Inmates eligible for parole die from virus

When Florida’s parole board reviewed his case in late 2018, it had been decades since Stephen “Steve” Maxwell last resembled the “bad boy” sentenced to prison for a crime spree in the 1970s, his longtime friend Nancy Watson said.

Maxwell was eligible for parole on robbery, battery and kidnapping charges. The state Commission on Offender Review decided not to grant it at the time, but indicated he would likely be released this December. Instead, Maxwell, 68, died in April from complications of COVID-19 at Sumter Correctional Institution in Bushnell.

“I just keep thinking, if only,” Watson said. “He wasn’t a threat to anybody.”

Maxwell’s death was among the first linked to the new coronavirus in the state’s vast prison system, but since then, the COVID-19 death toll has risen to 63 as the agency struggles to contain the virus. Of those, the Orlando Sentinel identified at least 13 cases in addition to Maxwell’s in which the inmate had been eligible for parole.

The Sentinel identified those inmates by obtaining through a public record request a list of those parole eligible at the beginning of April and searching it for the names of inmates who local medical examiners had identified after dying from COVID-19.

There could be more. The Sentinel has not yet been able to confirm the names of 21 prisoners who have died of the covonavirus, many within the last two weeks.

Currently, there are almost 4,000 men and women eligible for parole serving time in Florida prisons. All have been behind bars at least since 1995, many for serious crimes like murder or rape.

The three-person commission granted release to about 2% of cases they heard, according to the board’s 2019 annual report.

Prison reform advocates argue many more could be safely released into supervision, noting the commissioners can order ankle monitors, among other requirements. It’s especially urgent during the pandemic, advocates say, since those eligible tend to be older, and therefore at higher risk from COVID-19.

Of the 14 parole-eligible men identified by the Sentinel who have died of COVID-19 complications in prison, the youngest was 59. The oldest was 84.

Reggie Garcia, an attorney who has written a book about Florida’s parole system, estimated it typically takes 10 years after someone becomes parole eligible for the commission to grant supervised release.

“I wish the process went faster, especially because of the virus,” Garcia said. “They have the inherent discretion … to consider the medical component now.”

Commission spokeswoman Angela Meredith said the board “follows the statutes and upholds the terms of sentence in the most expeditious manner possible.” It has added new hearings to consider medical release for terminally ill or incapacitated inmates, she said — but records show those releases also are rarely granted.

‘What happened to forgiveness?’

The commission has not made any significant changes to increase releases — for parole or otherwise — in response to the pandemic. Neither has Gov. Ron DeSantis, who criminal justice reform proponents argue could issue furloughs or take other steps to decrease the prison population to minimize risk to both inmates and staff.

He has consistently said he doesn’t think releasing prisoners will help the situation.

Last week the secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections and his deputy tested positive for COVID-19 after visiting a prison overrun by the virus and, as of Friday, inmates or staff had tested positive at 57 prisons. More than 10,000 inmates and almost 2,000 staff have tested positive. The first two correctional officers died of complications from the virus this week, according to the agency.

In response to questions about parole from the Sentinel, FDC spokeswoman Michelle Glady said “release dates have not been affected by the ongoing health emergency.”

She said agency staff often work months in advance of an inmate’s release to prepare for their transition, which she said is especially critical “given the current pandemic.” She did not directly address parole, but directed those questions to the Florida Commission on Offender Review.

“We continue to press for [the state] to seek alternative pathways and to reduce the pressure on the department, which is currently being held together with spit and chewing gum,” said Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-Tampa, who has advocated for years for reforms at the corrections agency.

He called the review commission, which considers both parole and compassionate medical release cases, “extremely restrictive” in its decision-making. Even before the pandemic, he had requested a state audit of the commission.

Karen Gates has attended at least five hearings before the commission in the last decade, pleading for her brother, Kayle Smith, to be allowed to go home from Wakulla Correctional Institution on parole.

She has always considered advocating for him a priority, but never more so than in the last few months, as coronavirus has spread through the facility near Tallahassee, where he’s serving a life sentence for firstdegree murder and armed burglary. Smith was convicted of acting as an accomplice to his brother-in-law, who fatally stabbed Smith and Gates’ mother in Pensacola in 1986.

“Every time I see an email from him, I’m like, ‘Please don’t say you’re sick,‘” Gates said. “I pray for him constantly.”