An Algorithm Deemed This Nearly Blind 70-Year-Old Prisoner a "Moderate Risk." Now He's No Longer Eligible for Parole.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.propublica.org/article/tiger-algorithm-louisiana-parole-calvin-alexander

Calvin Alexander thought he had done everything the Louisiana parole board asked of him to earn an early release from prison.

He had taken anger management classes, learned a trade and enrolled in drug treatment. And as his September hearing before the board approached, his disciplinary record was clean.

Alexander, more than midway through a 20-year prison sentence on drug charges, was making preparations for what he hoped would be his new life. His daughter, with whom he had only recently become acquainted, had even made up a room for him in her New Orleans home.

Then, two months before the hearing date, prison officials sent Alexander a letter informing him he was no longer eligible for parole.

A computerized scoring system adopted by the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections had deemed the nearly blind 70-year-old, who uses a wheelchair, a moderate risk of reoffending, should he be released. And under a new law, that meant he and thousands of other prisoners with moderate or high risk ratings cannot plead their cases before the board. According to the department of corrections, about 13,000 people — nearly half the state’s prison population — have such risk ratings, although not all of them are eligible for parole.


Alexander can’t read or write, so he dictated answers to mailed questions from Verite News and ProPublica to a fellow prisoner.

[underpants]

1. Jesus.

If I can’t get out there’s no reason for me to play by the rules

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. It's hard to say which is worse,

keeping someone like him in prison, or releasing some 70 year old who has absolutely no family or friends outside of prison, nowhere to go, no income of any kind, cannot possibly get work.

[marble falls]

4. Fortunately this one has a support system, his daughter in NO has already fixed up a room for him in her home ...

... if he's worked at any time on the clock, he's eligible for SS and because of his age and physical condition - for medicare. medicaid, and SS for his disabilities. He's one of the lucky ones. He has everything to be successfully released.

This is about money and heartless mean-spiritedness. And it can't be laid at anyone's lap. It's the algorithm's doing.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. I'm glad to hear he has support.

But no, it is not "if he's worked at any time on the clock, he's eligible for SS". I'm pretty sure there are zero exceptions to the 40 quarters rule, or ten years of employment, however spread out. It's possible he will need to work a few more quarters to complete that eligibility. Medicaid is a different story, and each state has somewhat different rules on that.

[Crunchy Frog]

7. Prison should not be our country's social safety net.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. Trust me, it is not.

I have a friend who has for years corresponded with men in prison, and several times taken released prisoners in to stay with him while they get on their feet: get a job, save some money, eventually move in to their own place. I've learned a lot from him.

[marble falls]

3. I have to believe a private prison management corp is involved, that sound bite ...

... "get tough with criminal" politicians and their knee jerk issue laws are, too. And prosecutors and judges using tough on crime" images to be raised to higher offices.

What crime do they think a half blind, wheel chair bound 70 year old person will commit? Blocking the side walk intentionally?

[Johnny2X2X]

5. The War on Drugs has been a failure

Countless lives destroyed and for what? The War on Drugs hasn't kept drugs from getting into the hands of whoever wants them, all it has done is make them more expensive so criminals think it's more worth the risk.

Police raid and arrest some local "kingpin" who was selling pounds of cocaine and they think they've done society some good, they haven't. Anyone who wants cocaine will still be able to get cocaine, period. All they've done is punish someone who was making money in the market the war on drugs created.

The fact we've allowed these anti drug police units to become paramilitary wannabes who basically play war on the weekends is anti Freedom. Why?

Here's a clue why: "Black people use illegal drugs at roughly the same rate as white people, but are arrested and convicted for it in greater numbers because their neighborhoods are more heavily policed, she said."