Margaret Grant pleaded guilty to failing without lawful excuse to provide the necessaries of life to her mother last year

Because she has no record of violence and this is her first federal prison term, she is automatically eligible for accelerated parole review.

A hearing was held Oct. 30, just over six months after she began her four-year sentence, considering her for both day parole and full parole. The board granted both, with day parole beginning this past December and lasting until this coming August, when she will receive full parole.

“She’ll be supervised right up until April 2013 and must follow conditions,” says Blanchet.

The point of the hearing was to determine if Grant was a risk to commit a violent offence, or any offence for that matter. The board ruled she was not a risk in either case.

“They made the determination general recidivism was low risk,” says Blanchet.

She says the parole board doesn’t have much choice in the matter. Under the legislation governing accelerated review, once it’s determined she likely won’t re-offend, she’s released.

Grant’s only condition is to follow psychological counselling arranged by her parole officer, which she was also receiving in prison.

The parole document notes that Grant has “cognitive and behavioural deficiencies” and properly caring for herself is a challenge, let alone caring for others.

It also says she has difficulty solving interpersonal problems and is easily frustrated and more likely to avoid an issue than deal with it. Members of her case management team told the parole board they don’t feel Grant has accepted full responsibility for her crime.

“Essentially, you were a caregiver and it was your failure to act, in terms of providing proper care and seeking assistance for her, that ultimately led to her death,” wrote the board.

The board concluded Grant has no history of past violence, threatening behaviour, use of weapons or anger issues.

It also said that with the details of the crime known in the community, it’s highly unlikely Grant would ever be in a position to commit the same crime again.

© The Times Tanscript

Keywords: elder, abuse, crime