PORTSMOUTH, Va - The chairman of the Virginia state parole board met with families in Portsmouth today who have relatives incarcerated.
Chadwick Dotson says the reason for him meeting with families today is to bring transparency to families when it comes to inmates seeking parole. This comes after the former parole let several inmates out of prison without notifying the victims.
"People don’t trust the parole board. I believe that’s because its largely operated in the shadows for too long. No one knew what the board was doing because it was in secrecy. They were voting in secret. Sometimes they were making votes without even trying to reach out to victims. Senate bill five passed that requires our votes to be published after we vote. We need to get to the point where with offenders if they are denied then we tell them why they are denied," Dotson said.
Dotson says the parole board now meets every other week. Portsmouth was Dotson’s first stop as he plans to travel to other cities across the state to meet with families to bring transparency to the parole process.
