Child Rapist Freed in Virginia

In Virginia we have mandatory parole. Mandatory parol happens when a prisoner has six months left to serve, by law he must be released. I would like to know who's idea this was. If the law requires mandatory parole six months before the sentence is up than all sentences are by law six months shorter than what is publicly announced.

More disturbing is this applies to sentences that are much less than would be handed down for serious crimes if the criminal enters a plea deal. This is often the case when child rapists go to trial. To spare the victims of the crime the trauma of testifying at trial, plea bargains are made. Such is the case of Paul H. Clouston who has an extensive record including the rape of several children and the murder of a police officer.

On Sept. 21, 1972, police detective Darrel "Bud" Cate, a father of five, was shot to death in Anaheim, Calif., while investigating the sexual assault of a pregnant woman.

The suspect, Herman Lee Clouston, aka Paul H. Clouston, had prison records in Ohio and West Virginia.

He fled the scene of the shooting, triggering one of the biggest manhunts in Southern California history. Before his capture six days later, authorities said he took four people hostage, hijacked cars, burglarized homes and shot it out with police.

Clouston was convicted of Cate's murder and other crimes and sentenced to three concurrent 10-year prison terms. After his parole Jan. 30, 1982, his career in crime resumed. He served 11 years in Virginia prisons and is a fugitive once again.

He is a fugitive again because he was released on mandatory parole.

State law required the 70-year-old, aka Herman L. Clouston, be released on parole last year. He promptly fled and is now one of the most wanted men in Virginia.

Had he been committed to the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation, he wouldn't have been released until a judge was satisfied he no longer presented undue risk to public safety or himself.

Even the option of committing him to the rehab program is dubious.

While 28 men have been committed to the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation, adjacent to Central State Hospital near Petersburg, only 25 are there now.

One man was freed on appeal, another was sent back to prison, and the third is accused of committing a new sex crime and is awaiting trial on that charge, said a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services.

The man freed on appeal abducted and sodomized a juvenile and now is serving a new prison sentence.

The bottom line here is there are some criminals that just need to be separated from society. The chimera of rehabilitation has led to huge expenses and more victims. Sexual predators, especially child rapists has shown little if any inclination to change. Stick them on an island where they can be productive or stick a bullet in their head, it doesn't matter. The government needs to take measures to keep these beasts of the streets for as long as necessary.

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