Since 2019, Gov. Tony Evers’ Parole Commission has released hundreds of convicted criminals, freeing them early on parole mostly into Wisconsin communities, including more than 300 murderers and attempted murderers, and more than 47 child rapists.

George Hindsley was one of them. His release was discretionary.

46th in the series.

George Hindsley brutally smothered his 2-year-old son to death.

A 1998 article in the Stevens Point Journal says that Hindsley was convicted of murdering his 2-year-old son, George Thunder Hindsley at the Salvation Army Hope Center.

Hindsley put his son on the floor, covered him with blankets, knelt on the boy, and then held his hands over his son’s nose and mouth until the toddler died, according to that article.

Paroled child killer George Hindsley is back behind bars on a parole hold, but Gov. Tony Evers and his Department of Corrections will not tell the public why. We first wrote DOC, which is under Evers’ direct control and is run by his cabinet appointee, on OCTOBER 7, asking why Hindsley was in custody on a parole hold. We never heard back. We then wrote Evers’ press office with the same question, to no avail.

It’s part of a pattern of non-transparency when it comes to paroles.

We confirmed with the Shawano County Jail that Hindsley was in the jail as of October 23, 2022, and it’s for a probation/parole hold. The jail official did not have the details.

So we asked DOC and Evers himself. They did not bother to respond.

That news comes on the heels of three other cases in which violent killers and rapists have already re-offended. Floyd Marlow was arrested Thursday in Washington County after he allegedly drove erratically on I-45 while driving drunk with a loaded illegal gun. He is a convicted killer released in a discretionary parole by Evers’ appointee, John Tate. Kenneth Moffett was recently arrested and charged with false imprisonment and strangulation after being freed on discretionary parole for sexual assault. Yet another parolee, a serial child rapist, is now charged with possessing child porn.

At least 16 paroled killers and attempted killers have either committed new crimes or violated terms of parole and ended up on Corrections holds.

More killers and attempted killers were freed on parole in 3.5 years under Evers than in 8 years under Scott Walker.

Evers’ Parole Commission Freed George Hindsley Early

Date paroled:  3/26/2021 [You can look up George Hindlsey’s parole here. Put his name in the database and click “movement.”]

Current Residence: Shawano, WI

Age: 46

Convicted: First-degree reckless homicide

Sentence:  His mandatory release date was not until 2023

The Victim: George Thunder Hindsley, 2 years old

What the Killer Did:

According to the Department of Corrections database, Hindsley was paroled on March 26, 2021, by Tony Evers’ two-time appointee, John Tate. He was convicted of homicide. Hindsley, 46, has a mandatory release date on the homicide of 09/13/2023. That means the parole was discretionary.

We reached a relative of Hindsley’s who blamed his problems on alcohol. The DOC website still lists Hindsley as living in Shawano, Wisconsin.

What did George Hindlsey do?

Hindsley said he killed his son because the mother was involved with a relative of his, and he didn’t want George to be adopted.

Hindsley was 21 years old at the time of the crime. The child died of asphyxiation after being “suffocated by a larger person,” newspaper articles from the time say. Hindsley, who stabbed himself in the arm after the death, told police he had said goodbye to his son the night before, according to the Stevens Point Journal.