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Panel grants Caitlyn Snyder parole conditionally, requires in-prison treatment and post-release counseling
Summary
After family members and facility staff described limited counseling in custody and heavy grief needs, the parole panel granted Caitlyn Snyder early parole provided she receives in-custody intensive substance-abuse treatment and completes post-release grief and trauma counseling and AA attendance.
The Committee on Parole voted June 25 to grant Caitlyn Snyder (DOC #796075) parole on conditions that emphasize treatment and family-supported recovery.
Snyder, who told the panel she had attended AA and intensive group therapy before incarceration and described ongoing grief and mental-health needs, said she was ready to return to her family and continue treatment. Her grandmother, Peggy Gotreau, asked the board to allow Snyder to come home so the family could support her recovery: "I respectfully ask that y'all consider granting her early parole so that we, as her family, can be there to support her and help her to begin the healing process." The request was echoed by Snyder's father, who said the family had formed a nonprofit and would help Snyder access counseling and vocational programs.
Panel members acknowledged the absence of available counseling at Snyder's facility. Chair Sheryl Ranatza and other panelists emphasized that releasing Snyder without treatment would leave her at risk: they conditioned any grant on placement in a DOC site that could provide intensive substance-abuse programming. The board specified in-custody treatment prior to release, enrollment in grief and trauma counseling in the community after release, and a requirement to attend three AA meetings per week for at least the first nine months of supervision.
A panel member summarized the decision rationale: the board can choose to deny early release and allow Snyder to leave on her mandatory release date without treatment; in this case the panel judged treatment and family support essential and voted to grant conditionally.
The board instructed DOC to relocate Snyder to a facility offering the recommended programming and to document the transfer and enrollment before granting final release paperwork. The panel recorded its conditional grant on the docket and will expect DOC to report placement and program enrollment.
