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August 20, 1999/8 Elul 5759, Vol. 51, No.46
Bloom set for release from prison
CHRIS GARIFO
Staff Writer
Michael Bloom, who plotted to blow up synagogues and black churches nearly a decade ago, was scheduled to be released Thursday, Aug. 19, from the Department of Corrections' minimum security facility in Yuma, sources have told Jewish News.
The Arizona Board of Executive Clemency authorized Bloom's release July 20 over the objections of Gov. Jane Hull and representatives of the Anti-Defamation League.
"I am still opposed to Bloom's release as I have always been and testified as such because he already has three strikes against him, including the violation of parole and a history of preaching hate through violence," Hull told Jewish News on Tuesday, Aug. 17. "I pray he has changed, but I question his espoused transformation and I prefer to err on the side of protecting the voices of children that he so violently planned to silence forever. He violated the trust of the clemency board once before, so why should we needlessly put a community at risk again?"
Hull said the Department of Corrections will closely monitor Bloom during the period of his house arrest and that any violations of the requirements of that status "will be dealt with swiftly."
Bloom, 26, has been serving an 11-year term for violating the conditions of his probation following his release from prison in 1994.
Bloom had been arrested in 1988 and in 1989 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson of an occupied structure and misconduct involving weapons. In 1990, he was sentenced to four years in prison and seven years of probation.
During the probation period following his 1994 release, he was found in possession of firearms and Nazi literature. He was given the 11-year sentence in May 1994. Bloom's release expected this week would come when he has served less than half his sentence, which extends through 2004.
The clemency board has given Bloom a provisional release date from home arrest of January 2001, but he can ask the board every six months to be released.
DOC spokesman Michael Arra said Bloom will live with his wife, child and 2 stepchildren in their Phoenix residence and will only be allowed outside the home to go to work, report to his parole officer, undergo urinalysis testing for drug and alcohol use, and attend counseling and church.
Arra said Bloom has been assigned a parole officer who will monitor him closely. If he violates the conditions of release, he could be returned immediately to prison pending another hearing by the clemency board.
Bloom, in an exclusive interview with Jewish News on July 21, the day after the clemency board granted him home arrest, said he is no longer a threat to the Valley's Jewish community and that he just wants to live a life that is as "normal as possible."
"I don't want to be involved in anything exciting," Bloom said. "I'm not into going out; I'm a homebody. I like being with my wife and kids (and) that's all I want to do."
ADL board President Marc Lieberman is suspicious of Bloom's reported change of heart. Lieberman said that if Bloom still espouses neo-Nazi attitudes, that probably won't come out until after his home-arrest term is completed.
"In practical terms, Michael Bloom knows that if he offends again, perhaps he'll never be let out, so perhaps that's the best protection we have," Lieberman said. "I don't want people to panic. As Jews in any community, we just need to be observant and careful."
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