Sentence-Trimming Program Inmates Can Earn Under Fresh Scrutiny Amid Virginia Attorney General Race

Sam Harris, who was incarcerated for 24 years in Virginia until last summer, wants “to be a face for second chances.”

“There are a lot more like me in there,” he said of the roughly 22,000 people behind bars in Virginia as he sat on the steps of the state Capitol building — the place where a change in state law allowed him to begin working towards his goal of representing redemption in earnest.

Sam Harris sits on the steps of the Virginia State Capitol, a place where a law change allowed him to earn early release from incarceration and go onto co-found a nonprofit that helps people navigate reentry after imprisonment. (Photo by Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury)

With parole all but eliminated in Virginia 30 years ago, reinstating it has been a political nonstarter. Some lawmakers have agreed to pathways like Enhanced Earned Sentence Credits (EESC), which allow qualifying inmates the chance to prove their progress in the Department of Corrections and trim some time off of their sentences.

And a limited few, like Harris, can petition governors for pardons. Despite Gov. Glenn Youngkin having granted Harris’ request in 2023, he still had to remain behind bars until July, when the use of EESC allowed his release.

He said he’s taking his personal life slowly — no dating, no alcohol, focusing on reconnecting with friends and family in Hampton Roads. But professionally, he’s fired up about the nonprofit Reentry and Recovery Alliance he started to help support ex-offenders as they reenter society.

While plenty of other success stories like Harris’ can be found among the Virginians released through EESC, the program’s longtime opponent Attorney General Jason Miyares, who is running for reelection, remains cautious about existing recidivism and has reignited fresh calls to undo the program.

A highly politicized program

Miyares’ reasons for attacking the program are not unfounded. He has pointed to VADOC data showing between 49% and 35% of people released via EESC in 2023 and 2024 were rearrested. Of the 35% of those rearrested since last year, nearly 19% of those people were reconvicted and 5% were reincarcerated.

The bulk of the offences that resulted in new convictions were property related or supervision violations (like missing a meeting with probation officers), according to a more detailed report shared by House Republican Caucus communications director Garren Shipley. There were also four reconvictions for murder and three for manslaughter.

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In his reelection bid, Miyares has also attacked opponent Democrat Jay Jones for supporting the law — alleging that violent reoffender charges are Jones’ fault because he supports EESC.

At a July  press conference featuring crime victims, Miyares said EESC “forces the Virginia Department of Corrections to release offenders whose recidivism assessment score still lists them as a high risk for violent reoffending and a high risk for general reoffending.”

Proponents of EESC say the recidivism is low enough to show that the majority of people that earn their second chance aren’t wasting it.

The program is also young enough to still be proving itself. The full scope of it was  implemented just last summer, with a portion of it taking effect in 2022.

But the program has been highly politicized every step of the way.

First championed by Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, an ex-felon who made history as Virginia’s first Black House Speaker, the law passed in 2020 with a delayed enactment. At the time, both Miyares and Jones were serving as delegates in the chamber. Jones voted in favor, and Miyares voted against it.

By 2022, Miyares was attorney general and Youngkin used budget language to block the full implementation of EESC. Miyares’ continued advocacy against the law seemingly spurred Youngkin to continue blocking it until he permitted it to take full effect last summer. Earlier this year he pivoted back to undoing it, but his proposal did not survive budget negotiations.

Between the longstanding efforts of Miyares and Youngkin to block the program, in 2023 the state supreme court found the administration had unlawfully kept eligible prisoners behind bars.

Now, as campaign season heightens, Miyares has taken fresh aim at the program.

On July 14, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell sent a letter to VADOC director Chad Dotson to kick off a conversation about “any ways we can make the program stronger to address (Miyares’) concerns instead of only focusing on reverting to 1990-era prison policy.”

Writing on behalf of himself and other lawmakers, Surovell said the cohort was “concerned that the annual whipsawing” about EESC from Youngkin and Miyares paired with multiple court orders “have made it difficult for your staff to plan and implement the existing system.”

In a recent call with The Mercury, Surovell suggested Miyares may have had his hand on the scale all along to sabotage the program’s effectiveness.

“We need to examine whether or not the governor and the attorney general, with the attorney general’s advice, have worked in a way to undermine the effectiveness of the program,” he said in a recent call with The Mercury.

When the law passed, state funding was earmarked to implement it. Surovell explained “it costs money on the front end” to provide services to help people prepare to be released, but that the goal is to reduce recidivism in the first place.

Surovell said “it’s just not clear to me that money was invested the way it was supposed to be,” because “the Youngkin administration has been fighting it from the very beginning.”

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Miyares did not make himself available for an interview for this story or respond to questions about his current stance on EESC. Jones declined to comment.

‘A whirlwind of goodness’

In the meantime, beneficiaries of EESC praise the role it had in their reform.

Reece Keenan (center) gives a speech during a visit to Chesterfield County Jail where he discusses his journey in battling addiction.
(Photo courtesy Reece Keenan)

Lynchburg-area resident Reece Neenan emphasized how EESC gave him incentive to keep up the self-improvement he at times didn’t feel inspired to undertake while incarcerated. He also credits a program called Helping Addicts Recover Progressively (HARP) with tackling underlying issues that drove him to crime.

Neenan now balances college with full-time work at Campbell Heating and Cooling. But his most important job is the one that previously didn’t earn him the best reviews: being a father.

He said his now 20-year-old son has had reservations about whether or not Neenan had reformed himself from his criminal past and the addictions that contributed to it. His son had also felt pressure to help support the family in lieu of pursuing schooling or a career of his choice, Neenan said. Now, the younger man is pursuing work he cares about and believes in his father.

“He sees it now, it’s not me telling him,” Neenan said. “He sees the new me and I love it. No matter how down I was or how bad drugs had gotten, that’s not my story anymore.”

Are there exceptions to the rule, people who relapse and reoffend? “Of course,” Neenan said.

“But for the most part,” he added, “people I know out here are staying out of trouble because it’s easy now.”

Neenan described this new chapter in his life as “a whirlwind of goodness” and one that he and Harris hope more people can experience.

by Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury

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