Reagan OKd Prison Leaves, Dukakis Notes

Democrat Michael S. Dukakis, accusing Republican rival George Bush of exploiting tragedy, today defended his record on prison leaves as similar to President Reagan’s when he was California governor.

“To use these human tragedies for your own political purposes I think is really a very crass and cynical thing,” Dukakis said of Bush on NBC’s “Today” program.

A major theme of Bush’s campaign has been his charge that Dukakis is an ultra-liberal who has coddled criminals. The vice president has repeatedly cited the case of convicted murderer Willie Horton, who fled Massachusetts and raped a Maryland woman while out of jail on leave.

But Dukakis said that Reagan, when he was governor of California, also had an extensive prisoner leave program “which unfortunately and tragically ended in the murder of a police officer and (a) schoolteacher who were murdered by inmates who had been furloughed under that program,” Dukakis said.

“Mr. Reagan took responsibility for that as I did.”

Dukakis’ presidential campaign spokesman Mark Gearan said Reagan strongly defended the prison leave program despite the 1971 murder of a police officer and the 1972 killing of a teacher by criminals who were free on furlough.

Gearan quoted Reagan as saying, after the 1971 incident, that California was “leading the nation in rehabilitation.... Obviously you can’t be perfect.” Gearan said that after the second incident, Reagan stood by the program as “a model” for the country.