For many people, a parole board is something of a mystery. 

Few average citizens know the overall function of the board. A group of people decide whether inmates in any given state's prison system deserve to be set free or remain in prison. Just the notion a parole board simply asks a few questions in order to reach a decision on a particular case would suggest the scales of justice are easily tipped in one direction or another. 

Many factors must be taken into consideration in determining whether a person should stay in prison or be let out. In Mississippi the burden of these decisions falls on the shoulders of two men and three women who make up the Mississippi Parole Board. They are appointed by the governor and paid about $70,000 a year. One of those parole board members, Betty Lou Jones of Meridian, found out quickly it would be a tough job, opening herself up for scrutiny. Her experiences with the parole board have taught her many things about human nature, the judicial system, and about herself. 

Although the vast majority of cases the board hears pertain to first time, non-violent offenders wishing to be given a second chance, Jones and her fellow board members have faced periodic outcries of discontent recently due in part to the parole decisions concerning two convicted murderers. 

They are cases Jones said she can't discuss specifically. Jones has said little about the cases, but sat down with The Meridian Star recently to discuss the decisions and her role on the State Parole Board.



The outcry



J. Ronald Parrish is slight in stature but he more than makes up for that prior to and during a court trial with tenacity and court room experience. An assistant district attorney in Jones County, Parrish was very vocal in the parole board's decision to free William Giles Jr. who in October of 1990 was convicted of the sexual assault and murder of his wife, Donna D. Giles. 

Giles was found guilty and sentenced to death by a Jones County jury but the death sentence was overturned by the Mississippi Supreme Court who ruled Giles, being the spouse of the victim, could not be charged with the sexual assault. Giles was granted a new trial and in 1995 pleaded guilty to capital murder. Jones County Circuit Court Judge Billy Joe Landrum sentenced Giles to life in prison. 

The law has since been changed in regards to spouses committing sexual crimes against the other but Giles' recent parole enraged Parrish nonetheless. 

"This guy is a danger to society," Parrish stated in a recent Laurel Leader-Call article. "Would you want him living next to you? Someone on the parole board should have him live in a spare bedroom in their home. I doubt then they'd be letting these people who kill women out so much. I'm mad and outraged at this decision."

The second capital murder case involved Douglas Hodgkin, a Kentucky native who while going to college at Ole Miss was convicted in the brutal 1987 death of 24-year old Jean Elizabeth Gillies who was also pregnant. 

Bill Gillies of Davenport, Iowa, a brother of the victim, said that he was disappointed that Hodgkin was being released. He also said he didn’t understand how Gillies could come up for parole eight times in the last 11 years.

"This man belongs to a class of criminals that has the highest recidivism rate of all criminals — sexual criminals. The probability that he will re-offend exceeds 50 percent,’" Gillies said. ‘"Everybody should be upset about him being paroled."

Suszanne Singletary with the Mississippi Department of Corrections, confirmed Hodgkin was paroled April 13 back to Kentucky. Tara Booth, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi Department of Corrections and who established MDOC's division of victim services, had attended some of Hodgkin's previous parole hearings with the Gillies family.

"This particular case has gotten to all of the people in the state,’" Booth was quoted as saying in a recent Meridian Star article.

Hodgkin, as just one part of his parole agreement, is forbidden to return to the state of Mississippi. 

As to these and other instances where cases raise the ire of victim's families, Jones said she can't comment specifically but instead reiterated every piece of information available during the parole hearing is studied and considered carefully.

"I'm not going to comment on what Mr. Parrish or what the Gillies family members said," Jones said. "The interviews and the entire process is confidential. I will say these people on the outside looking in don't have the scope of information we are privy to. We have everything from the initial arrest report to the last time the inmate ate dinner prior to the hearing. We talk to the families, the victim's advocates, the law enforcement officers, attorneys, the inmate and their family, friends and clergy ... it just goes on and on."

Despite the outcries in some cases, Jones said she is confident in the decisions the board members hand down. 



How she got there



In the early spring of 2008 Jones was approached by Gov. Haley Barbour about serving on the parole board. There was a vacancy and Barbour knew of Jones' extensive social work background as well as her many charitable contributions in Meridian. The request from the governor caught Jones by surprise.

"At first I said no," Jones said while sitting at a large dining table inside Merrehope, the restored historic home in Meridian she can be found in as a member of the Meridian Restoration Foundation. "I, like a lot of people, basically knew what the parole board did but it wasn't something I'd ever thought about doing myself."

Jones initially turned down the governor but she said Barbour wouldn't stop. He came back at her again, asking her to reconsider. It was a tough decision Jones had to make because she had so many "irons in the fire" with her charitable work, a radio talk show and many other endeavors. But it was the years of experience in social work that attracted Barbour to Jones in the first place. 

Throughout her career in social work, Jones had honed her skills in such places as the Mississippi Department of Human Services, developed social work programs for Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center in Meridian, and served patients at East Mississippi Kidney Care and Riley Hospital. She had to weigh all the responsibilities she now carried against one — the parole board. 

"I would have to stop many of the things I was doing because this would be the primary job," Jones said. "I wasn't sure I was up to it. But in the end I felt I was being called to do this kind of work. I mean, this was the ultimate in social work, dealing with these people who are in prison. Some of them want a second chance. I was going to have to make some hard decisions. Some of the hardest in my life."

So the mother and wife of 42 years dropped what she was doing and made the change. Barbour appointed her to the board in March of 2008 and she began her duties the following month. She joined a board consisting of a retired parole officer and military serviceman, a retired administrative assistant for Congressman Trent Lott, a former state representative and Shannon Warnock, the board chairperson, who is an attorney and young mother. 



The job



There are so many broken and misguided lives, Jones said.

The Mississippi prison system, much like any other across the nation, is busting at the seams with people who've chosen the wrong path to travel. It is these lives and the impact she has on them that has convinced Jones she made the right decision in taking this job.

"This is the ultimate in social work," Jones said. "Here I can make a difference in their lives while at the same time serving the people of Mississippi and the friends and families of the victims. I and the other members of the board have the public welfare foremost in our minds. At the same time we have to consider what an inmate has done to prove they are worthy to go back out into the world. How are they going to work? How are they going to cope? How will they be an addition to their place in society rather than detract from it?

The parole board members have to take into consideration public safety when trying to determine if an inmate is eligible for parole. There is a wide assortment of other factors to consider as well. But the reality of the job and the kinds of people for which she held their futures in her hands caught Jones off guard to a certain degree. She was astonished at the young ages of the majority of inmates.

"These young inmates are a product of this vicious cycle where they come from broken homes, no father figure, no discipline, no one to tell them what they are doing is wrong. You can see, sitting right in front of you, the breakdown of the family unit and what the result is. It is heartbreaking a lot of times," Jones said. 

Jones also sees how dropping out of school leads to prison. Again, the vast majority of inmates she and the other board members deal with don't have a high school degree. Throw in the frequency of drug and/or alcohol abuse and one can see how easy it is for these young people to stray away from the norm.

"Our prison system is a mess because of the breakdowns in our society, our schools and the lack of religion," Jones said. "There are some success stories, but not nearly enough."

The board members must make decisions covering from 600 to 900 inmates per year. Jones said at times she becomes emotionally drained considering the shear volume of cases she and other board members have to go through. There is so much information, so many sides of the story to consider relating to just one inmate. There is the safety of the general public to consider in addition to the wishes of the victim's families if the case warrants it. 

In the case of the inmates themselves they must show they are willing and able to become part of a community again. The board members meticulously examine an inmate's behavior while being incarcerated, whether they have learned a skill or been able to finish their high school education. Multiple interviews are conducted with people associated with the inmate. These are hard decisions in many cases, but ones Jones said she's at peace with once the final verdict has been issued.

"I'm not all-seeing," she said. "But I make my decisions, as we all do on the board, based on every piece of available information at the time."

But at no time is the state of the prison system a factor in any decision.

"We do not consider what the prison census is," she said emphatically.

But counseling, which Jones is very adept at, is part of the parole interview process. It is important for her to know how the inmate will change their ways in order to fit back in their communities. Do they have a job waiting on them if they are released? Will they have the support of their families and clergy?

"A great many of these young people are committed to proving to you they deserve to be paroled," Jones said. "They don't want to be there."