At a Wednesday hearing, legislators called it “egregious” that state parole officials claimed they were supervising felons who later turned out to be dead. But what upset them even more, reports the Tennessean, was the fact that two parole officers were not arrested after being caught falsifying some of those dead felons’ files.
“Why is that?” asked state Rep. Barrett Rich, R-Somerville, vice chairman of the Government Operations Joint Subcommittee on Judiciary and Government.
Gary Tullock, assistant commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Correction who oversees supervision of the state’s felons, struggled to respond.
“I don’t have a good answer for you, is it a crime –” Tullock began, when Rich cut him off.
“Falsifying documents, certainly state documents, would be a crime,” Rich replied. “And, if that hasn’t been referred to the district attorney general for the county that the offense occurred in, then I think certainly it would be imperative for you to do so.”
Legislators at Wednesday’s subcommittee hearing blasted the Tennessee Board of Parole in light of a critical audit accusing the agency of supervising dead felons, not properly supervising live ones and failing to double-check parole officers’ work through supervisory reviews.
The subcommittee gave the Parole Board a year to correct the problems before auditors return to check on their progress. Lawmakers were unmoved when Charles Traughber, Parole Board chairman, said that was not enough time.
“Knowing that you’re not giving them enough time to resolve all of these findings and make a serious dent in it, it would take Superman to do that,” Traughber complained. “And we don’t have Superman.”
State Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, who chairs the subcommittee, offered a blunt reply.
“These findings are of such magnitude that they require an immediate and urgent response,” he said. “So, thank you very much.”
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