Saturday, December 04, 1999
Most area jails don't allow mass furloughs
Murder-suicide puts focus on Warren policy
BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN and MICHAEL D. CLARK
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Chapman
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LEBANON — Warren County's practice of mass holiday furloughs for inmates is a tradition that's been abandoned in the rest of the Tristate.
And after a murder-suicide by a furloughed prisoner earlier this week, Warren's policy is mired in controversy.
Jailers in other Tristate counties don't usually permit holiday furloughs.
“You have to be very scrutinizing,” said Capt. Robert Pettit of the Campbell County Detention Center. “We don't do furloughs any time unless a judge specifically orders it.”
Hamilton, Butler, Clermont and Clinton counties in Ohio, and Dearborn County in Indiana have policies that can allow furloughs for some prisoners. Jail officials in those counties all said furloughs are granted only on an individual basis under a direct order from the judge holding jurisdiction over that prisoner's case.
“We've never done holiday furloughs,” said Boone County, Ky., Jailer John Schickel. “We don't even let court-ordered work-release prisoners out on holidays.”
The usual reasons for the rare furloughs given, he said, are for prisoners to attend a family member's funeral or to visit a very sick relative.
When William Hugh Chapman — believed to have killed his ex-girlfriend and himself Wednesday — was considered for a Thanksgiving furlough, he was one of 49 inmates reviewed by Judge Dallas Powers, of Warren County Court.
In county court, the judge uses computer printouts of the defendants' immediate case history to determine if the inmate is eligible.
Inmates charged with violent crimes and felons automatically are eliminated from the list, said Dick Kilburn, county court chief probation officer.
“It's routine on holidays,” said Sheriff Tom Ariss. “At Christmas time, you know the jail is going to be empty.”
But Mr. Chapman, 43, should not have been eligible for a holiday furlough from the Warren County Justice Center, according to the county's own policies.
Court officials said Judge Powers ordered Mr. Chapman released, along with six other inmates, on Nov. 24. A total of 14 inmates were released by the court system in Warren County for Thanksgiving.
Judge Powers was not aware that Mr. Chapman was also being held on a parole violation since Oct. 20, Mr. Kilburn said.
That would have disqualified Mr. Chapman from the one-day furlough.
Even though jail officials knew Mr. Chapman had a “holder” from the parole authority and should stay in jail, they failed to question the furlough, Sheriff Ariss has said.
After Mr. Chapman violated his furlough, family members of his ex-girlfriend, Suzie Thompson, said she had to argue with jail clerks who contended Mr. Chapman was still jailed. They checked and confirmed her accusations and apologized to Ms. Thompson, according to her family.
Mr. Chapman, who had a history of violent crime and a previous parole violation, had been jailed for threatening Ms. Thompson. While on furlough, he continued to threaten her and later shot her dead in her South Lebanon home. Moments later, he turned the gun on himself.
Sheriff Ariss said during a press conference Friday that the practice of holiday furloughs for some prisoners in Warren County goes back decades. He offered a qualified defense of them, saying they have worked for years without incident and provide a way for prisoners held for relatively minor crimes to reunite, temporarily, with their families.
Jane Prendergast contributed to this story.
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