Lawmakers aim to put
teeth in prison sentence

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

State Rep. John Perzel last week pointed to a poster featuring the names, pictures and rap sheets of 576 Philadelphians who have been paroled from prison.
The ex-cons are absconders. The Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole cannot locate them.
"These people shouldn’t be on the street," Perzel said.
Perzel (R-172nd dist.) held a news conference on May 22 at his Mayfair district office. He was joined by fellow Reps. George Kenney (R-170th dist.) and John Taylor (R-177th dist.).
Taylor said the city’s absconders are a threat to public safety.
"That’s five-hundred and seventy-six people likely to commit further violent crime," said Taylor, adding that the figure statewide is about 1,400.
The three lawmakers announced that they will offer a series of legislative initiatives designed to make it more difficult for violent offenders to get out of prison before serving their full sentence.
They acted after learning that the three suspects involved in the shooting death of police officer Stephen Liczbinski were repeat violent offenders.
Perzel called it the "last straw." Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey has said the men should not have been free.
"Enough is enough," said Kenney, who visited Liczbinski’s widow Michelle at her home on Claridge Street in Burholme.
The Republican legislators want judges to impose longer sentences for violent offenses, along with the following legislative measures:
• Eliminating parole for any offender convicted of rape, robbery, murder, aggravated assault or any crime with a gun.
• Eliminating early release programs for offenders convicted of a violent crime involving a gun.
• Requiring that all mandatory five-year sentences for gun offenses be served consecutively and not concurrently with sentences for other crimes.
In addition, the lawmakers want the state to require that all inmates receive an affirmative vote by a majority of the nine members of the parole board to win release. Currently, an inmate needs yes votes from only two board members.
Taylor, whose district includes the Port Richmond neighborhood where Liczbinski was killed, believes the state needs to increase the number of parole field agents. Right now, they have to review 1,700 cases a month.
Taylor, describing the parole system as one that is "broken and needs to be fixed," noted that 80 percent of murders in Philadelphia are committed by convicted felons who are out of prison.
"That’s an indictment of the entire system," he said.
Perzel believes state government’s top priority should be public safety. He wants help from judges, whom he faults for skirting Pennsylvania’s mandatory five-year gun sentence by making it concurrent with sentences for lesser crimes.
"No longer will that be allowed," he said. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com