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Retired circuit judge, now senator, sees value in prison overcrowding bill
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Retired circuit judge and freshman Sen. Donald Cookman, D-Hampshire, said that when he first became a judge, he ordered parole revocations for all parole violations -- sending offenders back to prison to complete their terms.
"After 20 years of seeing that didn't work, I think this is a better way," he said of provisions in the governor's bill to reduce prison overcrowding (SB371) to instead allow judges to impose brief jail sentences for technical violations of probation or parole.
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Retired circuit judge, now senator, sees value in prison overcrowding bill
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Retired circuit judge and freshman Sen. Donald Cookman, D-Hampshire, said that when he first became a judge, he ordered parole revocations for all parole violations -- sending offenders back to prison to complete their terms.
"After 20 years of seeing that didn't work, I think this is a better way," he said of provisions in the governor's bill to reduce prison overcrowding (SB371) to instead allow judges to impose brief jail sentences for technical violations of probation or parole.
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