This symbol is inside of the Alaska Department of Corrections office on Sept. 7, 2022, in Douglas, Alaska. (Photo by Lisa Phu/Alaska Beacon)
The Alaska State Legislature is considering the reappointment of a governor’s nominee for the Alaska Board of Parole for another five year term. The decision comes amid questions about the board’s significant decline in grant rates to among the lowest in the nation.
At a Tuesday confirmation hearing, members of the House State Affairs Committee put questions to Steve Meyer, who has served on the board since 2016, before advancing his reappointment confirmation to the full Legislature.
The five-member parole board is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature, and its members review eligibility for parole and set conditions for release from Alaska prisons.
Meyer worked in the Alaska Department of Corrections beginning in 1991, including as a correctional officer, transportation officer and probation and parole officer until his retirement in 2014, according to his application to the board. In 2016, he was appointed to the parole board seat representing Southcentral Alaska including Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula. Since serving on the board, he has participated in thousands of discretionary parole and final parole revocation hearings, he said in an updated resume.
The parole board has been the focus of concern from some lawmakers, advocates and members of the public in recent years as its parole approval rates have declined significantly.
Last year, the board denied 45% of applicants. In 2024, it denied 59% of applicants, and 58% the year before. In an analysis by the Prison Policy Initiative, a non-profit research group, found that from 2019 to 2022, Alaska reduced the number of people released through discretionary parole by 79% — the largest percent change nationwide.
Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau, asked Meyer why the board is granting fewer people parole. “I’m just trying to get a feel for what is typical,” she said. “And the reasons for why the granting of parole has gone down.”
“There’s certainly some validity in that, that perception,” Meyers said by phone. Higher numbers of people were granted parole before the repeal of Senate Bill 91 enacted in 2020, he said, when lawmakers increased prison sentences for most felonies and misdemeanors, and increased penalties for violating conditions of release.
“So there were less grants,” Meyer said. “But then there was quite a period of time during COVID, when a lot of the folks we were seeing hadn’t been able to do the programming that we usually look at for discretionary parole. And so that was part of the numbers of grants declining.”
Meyer said more recently, he sees grant rates increasing. “I think with discretionary (parole), there’s a bit of an ebb and flow to it. It’s largely dependent on a candidate, and what we see when we interview them for discretionary parole. So it’s very individualized,” he said.
Last year, of those granted parole, 11% were under discretionary parole, and 87% were under mandatory parole, meaning they had served their sentence.
Meyer explained the board receives a packet of information on each candidate with information like their criminal history, institutional history while incarcerated, and programs they’ve attended while incarcerated. Then they interview the candidate at their parole hearing.
“The packets, there’s a lot of information, but it’s kind of like a map,” he said. “You look at it, but you don’t really know what the terrain is until you actually physically get to see it. And it’s kind of that way with when we interview people, we get a chance to get to get a feel for the person, get to know them a little bit, and which makes it a pretty important part of the process.”
He said that after the parole hearing, board deliberations are done in private and decisions are made by a majority vote.
Story asked if state correctional facilities had restored rehabilitative programming since the COVID-19 pandemic, to help people become more eligible for parole.
Meyer said they have been somewhat restored, but the Alaska Department of Corrections does not have the resources to offer programs to everyone that needs them. “So not everybody’s able to access the things that that would be nice for them to access,” he said.
He said the programs in high demand are substance abuse treatment and sex offender treatment. “Which has always been a little bit lacking. It’s a very lengthy, lengthy, complex process, the sex offender treatment,” he said. “But that too, we’ve seen an increase in that.”
Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, I-Sitka, asked Meyer about low rates of parole for those who are old or terminally ill, who may pose very little risk to the public and be eligible for geriatric or medical parole.
The Board of Parole has not granted anyone geriatric or medical parole in the last five years, according to state data.
Meyer acknowledged the concerns at the rising costs of care for the aging prison population as “a huge issue.”
He said the board follows criteria in state statute. “It’s not my position to say what should be done,” he said. “We tend to not make too many demands of the system, if you will. But I think there’s certainly room for maybe some modification to those requirements that would allow more relief to those folks, because it certainly is an issue.”
Some legislators and advocates have expressed concern that DOC is keeping people incarcerated who may be eligible for parole — also who may have expensive medical needs — contributing to an all-time high corrections budget proposed this year at $523 million.
Himschoot asked Meyer what motivates him to serve on the board of parole.
Meyer said he spent most of his life working in corrections, and felt success as a parole and probation officer. “There’s a lot of reward to it. And you know, the best days are when you are able to grant everybody parole, or whenever you’re able to release everybody. And those are what makes doing the job worth it, I guess,” he said.
“And down the road, you know, having done this for a while now, seeing people that we put out to discretionary parole or other other things, being able to see them in community, being a part of the community, there’s a reward,” he said. “It’s just something that I’ve always felt like I had a good purpose.”
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