In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. Friedrich Nietzsche. And so the insanity continues in the group known as The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole.
July 2017, a new Montana Board of Pardons and Parole was created under Senate Bill 64. The Board went from a volunteer board to a five member board costing the state tax payers almost 1/2 a million dollars a year. The board was created to address stability, accountability, transparency and arbitrary decisions, and to develop an offender reentry and risk assessment. Stability: After less than one year since the board was created there has been a 40% turnover rate in board members. Determining the valuation of a privately held company, a 40% employee turnover rate in less than one year would greatly devalue the effectiveness and stability of the company. Montana tax payers should rate the stability of the Board of Pardons and Parole an F for failure of stability. Accountability: The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole (BOPP) fails to provide to offenders, formulas used to calculate their risk and assessment scores prior to parole hearings, prejudicing the inmates right to prepare for parole hearings. BOPP does not provide the criteria or methods used to complete the Montana Reentry Risk Assessment even after the inmate pays the required fee of $40.00 to obtain the information. Portions of parole packets have missing or incomplete psychological or cognitive evaluations. Per Montana Statutes ARM 20.25.103(11) Montana tax payers should rate The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole an F for accountability for failure to abide by ARM 20.25.103(11) An offender may request to view his/her individual parole file by making a request in writing. Board staff will provide the offender an opportunity to inspect the file except for information deemed confidential. Montana tax payers should rate the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole an F for accountability for failure to abide by MCA 2-4-103. Rules and statements to be made available to public. (1) Each agency shall:(a) make available for public inspection all rules and all other written statements of policy or interpretations formulated, adopted, or used by the agency in the discharge of its functions;(b) upon request of any person, provide a copy of any rule.(2) Unless otherwise provided by statute, an agency may require the payment of the cost of providing such copies.(3) No agency rule is valid or effective against any person or party whose rights have been substantially prejudiced by an agency's failure to comply with the public inspection requirement herein. Transparency and arbitrary decisions: Under the newly configured Montana Board of Pardons and Parole all proceedings are to be video taped and audio tape recorded. The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole routinely allow victim witnesses to testify before the inmates' scheduled parole hearing. The prospective parolee and the parolee's attorney are precluded from attending the beginning of the hearing or during the testimony of the victim witness. MCA 2-3-203(3) The presiding officer of any meeting may close the meeting during the time the discussion relates to a matter of individual privacy and then if and only if the presiding officer determines that the demands of individual privacy clearly exceed the merits of public disclosure. The right of individual privacy may be waived by the individual about whom the discussion pertains and, in that event, the meeting must be open. At no time during these parole hearings does the record or recordings of the hearings indicate the Parole Board issued any findings that the victim witnesses individual privacy clearly exceeds the merits of public disclosure. Parole Board members, without explanation or rulings, arbitrarily decide what is individual privacy. Without any explanation to the prospective parolee the BOPP simply precludes that testimony from the record. When counsel for the prospective parolee requests recordings of the private hearings the attorney is provided with blank and silent tape recordings of the beginning of the hearing. The Board enters closed executive hearings with arbitrarily decided findings in violation of ARM 20.25.103 DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION(1) As a public agency, all board records including any audio/video recordings are public. All board records are subject to disclosure except in cases in which the individual right of privacy clearly exceeds the merits of public disclosure, and in cases in which statute makes the record confidential.(7) Whenever a crime victim asserts an individual privacy interest, the board may not disseminate to the public the name, address, telephone number, or place of employment of the victim or a member of the victim's family unless otherwise required by law. The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole cannot withhold from public view any more information than is required to protect an individual interest which is limited to name, address, phone number, place of employment or victim family member. Yet the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole arbitrarily decides to provide prospective parolee's attorneys with blank and silent audio recordings of the entire closed executive meeting. Montana tax payers should rate The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole an F for failure to maintain transparency in executive meetings and an F for arbitrary decision making. Development of Montana Offender Reentry and Risk Management (MORRA): The parole board was required to create structured parole guidelines that are based on research and evidence-based practices. These guidelines will mandate that when making a release decision, the parole board consider a person’s risk level as determined by the Montana Offender Reentry Risk Assessment tool, MORRA. MORRA is a gender-neutral standardized and validated evidence-based instrument used to assess the probability of an offender recidivating and to identify risk factors and criminogenic needs to guide and prioritize appropriate programming. Morra is gender-neutral standardized guidelines. This is what MORRA encompasses. The Community Supervision Screening tool is used for both male and female offenders as part of the pre-sentence investigation. The Community Supervision Tool is used for male offenders. The Prison Intake Tool is used for male offenders. The Prison Screening tool is used for male offenders. The Reentry tool is used for male offenders. The Supplemental Reentry Tool focuses on male offenders. The newly configured Montana Board of Pardons and Parole was tasked with the creation of mandated structured parole guidelines and reentry programs. All the guidelines the BOPP implemented are for male offender programming for successful reentry. At Parole hearings the female offenders are simply screened for Pre-Release programs. There is no programming implemented for successful female reentry. Montana tax payers should rate The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole an F for failing to implement tools to assist female offenders with Offender Reentry and Risk Management tools. The cornerstone and linchpin for Montana correctional reform is based on the newly formed Montana Board of Pardons and Parole. Montana tax payers are paying the board members one half of a million dollars a year to be the linchpin and cornerstone for the new reformation of criminal justice. For one half of a million dollars a year, this is what Montana tax payers are getting: STABILITY ------------- F FOR FAILURE ACCOUNTABILITY -------- F FOR FAILURE TRANSPARENCY AND ARBITRARY DECISIONS - F FOR FAILURE DEVELOPMENT OF MONTANA OFFENDER REENTRY AND RISK MANAGEMENT ----- F FOR FAILURE The famous German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, was correct when he said insanity in groups is the rule.