Background
On January 2nd , Governor Charlie Baker nominated the Parole Board’s General Counsel, Gloriann Moroney, to fill the seat that Lucy Soto Abbe had occupied on the Parole Board for eight years. He terminated Ms. Soto Abbe’s appointment on that date and nominated Ms. Moroney. Prior to coming to the Board as General Counsel in January 2016, Gloriann Moroney had worked as an Assistant District Attorney in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office for 14 years. Now she wants to be a Parole Board member. The Coalition for Effective Public Safety (CEPS) has long advocated for more diversity of experience on the Board.
We must speak out for a Board that strives for diversity of training and experience so that the Board is able to more appropriately assess the candidates who come before them, including many with mental health and addiction issues. Our present Board has 5 members with law enforcement backgrounds. This severely limits the range of perspectives Board members bring to the hearings to judge fairly the people who come before them. Other problems with Moroney’s nomination? In a nutshell, Moroney currently oversees a Board that still does not have a healthy paroling rate; prisoners with life sentences are still waiting 8 to 10 months for parole decisions; the Board has not recommended one person for commutation or pardon since Moroney became General Counsel, much less in the past year since Ms. Moroney was bumped to Executive Director/General Counsel; indeed, the Board has not even acted on a single petition for commutation since she became Counsel; and way too many people are returning to prison on technical violations rather than receiving intermediate sanctions, and therefore we are needlessly filling up our prisons and creating more harm.
Action Needed Now
CEPS asks that you call your Governor’s Councillor before Weds. January 23, when they will vote on Moroney’s nomination. THE VOTE WAS POSTPONED WHICH IS GOOD NEWS SO PLEASE KEEP THE PRESSURE ON>
Here is what you can say to your councillor:
Our present Parole Board has five members who have worked in law enforcement, parole, as attorneys, or in corrections, with only one member, Dr. Charlene Bonner, having both experience and training in psychology. We have no Parole Board members with experience and training in psychiatry, sociology or social work. I oppose Moroney’s nomination precisely because in order to fairly judge the potential parolees who come before them, the Board needs more balance in their training and experience. In addition, because she does take ownership of her role at the Board and supervises some seriously flawed practices–low paroling rate, too many re-incarcerations, no acting on commutations, unconscionable delays in lifer decisions– I cannot support Gloriann Moroney’s nomination for a parole board member.
Call Before Wednesday, January 16, when the Governor’s Council will vote on Moroney’s nomination.
Find your Governor’s Councillor here https://www.mass.gov/service-details/councillors
Find your district here http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eledist/counc11idx.htm