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Senate committee approves bill to restore parole eligibility for some pre‑2015 residential burglary convictions

JUDICIARY COMMITTEE - SENATE · March 13, 2023
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Summary

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to pass SB 366, which would restore parole eligibility for people whose residential-burglary convictions occurred before April 1, 2015, after the Department of Correction changed a longstanding written policy. Supporters cited reliance interests and documentary evidence; prosecutors warned a blanket fix could benefit people who knowingly accepted pleas under the law at the time.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on [date not specified] voted to pass Senate Bill 366, a measure that would restore parole eligibility for people whose residential-burglary convictions occurred before April 1, 2015.

Senator Joshua Bridal, who sponsored the bill, said the legislation aims to correct a change in how the Arkansas Department of Correction applied the violent-offender list. Bridal told the committee he first learned of affected constituents after a constituent’s release was reversed and described written Department of Correction policies and an attorney-general opinion that, he said, created uncertainty for hundreds of people and their families. “All we’re asking for is to reinstate parole eligibility for these people,” Bridal said in his…

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