The number of people approved for discretionary parole by the Alaska State Board of Parole has dropped significantly in recent years, and advocates are asking the board for explanations.
Last year, the board denied 59% of applicants for discretionary parole. In 2023, it denied 58% of applicants. In 2022, it denied 70%. An analysis by the Prison Policy Initiative, a non-profit research group, found that from 2019 to 2022, Alaska reduced the number of people released through discretionary parole by 79% — the largest percent change nationwide.
In years prior, the grant rate was much higher: Only 25% of applicants were denied parole in 2015, and 30% in 2016.
Under the law, the board must consider four factors when deciding whether an Alaska inmate is eligible for parole. These include assessing whether the person poses a threat to public safety and ensuring that releasing them would not undermine the seriousness of the crime.
The five-member Parole Board is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature to serve five-year terms. They make decisions about parole and set conditions for release. Under law, they must consider four criteria when determining if Alaska inmates are eligible for parole, including evaluating whether the individual will pose a threat to public safety. For discretionary parole, applicants must have completed part of their sentence, be in good standing and have a plan for employment, housing and continued treatment, if needed, when they are released.
How the board weighs these factors has been a focal point for advocates in recent years. Advocates want to help inmates better prepare for parole and reduce recidivism, or prevent people from re-offending and returning to prison.
Advocates raised the issue again at the Parole Board’s annual public meeting on Wednesday.
“Discretionary parole numbers, they’re going down… why do you think that is?” asked Christina Shadura, a coordinator for the Anchorage Reentry Coalition, part of a statewide network to support people exiting prison and connect with housing, community services and jobs.
“Are people coming to you without a plan? Are folks coming to you not ready, not getting it, not taking it seriously? I guess I’m looking for a little advice here on the community side about how we can help further prepare folks,” she said. “If there’s one thing you could lock down for us to help support, what do you think it would be?”
Jason Wilson, a board member representing Southeast Alaska and the state coordinator for Village Public Safety Organizations with the Department of Public Safety, responded that many people don’t seem prepared.
“I mean, there’s a lot of people that come before us that don’t even know what discretionary parole is, but yet they’re applying for discretionary parole,” Wilson said.
“Having the proper programming, having the proper release plan, that’s going to help them to succeed,” he said. He suggested parole applicants consider community programs, like for addiction treatment, counselors and sponsors.
Other board members did not respond to questions. Through board staff after the meeting, the board declined to say why parole rates are so low, or to name factors that would increase successful applications.
In the meeting, Board Chair Leitoni Tupou said the board does not make public comments.
“I think this board, as far as in my experience, we are just focusing on the week or two weeks out of the month on (parole) hearings,” Tupou said.
Tupou said he only provides public comment when called to testify by the Legislature. For example, he said eligibility for medical parole, or the release of an individual with severe illness, is very strict. “We are obligated to follow that law,” he said. “If we feel there has to be a change that has to come through the law. From our perspective…our hands are tied,” he said.
Mike Garvey, policy director of the ACLU of Alaska, called the absence of responses from the board at the public meeting an illustration of the continued lack of transparency from the parole board. “Which we’ve long known is a problem,” he said.
In a 2024 review by the Alaska Division of Legislative Audit, state auditors also found “the board was unable to provide specific reasons why its parole approval rate decreased.”
In an interview following the meeting, Garvey said the ACLU is continuing to call for more transparency.
“It’s not about getting more people out (of prison), we want people to be successful when they are released,” he said. “We don’t want arbitrary denials, and so having more transparency from the board would help not just explain the denials. It can help explain the releases too.”
The ACLU has also pointed to the cost to the state of keeping people incarcerated, which is estimated to be $202 per person per day in Alaska, compared to an estimated $13 per day on parole.
According to the Alaska Department of Corrections, the daily average prison population was estimated at 4,322 in 2024. There were 3,213 people under probation or parole supervision last year.
Alaska’s prison population is also aging significantly. The number of people 55 and over has increased by 50% over the last decade, according to data from DOC. Many may be eligible for geriatric or medical parole.
Shadura, as a re-entry coordinator, conducts what she calls “in-reach” to jails and prisons to help inmates apply for parole or prepare to be released. She estimated 80% of people she works with have questions about parole, and they have a hard time getting them answered.
“How do I fill out my parole packet? My probation officer hasn’t returned my communication for whatever reason,” she said, in an interview following the meeting. “I was denied, what do I do next? You know, that’s a big thing I come across for pretty much every institution I do in-reach at.”
She said the parole application process is not within inmates’ own responsibility or control, but largely an internal process by DOC. Inmates also face challenges in preparing for parole because they may lack space or program opportunities for things like addiction treatment, counseling, life skills or other education programs that show an effort towards rehabilitation. She said the programs that are available vary widely by each of Alaska’s 13 prison facilities across the state.
Successful re-entry into society is also a challenge. Alaska’s rate of recidivism is defined as when someone is paroled and then violates the terms of parole or commits a crime again. Almost half returned to prison over the last three years, or 47% of discretionary parolees and 67% of mandatory parolees.
Shadura said she understands privacy and safety concerns, and the gravity of decisions put before board members. But she hopes more insights from the board might better prepare inmates to apply for parole, and to be more successful once paroled.
“It also seems like we’re doing a disservice to everybody, including the parole process, when we’re not allowing folks to at least have a basic understanding about how to go about qualifying for it, what steps you need to achieve to get there,” she said. “It makes people feel hopeless.”