FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Columbus)—The Franklin County Court of Common Pleas yesterday issued a final order in the class action civil rights lawsuit known as Ankrom, et al. vs. The Ohio State Adult Parole Authority.

In Ankrom, filed and pursued by Assistant Public Defender Charles Clovis on behalf of the Office of the Ohio Public Defender, the plaintiffs are thousands of inmates who are serving indeterminate sentences under "old" (pre-SB 2) criminal sentencing laws. SB 2, which became effective July 1, 1996, eliminated indeterminate sentences for all but the most serious offenses, but was not applied retroactively. This created two classes of inmates—those sentenced under the old laws and those sentenced under SB 2—who serve different amounts of time for the same offenses. "New" inmates serve definite sentences, while "old" inmates’ release dates are determined by the Ohio Adult Parole Authority (OAPA).

Clovis argued on behalf of the Ankrom plaintiffs that guidelines used by the OAPA to classify an inmate for parole eligibility effectively deny the inmates "meaningful consideration" for parole for unreasonable lengths of time.

In his order, Judge David E. Cain writes that inmates serving under the old laws are "being denied the essence of true parole eligibility, i.e. meaningful consideration for parole," and that as a result, some old law inmates "are serving two or three times the length of time they would be serving for the same offenses either under the new laws or the old parole policies."

Judge Cain writes further that, "the OAPA has intentionally disregarded new statutory sanctions for the same offenses as well as the sentences rendered by judges. S.B. 2’s new definite sentences coincide very closely with the old minimum ranges of indefinite sentences. But the OAPA’s ‘guidelines’ usually trump all of the above.

"Use of the guidelines to deny meaningful consideration at earliest eligibility not only violates…the doctrine of separation of powers, it denies rights of contract to inmates who entered negotiated plea agreements."

The court ordered the OAPA "to immediately re-hear and grant meaningful consideration for parole to any class member who has had his or her plea agreement contracts breached in the manner described above. And new hearings must be granted to any class members who have not had a hearing since September 5, 2003…"

Assistant Public Defender Clovis was extremely pleased with the court’s decision. "The court's message is clear: all inmates are entitled to a fair parole hearing.  With this decision, they will finally get one."

Click here for a copy of the court ruling

Click here for the Ankrom case update page.

Email: amy.borror@opd.state.oh.us