Cheshire accused parole records released: Crack and crystal meth rear their ugly heads

Following Gov. Rell’s order yesterday, the parole board released almost 500 pages worth of parole records for Hayes and Komisarjevsky.

Their histories of chronic drug abuse are well documented in those records. The parole board did not release the two men’s mental health recordsor any records of arrest that did not result in convictions. The board also withheld 15 pages of parole records for Hayes and one page for Komisarjevsky, which prosecutors asked be withheld pending review.

Hayes had been released to a Hartford halfway house in June 2006, in preparation for his scheduled parole date of Feb. 1 of this year. But after a urine test on Nov. 21, 2006, showed he had used cocaine, he was sent back to prison.

Let’s hope these records clear up one misconception. Hayes had a criminal record; Komisarjevsky did not.

Komisarjevsky had no criminal record prior to his arrest in March 2002 on multiple burglary counts, including nighttime burglaries into occupied homes. He was sentenced to nine years in prison on 21 burglary and related counts.

More after the jump

Like Hayes, Komisarjevsky is a drug addict. According to a corrections report prepared in September 2004, in advance of his parole hearing, Komisarjevsky said he broke into upscale homes to steal money and electronics to support his addiction to crystal methamphetamine and cocaine, both of which he started using at age 19.

Neither Hayes nor Komisarjevsky has a criminal history of violence. Whether drugs played a role in the horrific home invasion is not yet known, but could offer some explanation for the brutality and depravity exhibited during the nearly seven-hour long ordeal at the Petit family home in Cheshire.

Hayes had a documented problem with crack

Crack was at the heart of Hayes’ dramatic plunge from the initial success of his community release in 1996 to an 11-day spree of burglaries and crack binges.

During his last stint behind bars, stemming from his 2003 arrest, Hayes had no disciplinary reports, or “tickets,” lodged against him. During previous incarcerations, however, he piled up a total of 23 tickets, most for possession of contraband. The reports do not state the nature of the contraband.

Contraband can be just about anything that they’re not supposed to have, it doesn’t mean drugs.

Obviously they’re not going to release mental health records, but I’m curious to know what the extent of any problems they have, if any.

Also, here’s a pop quiz: The state is releasing details that had to have come from one of the two. So which one flipped?

Here‘s an editorial by Courant columnist Rick Green.