Garrido's misclassification as low risk sex offender just the beginning of shocking parole failure

November 4, 3:17 PMLodi Spiritual Living ExaminerTerri Fraracci

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Today's news conference - CA Inspector General's report on Garrido parole supervision

Terri Fraracci

The California Inspector General's report on the parole supervision of Phillip Garrido indicates total failure on the part of parole agents; beginning with Garrido being misclassified as low risk. The report shared in the news conference today (November 4th) revealed repeated mistakes and lack of proper supervision.

According to the report, Garrido went outside of the restricted areas and times he was instructed to adhere to numerous times. He was wearing an ankle monitor and it did register his breaches, but agents only responded a handful of times.

Agents were also on Garrido's premises more than once; actually seeing a twelve-year-old girl one time but failing to act upon that information. These are only a couple of examples of the many errors the corrections system is directly responsible for. For more information you can read the report on news10.net  .

Matthew Cate, Secretary of Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, took responsibility for errors but intimated that understaffing and lack of training were the problem; pointing out that the passage of the governor's SB18X bill for parole reform will dramatically lower caseloads. And a new model for training and supervision will now be instituted.

Although Mr. Cate's announcement of future improvements is welcome news, Jaycee and her family must be stunned by all the missed opportunities that accumulated over the years of Jaycee's confinement. If those missed opportunities were in fact directly related to lack of funding, this is just one more example of the real harm that the California money situation and absurd priorities causes to her citizens.

It is heartbreaking to realize that Jaycee Lee Dugard could have been rescued long ago if the priorities of this state and country were based more on the needs of citizens to live healthy, safe lives and less on political agenda and money. For the Dugards this news must cause even more pain as they hear how the system failed them.

For us it is a wake-up call to turn this country around now. We need to go back and rebuild the foundation that supports families, education, health, cooperation, peace, unity, and the immediate and consistent attention to meeting basic human rights. Proactive measures are called for. Our reactive "band-aid over a volcano" actions are clearly not working.

My heart and prayers go out to the Dugard family and all others who suffer because our society is still not ready to come together and work for the kind of change that will benefit everyone.

For more on Jaycee's story: JayceeLeeDugard