John MacDonald: Yep. The parole law is definitely an ass

Yes and Yes. They’re my answers to the two questions about our justice system and whether change is needed when it comes to parole.

Because who says it’s right that someone sentenced to two years or less gets out after serving half their sentences?

And who says it’s right that someone serving more than two years can be considered for parole after serving just a third of their sentence? That’s unless their sentence has a non-parole period.

But, generally, you serve a third of your time and you’re up for parole. Who says that’s right? I don’t. But the law does.

The law which allowed the guy responsible for that appalling road crash near Timaru, just over two years ago, to walk free from prison this week.

You’ll remember this. August 2021 it was. Five teenagers died after a car smashed into a power pole. The impact of the crash was so severe that the car was sliced in half.

Four of the teenagers who died were in the car. The other one was in the boot. And the teenager who was driving had only just got his restricted licence which meant he wasn’t even supposed to be carrying passengers.

He'd been drinking, as well. Another thing you can't do when you’re on your restricted licence, which he'd only got three days before the crash.

But he didn’t give a damn about any of that.

Tyreese Fleming is his name. He was 19 at the time. He’s 21 now. And, in June last year, he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for five counts of dangerous driving causing death.

He was originally facing five counts of manslaughter but it was five counts of dangerous driving causing death that he was eventually done for.

And he got two-and-a-half years. 30 months. Or, if you want to think of it this way, he got six months for each of the kids he killed with his stupid behaviour and his total lack of respect for the law.

So, June last year, he’s sent to prison for two-and-a-half years. But, today, he’s on parole. Out of prison after serving 17 months of his 30 month sentence. Which, whether we like it or not, is perfectly within the law.

The law which says that someone serving a prison sentence of more than two years can be considered for parole after serving a third of their sentence. And the law which says someone who is sentenced to two years or less gets out after serving half their sentence.

Last year, when Tyreese Fleming was sentenced for taking the lives of those five kids with his appalling driving and his complete disregard for the restrictions you have when you’re on a restricted licence, I thought that the judge had done the right thing and the wrong thing.

The right thing - because he needed to be punished. The wrong thing - because how was prison ever going to be the best place for him to get his life back on track?

And today, I’m not going to bag the Parole Board because - technically, as the law states - the Parole Board has done the right thing.

But where things are completely wrong, is the law itself.

Because this guy, whether we think prison was the best place for him or not, he should still be there. That’s what some of the families of the teenagers who died in the crash think too. And I’m with them.

If someone gets a two-and-a-half year prison sentence, that’s what it should be. This thing about getting released after doing half your time if your sentence is less than two years, and being eligible for parole after serving a third of any sentence over two years is just nuts.

And I don’t know whether it’s this particular case that‘s made the penny drop for me the way it has today or not, but when I ask if our parole law is nuts and needs changing, my answer has to be yes.

And when I ask myself whether this idiot should still be in prison and should be serving his full sentence, my answer has to be yes.

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