A parole and probation officer from Waterloo says state budget cuts are keeping dangerous folks on the outside, when they should be going back to prison.Cheryl Hannah says the prisons are so over-crowded, she and other parole officers have been told someone under their watch has to commit a felony before they’re put back in prison.Hannah says due to state budget cuts, the state is 30 parole officers short of what’s needed to monitor the activities of those released from prison.Hannah says those who’ve been released from prison need intense supervision, but she and other parole officers have so many cases they can’t do things like random home and work checks. Hannah says halfway houses are under-staffed, too. She says some of the residential facilities only have one staffer in the building to 30 and, sometimes 50, clients. Hannah spoke yesterday at a news conference organized by AFSCME, the state workers’ union, to speak out against the budget cuts republicans plan to enact next Tuesday in a one-day “special session.”
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