Like Latin American Idol’s, ‘sons of nobody’ should also get parole
Santo Domingo.- Justice andTransparency Foundation (FJT) president Trajano Potentini on Thursday said the grantingof partial paroles need to be legitimized because the people "below" whohave "no godfather," and to "hijos de Machepa" (sons ofnobody), because otherwise the release of former Latin American Idol MarthaHeredia, instead of being an alternative to prison, would become an irritatingprivilege.
Heredia was released on a partialparole Wednesday, while serving a 7-year prison sentence for drug trafficking.
The social activist said the criminaljustice system allows a judge to vary a prison sentence under certain conditions,where an inmate can leave jail to work and study a few days the week.
He noted however that while a normalparole is only possible when the convict has served at least half theirsentence, a partial one is different because it can only be granted for minorpenalties with less than five years in prison, and when a third of the sentencehas been served.