Prisoners Fight for Supervised Reintegration into Society

The six prisoners who appeared in court argue that they do not continue to pose a threat to public safety and can be reintegrated into society with adequate supervision. Their defence attorney, Leslie Mendez, told reporters that the purpose of the trial is to review the decision of the parole board to deny the prisoners, with the goal of coming to a new decision, having made the adequate risk assessments.

 

Leslie Mendez, Attorney at Law

“The submissions were concluded today, but what the court did is that the court heard us, she has all our written submissions as well, all our authorities, but the court asked that we come back  in November because the court wants to have time to review the written submissions, and then basically continue the discussion, have further submissions before the court. We’re not here for the court to grant parole or not. We’re here to review the decision of the parole board. So all of that evidence of good behavior or bad behavior would have been presented to the parole board. At this point what we’re telling the court is that based on what was before the parole board, there was no reason to deny them parole because none of them have established a real risk that they continue to present a threat to public safety. And so what should obtain now is their re-integration into society but supervised.”