Nancy Moran

TO: Secretary of Public Safety Stuart O. Simms
f410-339-4243

Commissioner William W. Sondervan
f410-764-4373

Chairman of Parole Commission Patricia Cushwa
f410-764-4355

Governor Parris Glendening
f410-974-3275

Chairman of Judiciary Committee Joseph F. Vallario, Jr.
f410-946-5080

Chairman of Appropriations Committee Howard Rawlings
f410-841-3416

Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Nathan
f410-764-5366

Office of Policy Analysis: Public Safety
f410-946-5205

RE: Contributions to the Workgroup envisioned by 2002 Chapter 485 and 2002 Chapter 486: Public Safety - Mandatory Supervision - Diminution Credits and Sentences

I hereby forward a legal brief written by inmate Stephen McFarland - #291-393 - ECI, along with my own preliminary questions and certain preliminary matters. 

PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS

1. How many other inmates are similarly or analogously situated as to concurrent and consecutive sentencing as well as Parole Commission grants or denials of past, present and future credits?

2. Documentation: What is the volume, type, quantity, reproducibility and reliability of the forms and worksheets substantiating diminution credits that went into this inmate's file?

3. Personnel: How many people had input into this file? How many people had to have or have access to the file? At which level: case manager, classification counselor, warden, parole commissioner, commissioner, circuit court judge? Is it possible to quantify man-hours involved?

4. Lower Detention Centers: What documentation did they contribute? How does a sentence at an LDC affect computation of diminution credits (GCD, special project, work, etc.)?

5. "Res Judicata": Where and when does "finality of decision finally kick in? What judicial stages exist as to the grant or challenge of diminution credits? What, in this context, is "exhaustion of remedies"?

6. Population Pressures: To what extent do Parole Commission decisions in these matters contribute to overcrowding and pressure to build additional facilities?

7. Intranet Facilitation: How much would it cost to develop and Intranet site that would automatically calculate and record diminution credits earned or denied?

To follow:

The actual language of Chapters 485 and 486
The "Accardi Doctrine" as noted by the Maryland Court of Appeals
A letter dated May 31 on behalf of the Parole Commission The 20-page legal brief by inmate McFarland setting forth (among other things) factors Chapters 485 and 486 did not envision