Column: Prisoners time off a threat to public?

The Tribune

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we feel the need to again point out that something’s wrong with how Indiana parolees are returned to life outside prison.

That issue surfaced locally this spring when a man convicted of a crime out of Floyd County was paroled and housed in a hotel on Seymour’s east side. Likely, Ralph T. Freeman’s presence here would have gone unnoticed, but he was arrested in May, accused of robbing a bank and assaulting a woman at a second business. He is still awaiting trial.

Now the system of releasing out-of-county parolees and the speed with which they serve their sentences has brought attention to itself again with the parole of Robert E. Lee. Lee was convicted in 1986 of murdering and then mutilating the remains of his victim in Monroe County.

Lee was paroled Sept. 22 and placed into a Bloomington residence. Public pressure caused Indiana Department of Correction to quickly move Lee to Jennings County. That caused another stir, and Lee was moved yet again. He’s now living in Indianapolis.

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