BOSTON, June 19 (UPI) -- More than one-third of violent criminal offenders in Massachusetts paroled in the past five years returned to prison, a Boston Globe review says.
The review found that of the 201 prisoners paroled from January 2006 through December 2010 -- all of whom were serving 15 years to life -- 34 percent, or 69 of them, returned to prison for either violating the terms of their parole or committing new crimes.
The rate is high compared with other states. New York's rate of recidivism is much lower; 19 percent of 1,480 convicted murderers paroled from 1986 to 2006 in New York returned to prison.
Josh Wall, chairman of the Massachusetts Parole Board, says the board is implementing new written guidelines that will make it more difficult for violent offenders to be granted parole.
"People who are serving a life sentence who come before the Parole Board assure the Parole Board that they will not commit any new crimes and will obey all the conditions of parole,'' Wall said. "As we see, 35 percent of those lifers who received parole were unsuccessful in completing those promises. That rate is too high."
