Parole board rejects release of Ohio inmate

CLEVELAND (AP) — A woman whose sentence was commuted last year by Gov. Ted Strickland may serve eight more years in prison after state parole officials rejected her application for release.

Sonya Jackson is the only one of 10 inmates whose sentences the governor commuted in November to have her release application rejected, said Julie Walburn, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Parole officials said Jackson, who has already served 12 years, should serve her full sentence of 20 years to life.

Jackson, 48, of East Cleveland, was convicted in 1998 of stabbing and killing her boyfriend. She said during an interview at the Northeast Pre-Release Center in Cleveland that she was disappointed and frustrated by parole officials’ decision.

“I don’t understand why the governor can’t overrule the parole board,” Jackson said. “In here, whatever the warden says, goes. So why isn’t it like that with the governor?”

Strickland only shortened the minimum time before Jackson was eligible for parole from 20 years to 12 years and did not commute her sentence to time served, spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said.

“The governor’s decision simply made her eligible for parole earlier,” Wurst said. “The parole board was always going to decide when she would be released.”

The governor also pardoned 68 inmates.

Walburn said the parole board hearing officer looked at the total case. The seriousness of Jackson’s crime and an earlier probation violation were factors in keeping her in prison until 2018, Walburn said.

Strickland, a former prison psychologist, said when announcing the pardons and commutations that several factors contributed to his decision in Jackson’s case. They included the possibility she had been abused and had received a harsher sentence than others in similar circumstances.