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2014 Op. Conn. Att'y Gen. 1 (2014)

handle is hein.sag/sagct0068 and id is 1 raw text is: GEORGE C. JEPSEN 55 Elm S(rcct ATMIRNEY GENERAL PO. Box 120 Ilm(llbrd, CT 06141-0120 Office of The Attorney General State of Connecticut January 27, 2014 Garvin G. Ambrose, Esq. State Victim Advocate 505 Hudson Street 5th floor Hartford, CT 06106 Dear Attorney Ambrose: You have requested an opinion regarding the authority of the Board of Pardons and Paroles (Board) to grant parole release and the Commissioner of Correction (Commissioner) to grant supervised release to persons, whose convictions include a mandatory minimum sentence of incarceration, prior to the completion of the minimum mandatory sentence in a penal institution. The question you pose is rather general. You do not inquire about a particular set of facts under a particular statute involving a mandatory minimum sentence. We therefore answer your question generally, providing advice on what we believe are the appropriate legislative guideposts. This is an important caveat to underscore because neither the sentencing statutes nor the relevant statutory release mechanisms are drafted identically. Some were passed at different times and in some cases exceptions have been enacted that might create some uncertainty. It is possible, therefore, that certain statutes or factual circumstances might yield a different result in light of relevant statutory canons of interpretation. Further, our conclusions should not be construed as embracing or criticizing either the legislature's enactment of mandatory minimum sentences or the policy of early release of sentenced inmates through parole or transitional programs. These questions of public policy are for the legislature to pass upon and for the executive agencies to implement. We can only do our best to divine what policy the legislature has in fact enacted. Okeke v. Commissioner of Public Health, 304 Conn. 317, 329 (2012). Using the available tools of statutory construction, we conclude that, as a, general proposition, where the legislature has intended to limit the release of a person whose conviction includes a mandatory minimum sentence or to prohibit the reduction of such a sentence, it has used express language to that effect. For example, certain statutes, principally related to operating a vehicle under the

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