Senate Judiciary committee forwards Leitony Tupou to joint session after wide-ranging parole policy questioning

Leitony Tupou, nominated to the State Board of Parole, was forwarded to a joint session for confirmation following a lengthy committee exchange about parole data, declining discretionary parole grants and the availability of reentry programs.

Tupou, who said he has served on the board since his 2022 appointment and previously worked for the Department of Corrections, told the committee “the law basically dictates what we have to have on the website and demographic data was not part of it” when asked why demographic information was removed from the board’s public pages. The committee pressed him on a reported decline in discretionary parole approvals since changes in state law and administrative practice.

Why it matters: Senators said parole is a key lever for controlling corrections costs and for rehabilitation efforts. Committee members asked whether reduced discretionary grants, limited programming inside facilities and statutory eligibility rules for medical or geriatric parole are contributing to higher incarceration costs and lower release rates.

Tupou disputed simple interpretations of audit figures and said the board treats each hearing as an individual decision. He noted that an auditor’s composite statistic did not reflect the variation by offense category and argued the auditor’s methodology could mischaracterize the board’s granting rates. He said, “every hearing is an individual hearing… For example, in 2024, we have 181 hearings. That is 181 individual hearings.”

Tupou also highlighted capacity and program-quality constraints as primary obstacles to granting parole, telling senators, “The availability of programs, the quality of programs, I think those are important. And there are times we have programs, but they don't have enough space for everyone who would like to participate.” He listed substance-abuse treatment, offender treatment and mental-health programs as examples that must be “available for these folks to go to” if the board is to responsibly release people.

On medical and geriatric parole, Tupou recommended a statutory review. He said the law sometimes prevents the board from releasing severely ill elderly prisoners even when members think mercy is warranted: “Just this last month, we saw 1 of the offenders. He's 92 years old… the laws basically tell us he's not qualified.” He urged lawmakers to consider whether the statutes currently permit the board to apply “the law of mercy.”

Committee members said they want additional information comparing the board’s internal data to the auditor’s analysis and asked Tupou to meet with lawmakers to review records and clarify methodology. The judiciary committee recorded no roll-call vote in the hearing; senators ultimately forwarded Tupou’s name to a joint session for confirmation.

Tupou closed by answering follow-up questions about program capacity and said he would make himself available to continue the discussion.