Panel Refuses to Parole Ex-Sen. Williams : Cites ‘Seriousness of Offense’ by Top Official Convicted in Abscam

Federal parole officials on Wednesday refused to release former Sen. Harrison A. Williams Jr., who has served nearly a year of a three-year prison term for his Abscam bribery and conspiracy conviction.

Four members of the U.S. Parole Commission, citing the “seriousness of the offense,” said that the 65-year-old New Jersey Democrat cannot be released from the Allenwood Federal Prison Camp in Pennsylvania until May 11, 1986, Justice Department spokesman Joseph Krovisky said.

The commissioners, meeting in Washington, D.C., cited also “a violation of public trust” in denying parole to the 24-year Senate veteran, who became the first U.S. senator jailed in 80 years when he reported to prison last Jan. 19.

Williams was informed of the decision and has 30 days to appeal to the full nine-member parole commission, Krovisky said.

Krovisky noted that federal inmates are entitled to a parole review every two years, but the next review would fall after Williams’ release date.

Williams, a liberal lawmaker who was considered New Jersey’s “senator for life” because of his popularity among voters, was convicted on May 1, 1981, of nine counts of bribery and conspiracy.

He was accused of making a bargain with an Arab sheik--actually an FBI undercover agent--for a $100-million loan in return for a promise to get government contracts for a Virginia titanium mine in which he allegedly had an interest.

He resigned from the Senate on March 11, 1982, when he was facing almost certain expulsion. The former chairman of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee was the highest-ranking official convicted in the FBI’s Abscam investigation.

Williams’ conviction was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, but he has continued to maintain that he is innocent.