8 percent above what prison officials say is appropriate to maintain "quality of life and safety for both staff and inmates."

Since then, according to the Pennsylvania Prison Society, the prison population has swelled to 17 percent above capacity.

Rendell today took steps to relieve overcrowding, announcing he would permit the prisons and Board of Probation and Parole to begin releasing "nonviolent offenders according to current parole procedures."

Rendell said he ordered prison and parole officials to define nonviolent offenders as those with "no history of a violent offense."

Rudovsky said that definition was not clear because it depends on how officials define a violent offense.

The four people named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Laverne Harris, 47, serving a sentence out of the Philadelphia courts; Elizabeth Clark, 58, serving a sentence out of Montgomery County; Gary Christopher, 61, serving a sentence out of Delaware County; and Derrick Bostic, 41, serving a Philadelphia sentence. It could not immediately be determined how long each had been in prison or for what crime.

Rudovsky said Bostic was serving a term involving a robbery, another for theft and two others for drug offenses.

In three of the cases, according to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs had already been transferred to a halfway house in anticipation of parole.

Christopher was at the state prison at Graterford in Montgomery County and about to be released to a halfway house when the moratorium took effect.

Although the corrections department is part of the executive branch, the state parole board is an independent agency.

"If the governor is displeased with the performance of parole board members in making decisions of whether to parole or reparole," the lawsuit reads, "his only statutory authority is to remove a member with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate, or to suspend that member for cause while the Senate is adjourned."