Correct me if I am wrong, like you wouldn’t anyway, but were we not told repeatedly that the best thing about SB500 was that it would allow the former inmates to work their way back into society under a more supervised regiment than if required to serve out their entire sentence.
Or somthing like that.
Say hello to Mark Oulette. He was released under SB500 on November 1st. On Wednesday, ten days later, he was arrested on two felony counts, according to this mornings Union leader.
Early Wednesday afternoon, police arrested him at the Taco Bell on South Willow Street. He was arrested after a Cilley Road homeowner recognized the laptop computer case Ouellette was carrying. The man had reported the laptop stolen from his home less than an hour earlier, said Manchester police Sgt. Dana Langton.
Ouellette was arrested without incident. A firearm, also stolen from the Cilley Road home, was found in his waistband, Langton said.
Oulette was not home when parole officers went to check on him. What’s the headline for that? "Felon outsmarts parole officers, hides behind Barcalounger."
We actually have no reason to believe that holding him longer would have made a difference. And according to this article some 20 or so other parolees have been released without any reported incident.
Of course Oulette is not a sex offender. Sex offenders come with a whole other set of baggage that affects more than the theft of property. And by all accounts he is not a violent felon. So the bigger question may be whether the assumed cost saving is actually worth the risk to our persons and property? And what of violations of persons?
The new legislature clearly has some thoughts on that as I look forward to hearing what they are.
And Oulette, he got caught. Let’s just hope the next parolee crime is something as mundane as burglary.
