On the Beat in the Bluegrass

By Bill Estep

bestep@herald-leader.com

SOMERSET — A judge has continued his temporary ban on releasing inmates from a three-county area in Southern Kentucky under new parole rules that have been controversial.

After a hearing Wednesday, Circuit Judge David A. Tapp did not immediately decide whether to impose a longer-term injunction barring such releases — or whether to apply a ban statewide — but promised to rule soon.

The legal fight involves changes that give convicted felons more credit toward the time they get released from jail or from parole supervision. The legislature approved the changes this year.

The goal was to cut the state’s prison population to save money.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Eddy Montgomery urged Tapp to impose an injunction that could stay in place for months to bar releases from prison under the rules.

The Department of Corrections has released more than 2,000 people from jail, prison or parole supervision under the new rules since May. Many will commit new felony crimes within three years, Montgomery said.

“That is a real threat to society,” he said at the hearing.

However, Wesley W. Duke, an attorney for the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, argued that Montgomery had not met the requirements to have Tapp issue a long-term injunction.

The potential harm Montgomery has pointed to in the releases is speculative, Duke said. Department officials said they haven’t been notified that anyone released under the new rules has committed a new violent crime.

“I think you have to show something beyond what might happen,” Duke told the judge.

He also argued that the new rules are legal and that the department is carrying them out as the legislature intended.

Montgomery sued last week to block releases under the new rules. Tapp issued a restraining order to block them until Wednesday’s hearing.

The issue at the hearing was whether to issue an injunction barring releases until Montgomery’s lawsuit is settled.