A place for mercy
Gov. Jeb Bush has commuted the prison sentences of only 14 people in 7½ years. A case from Citrus County cries out for clemency.
By Times editorial
Published May 22, 2006
Gov. Jeb Bush has shown little compassion for prisoners in his time in office. His harsh "10-20-Life" and "Three-Strikes" approach to criminal justice is also reflected in the small number of inmates who have received executive clemency from the governor and Cabinet.
During his 7½ years in office, Bush and the rest of Florida's Board of Executive Clemency, which includes the state's three Cabinet members, have commuted the prison sentences of 14 people. Compare that to the 65 prisoners who had their sentences reduced during Gov. Lawton Chiles' two terms, and the 10 who received clemency during the three weeks that Buddy MacKay was governor following Chiles' sudden death in December 1998.
Executive clemency is a completely discretionary act on the part of the governor and Cabinet. Under Florida's procedure, the governor himself may deny clemency for any reason. But for clemency to be granted, the governor must be joined by at least two of the three other members of the clemency board.
For an overwhelming majority of the state's convicts, there is no basis for clemency. They were duly convicted of crimes for which they were appropriately sentenced. But there are always people whose individual circumstances cry out for special consideration. Executive clemency is for those times when reasonable people would agree that compassion is in the interest of justice.
There have been 1,410 applications for a commuted sentence since Bush became governor. Only 14 were granted. One of the more recent denials came in the case of Adam Bollenback - a case that cries out for clemency if ever there was one.
Bollenback is into his fifth year of a 10-year sentence for stealing a six-pack of beer out of a Citrus County neighbor's refrigerator in an open garage and slipping away from the deputies who arrested him. His neighbor has said that had she known what kind of sentence he was facing, she never would have reported the theft.
Bollenback was 17 at the time of the crime and had some minor offenses in his background, such as swiping a bag of potato chips from the lunch line at school. Yet he was charged as an adult and has been incarcerated at the adult prison at Starke since 2002.
This shockingly long sentence for such a petty crime was imposed by the Circuit Judge Ric Howard. His name might sound familiar; he is the same judge who sentenced William Thornton to 30 years in prison for skidding through a stop sign and colliding with an oncoming car. Two people were killed. No alcohol or drugs were found in Thornton's system. He was 17 years old when the crash occurred and had never had a serious brush with the law.
Howard seems to have a problem with proportionate sentencing for young men. When Howard sentenced Bollenback to 10 years in adult prison after the state Department of Corrections had recommended two years of house arrest, the judge told the teenager, "This sentence is going to break your spirit." Bollenback has since been stabbed in the neck with an ice pick by a fellow inmate, so it is likely that Howard will get his wish.
In January, Bollenback's relatives brought 300 letters from Citrus residents calling for his release to the clemency board. His request for a shortened sentence was denied. No reasons were given.
If this governor and Cabinet believed in compassion, Bollenback's case would have come out differently. People familiar with the clemency process under Bush say that the general attitude is one of hostility toward the idea of mercy or righting a wrong. It appears nothing will change until a new administration takes office.