And here it is:
Dear Governor Rell:
As you are aware, the Judiciary Committee recently held its public hearing regarding potential reforms to our state’s criminal justice system, and our understanding is that your task force will be completing its own work this week on these matters.In a special session to be held later this month, we propose to accomplish the following goals:
1. Strengthen our criminal justice statutes through specific changes recommended by law enforcement advocates and the State Supreme Court:
? Establish a new crime of “home invasion” and specify that it would be considered a “violent” crime
? Re-write the state’s persistent offender statutes (a/k/a “three strikes” statute) to make them more useable for prosecutors and to address issues identified in the recent Supreme Court decision of State v. Bell
2. Fix the states outdated parole process that has been described as a total failure:
? Create a full time parole board and expand its staff to include victim advocates and a forensic psychologist
? Eliminate the use of administrative reviews by the parole board, and create video links for all correctional facilities to the parole board
? Eliminate the loophole that now exists regarding the supervision of offenders on furlough
3. Establish tougher and more secure re-entry procedures for offenders returning to the community as they complete their sentence:
? Expand community re-entry and diversion supervision resources by adding more probation and parole officers, increase the use of GPS technology and increase the number of private substance abuse and mental health treatment beds for non-violent offenders to ensure that there are adequate prison beds for violent offenders
? Establish staff-secure residential re-entry beds for sex offenders who are about to complete their prison sentences
? Enhance re-entry programs and expand the partnerships with non-profit agencies deploying these programs
? Create an online database of outstanding arrest warrants for probation violations
4. Implement an integrated criminal justice information technology system for sharing electronic communications among law enforcement agencies, the Judicial Branch and related agencies to ensure uniform and complete accessibility to critical information.
We believe that there is broad consensus on these proposals in the legislature and it is our hope that your task force will also be making recommendations similar to these. Please let us know if you have any objection to the goals discussed above so that we may work to quickly resolve any disagreements. By working together, we will be able to move forward expeditiously. We look forward to hearing from you.
So I’m guessing that’s pretty much the agenda for the special session.
