AG report finds ‘significant and repeated violations’ of Parole Board policies, state law

A report from Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares detailing violations of Parole Board policies in the release of dozens of state inmates in 2020 “grossly targeted” the board’s former chair, Adrienne Bennett, who is now a judge in Virginia Beach.

This, according to an attorney for Bennett, who is accused in the report of falsifying discharge records in the cases of three convicted murderers and violating eight court orders that had deemed certain inmates “ineligible for discretionary parole.”

But is this the politically charged matter that some are trying to make it?

“The Office of Attorney General has cherry picked a time period for scrutiny which happens to have taken place during a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic,” said Bennett’s attorney, Diane Toscano, in a statement to the Washington Post. “In all cases of parole, Judge Bennett was but one vote of the board. This report grossly targeted her. Judge Bennett is a dedicated public servant who has served with distinction on the bench, on the parole board, and as a respected attorney in the Virginia Beach legal community for decades. No attempt to vilify her changes that.”

That’s one side of the story. The other side comes from Miyares, who in his 69-page report on the Parole Board matter detailed what the AG’s office claims are “significant and repeated violations” of Parole Board policies and state law.

Former Gov. Ralph Northam, in March 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 public emergency, encouraged prison administrators to release older and ailing inmates where possible to try to prevent the spread of COVID in state facilities.

As news of the inmate releases began to become reality, victims and families of victims filed complaints with the Office of the State Inspector General that they hadn’t been given opportunity to offer comment, and prosecutors raised issue with how they hadn’t been notified about the releases as required by state law.

The report from Miyares, a Republican, describes the “chaotic atmosphere surrounding a parole-granting frenzy” at the outset of the pandemic, and efforts by the offices of Northam and then-AG Mark Herring, both Democrats, to use taxpayer-funded resources build a counter-narrative to the findings from the review by the inspector general, which had revealed that some of the inmates who had ultimately been released had been recently denied parole or otherwise deemed ineligible for parole.

The six-page report from the IG on the matter released in July 2020 also found that the board had failed to follow state law requiring that victims’ family members and local prosecutors be notified of a pending release at least 21 days in advance.

Miyares, in his report, alleges that Bennett “unilaterally discharged 137 violent offenders from parole supervision in her final days with the Board—most of whom were convicted of capital or first-degree murder.”

“Our investigation revealed that, in violation of Va. Code § 18.2- 472, Chair Bennett falsified three entries in her list of discharged offenders by claiming that a Parole Board employee or parole officer had ‘requested’ the offender’s discharge. One Board employee told us that Chair Bennett ‘lied’ when claiming that the employee had requested certain parole discharges,” the AG said in the report.

In a statement on the report, Miyares said this week that under Bennett, “the Virginia Parole Board endangered public safety and abused its power by releasing dozens of violent felons against Parole Board policies, and frequently in clear violation of a court order or Virginia law.”

“Judge Bennett’s brazen abuse of her power put Virginians’ safety at risk so that she could promote a criminal-first, victim-last agenda without regard for victims or their safety,” Miyares said.

“I thank the hard work of my team to compile this report and look forward to working with the General Assembly and the current Parole Board to promote trust and transparency in its actions and ensure the victims of violent crime are never again ignored, silenced, or overlooked. The reckless disregard for the law described in my office’s report must never again be repeated,” Miyares said.