William Melendez addresses court during sentencing.
William Melendez addresses court during sentencing.
Ex-Inkster cop William Melendez, who was convicted of beating motorist Floyd Dent last year and sentenced to 13 months to 10 years in prison in February, has been yanked out of prison boot camp, an intensive state program that can shorten an inmates incarceration considerably.
Elisha Anderson of the Detroit Free Press reports Melendez, 47, was at the boot camp, the Special Alternative Incarceration Program in Chelsea, for less than two weeks before he was transferred back to the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia on April 5,.
Earlier this month, Wayne County Circuit Judge Vonda Evans, who sentenced Melendez, changed the condition in the sentence judgment and objected to his placement in boot camp, the Freep reports. Consequently, Melendez was removed.
“The court is modifying the order and objecting to boot camp at this time,” said the document dated April 4, according ot the Freep. “The court will reconsider at a later time.”
Melendez's lawyer, James Thomas, has asked the Court of Appeals for an emergency hearing in a bid to get Melendez back in boot camp.
Boot camp is often considered a program designed to "break down street-wise attitudes."
The Michigan Department of Corrections describes the program this way:
Phase I of the program involves a highly-disciplined regimen of 90 days, consisting of military-style exercise, meaningful work assignments and other programming, including secondary education and substance-abuse treatment. Phase II involves intensive supervision in the community, usually in a residential "halfway house" setting. Phase III of the program involves supervision of offenders similar to the way in which probationers are supervised. Phase I and III are mandatory, and Phase II is determined by assessing a particular offender's need for residential placement. The goal of the program is to keep selected lower-risk probationers from going to prison and to take qualified prisoners out of the traditional prison setting and place them into a more cost-effective management setting.