SHIRLEY, Mass. — A killer accused in the slaying of a newlywed couple in Washington state shortly after he was released from prison in Massachusetts should have been held behind bars for almost a year longer, but the Romney administration failed to file paperwork in time to take away his “good time” credits.
The Department of Correction, under then-Gov. Mitt Romney, did not act on disciplinary recommendation to strip 300 days of credit from Daniel Tavares after he was accused of threats to prison staff in 2003, state officials announced today in releasing results of a probe into the Tavares case.
Tavares was allowed to cash in nearly a year’s worth of “good days” to be released from prison July 16. It was 123 days later that newlyweds Brian and Beverly Mauck were killed in Graham, Pierce County, allegedly by Tavares.
“He would have still been incarcerated. We are very dismayed. He was violent,” Correction Commissioner Harold Clarke said at a news conference today. “This is an individual who should not have been released any earlier than required.”
Clarke, whose first day was Nov. 26, called the failure “unacceptable.” He said the record-keeping and release date computation is “a basic function of any correctional agency.”
In total, hearing officers recommended 780 days of “good time” be taken away from Tavares for six different violent incidents spanning 1993 to 2005, but authorities say there is no paperwork to explain why action was not taken by Correction officials on five of those cases. The only case with records showed a prison superintendent under Romney failed to meet a 60-day deadline on paperwork to take away 300 days in 2003.
“All of us were appalled that an inmate like Daniel Tavares, who was tracked as a very dangerous inmate from the time he entered the system, wasn’t carefully monitored and have his records as precise as possible,” Public Safety Secretary Kevin Burke said.
Burke said the state was moving to get rid of the 60-day policy to ensure prison officials have the time they need to file paperwork. The superintendent who failed to file the Tavares paperwork no longer works for the DOC, but officials would not discuss the circumstances of his departure.
The failure of Correction officials to act on recommendations stretched over the administrations of Republican Govs. William Weld, Jane Swift and Romney.
Tavares lost 1,600 other days of credit for 11 other incidents during his 15-year sentence for the manslaughter of his mother.
In 1994, the automatic granting of “good time” to prisoners was eliminated under truth-in-sentencing laws, but Tavares began his sentence in 1993 and was still able to legally claim 3,000 days given to him upon incarceration.
The state now is examining the records of 750 prisoners locked up before 1994 to determine whether their sentences should be extended because of disciplinary problems. The administration has hired an outside consultant to assist with the effort.
In the wake of the slayings of the Washington couple, Romney had called for the resignation of Judge Kathe Tuttman, who released Tavares from prison after he finished his term for the manslaughter of his mother, even though correction officials sought to keep him locked up on a charge he assaulted a guard about two years earlier.
Romney, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, said the judge, whom he appointed, “showed an inexplicable lack of good judgment,” though she and her superiors have said she followed the law.
Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom declined to comment to the AP. He told the Boston Herald, which first reported the results of the probe today: “The governor’s office does not keep track of internal disciplinary reports filed against individual inmates, nor does it have specific knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the sentences or terms of release for each of the thousands of prisoners in the state penal system.”
Burke said there was no political motivation in releasing the results of the probe shortly before the Iowa caucus.
“We are not so much concerned with the caucuses as we are concerned with the public safety,” he said.
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