A needless lawsuit for parole information

Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper's lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Corrections, charging that the state is withholding information about parolees, is a waste of time and money. Corrections is already willing to provide information to all Michigan prosecutors on upcoming paroles and hearings.

Better communication on both sides could have resolved this issue before it turned into a lawsuit. Seeking to object to the release of certain offenders, Cooper wants a list of all parole hearings scheduled for the rest of the year, including inmates' names and MDOC numbers. Such a list doesn't exist, however, and the request for it was routinely denied by a department bureaucrat. The vast majority of parole hearings are scheduled only 30 days in advance, though a few, such as mandated hearings for parolable lifers, are scheduled further out.

To be sure, the Department of Corrections should make whatever information it has on parole hearings readily available to public officials as well as ordinary citizens. MDOC spokesman Russ Marlan said Tuesday that Corrections would provide prosecutors in all 83 counties with a continually updated list of parole hearings scheduled over the next 30 days, even though compiling and distributing such a list will take considerable time and money.

That should satisfy Cooper, who accuses Corrections of breaking the law by denying two requests she made under the Freedom of Information Act.

Prosecutors are already notified automatically whenever a prisoner sentenced from their county is granted a parole, and then given 28 days to object in circuit court if they believe the Parole Board abused its discretion. A 30-day notice before the hearing would also give them plenty of opportunity to object before a decision is made.

That said, prosecutors should remember that each member of the criminal justice system plays a role. A prosecutor's job is to prosecute and make sure an offender's sentence protects the public. Once a prisoner has served that sentence, however, it is the Parole Board's job -- not a prosecutor's -- to determine whether he or she can be safely released.

Cooper has every right to raise concerns about Parole Board actions or policies. Such responsibilities, however, don't include lawsuits aimed more at public relations than public safety.