Daily News
October 2, 2004
Panel that Freed Velella Run with Few Guidelines
By Russ Buettner
The panel that cut months off the sentence of ex-state Sen. Guy Velella has
occasionally been hoodwinked, inconsistent and subject to political whim.
At least some of that is because the Conditional Release Commission operates
without written guidelines on whom it can pluck from Rikers Island.
That leaves its board of mayoral appointees in the position of second-guessing judges just weeks after they hand out sentences.
"That's the system the way it was designed," said Raul Russi, who has headed
the commission since 1997. The panel's judgment was called into question
last week after the Daily News revealed that the board had set Velella free
three months into a one-year sentence. The longtime Bronx Republican powerbroker
pleaded guilty in May to taking bribes.
One con who duped the commission was former Jets superstar Mark Gastineau.
Famous for his "sack dance," Gastineau had by the late 1990s been in and out of jail and probation for beating his girlfriend.
In 2000, he was sprung early from Rikers after promising to enroll in an anger management program.
"I thought it was an important thing -- instead of doing nothing at Rikers
Island, he goes into a program for a year," Russi said.
The panel usually has rebuffed convicts with a history of parole or probation
violations. One condition of accepting early release is a year on probation.
But the panel later found out the commissioners approved Gastineau's plan
because he said he had never participated in the program -- a claim the commission
learned was false.
"He lied to us, and he went back" to Rikers, Russi said.
Though Russi said political pressure played no role in releasing Velella, political shifts have guided its philosophies.
Then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani made the commission play a role in his war on squeegee
men and other quality-of-life criminals by denying early release to low-level
repeat violators.
Today, very few inmates meet the committee's ad hoc criteria.
The commission reviews every city inmate who has served two months of a three-to-12-month
sentence -- about 7,000 last year. Filtering out repeat and violent offenders
and those with prior probation trouble leaves a few dozen, Russi said.
But many inmates reject the deal because they'd rather sit in Rikers for a few months than endure a year of probation.
This year, 17 inmates have rejected early release offers, and five -- including Velella and two co-conspirators -- accepted.
Of the 15 who have accepted since 2000, five were convicted on drug-related
charges, three were involved in forgery and two were convicted of grand larceny.
Most inmates -- and jails observers -- are barely aware the commission exists.
"I've been around a long time, and I don't remember ever hearing much about
it," said Robert Gangi, director of the state Correctional Association.
State Senate Republicans passed a bill in February that would have done killed
the commission -- a bill Velella supported. It stalled in the Assembly.
But it could soon be moot. The law that established the board included an automatic repeal on Sept. 1, 2005.
© 2004, Daily News, L.P.