Fired Parole Dept. Head Said He Was On 'Hit List'

DENVER (CBS4)- The man who was fired from his position as head of the Department of Corrections Parole unit said a white supremacist gang targeted him.

It's been investigated that the murder of Tom Clements might have been arranged by a prison gang. Now fired parole director Tim Hand said he was on the same list.

Hand was relieved of his duties after a CBS4 Investigation revealed that dangerous parolees were being downgraded from intensive parole for budget reasons not because they earned or deserved less scrutiny.

Corrections officials initially disputed the reports.

Alison Morgan, a spokesperson for the Department of Corrections, said "It's not our practice, not our procedure."

Internal parole records obtained by CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass showed parole officers were routinely removing offenders from parole lists for financial reasons.

The interim head of the Department of Corrections Roger Werholtz made it clear the CBS4 reporting on the parolees was a tipping point.

Werholtz said Hand was responsible for "inaccurate information" being given out on the parole reports.

"That was just embarrassing. It's very destructive," said Werholtz.

He put Hand on leave hours before the CBS4 report aired and then ultimately fired him.

Hand told the Denver Post the murder of Tom Clements may have been the work of Evan Ebel, a member of the prison gang 211. But he also said Ebel wasn't working alone and that after he was killed authorities found a "hit list" which included the names of Clements, Hand and two other Dept. of Corrections officials.

Hand worked for the Department of Corrections for more than 20 years. He did not return repeated calls from CBS4 for comment.