Tag: Montana Board of Pardons and Parole

The Lost and Unwanted Souls…Victims of Montana Corrections.

The Montana Department of Corrections and the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole have collaborated to incarcerate mentally ill offenders at Montana State Prisons for indeterminate amounts of time for management purposes only. These incarcerations are for long term mental health needs management, not based on judicial orders and no one accepts jurisdiction over these lost and unwanted souls. These incarcerations are for management purposes only. This collaboration is an illegal agreement under the Administrative Rules of Montana.

To fully understand what is happening to our mentally ill citizens one must be aware of three separate documents, when put together reveal a tragic consequence of long term incarceration to “manage” mental illness and no one is accepting jurisdiction for placement upon being paroled or released. With no placement there is no parole or release.

1)  Administrative Rules of Montana (ARM) Rule 20.1.101 states the Board of Pardons and Parole is responsible for the oversight of Montana's inmate parole and furlough programs.  The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole adopts administrative rules separately from the Department of Corrections.
2)  Montana Department of Corrections P&P Procedure No. 4.1.100 Secure Placement - A management decision to place an offender at a secure facility for long term mental health needs and/or treatment.
Montana Department of Corrections determines secure facilities as  Montana State Prison (MSP), Montana Women’s Prison (MWP), Great Falls Regional Prison, Dawson County Correctional Facility, and Crossroads Correctional Center. The mentally ill offender is now an inmate at a state prison and under ARM Rule 20.1.101 the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole has jurisdiction over inmate parole.
3)  Memorandum of Understanding Between Montana Department of Corrections and Montana Board of Pardons and Parole (MOU)  The parties agree that the Board of Pardons and Parole has jurisdiction over DOC Commitments that the DOC has placed in prison under a Secure Placement Request except DOC commitments that the DOC has placed in prison for mental health treatments for the period necessary to meet the DOC Commit's mental health care needs.  This agreement was signed by BOPP Chairperson Annette Carter and Montana Department of Corrections Reginald Michael.

Administrative Rules of Montana (ARM) state that the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole (BOPP) is responsible for all inmate parole and furlough. The Montana Department of Corrections places mentally ill people in prison, not under judicial orders but for management purposes only. Once a mentally ill person is placed in prison they become an inmate under the Administrative Rules of Montana. BOPP says we will accept jurisdiction over all inmates except those inmates that are placed in prison for management of mental illness. BOPP says leave your mentally ill commitments for as long as is necessary but we are not taking jurisdiction. Montana Department of Corrections leaves the mentally ill person in prison for as long as necessary to treat the inmates long term mental health needs. Long term is long term. There is no parole or release available because BOPP won’t take jurisdiction.

Montana Department of Corrections has placed these lost, unwanted souls in prison because DOC can’t or won’t manage their mental illness. BOPP says fine, leave them in prison for whatever amount of time you want. We aren’t responsible for them and we aren’t finding placement, treatment or parole. Montana Administrative Rules says if a person is an inmate BOPP has jurisdiction and is responsible for placement and parole. BOPP says, not happening.

Administrative Rules of Montana was established for a good and decent society. The Montana Department of Corrections and the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole entered into an agreement not consistent with the Administrative Rules of Montana and not consistent with a good and decent society. Manage our mentally ill citizens by long term incarceration, not for judicial reasons but for management reasons. Make an agreement where no one has jurisdiction for placement, treatment, parole and release. Without placement and treatment there is no parole or release.

Under the rules of Montana, The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole has jurisdiction of these lost and unwanted souls. The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole is refusing to meet their obligation to the State of Montana. But then, what decent and good society wants these lost and unwanted souls anyway.

Montana Board of Pardons and Parole Annette Carter and The Montana Department of Corrections Reginald Michael…do your jobs as set forth by the Administrative Rules of Montana or get out so we can find someone who will do the job.

Oh The Tangled Webs We Weave – Montana Board of Pardons and Parole

Montana Headlines: Montana’s new parole board is granting inmates’ release sooner after major changes made in 2017… according to data released by the Criminal Justice Oversight Council.  The quicker parole process owes to changes made during the 2017 Legislature.

The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole transitioned from a seven member volunteer board to a five member board at a cost of one half million dollars a year to the tax payers of Montana.  Board member Annette Carter made some very rosy statistics and data to the Criminal Justice Oversight Council.  Shall we see what the real data is?  

Data under the previous volunteer board:
January, 2017:  The Board made final dispositions on 246 matters.  The Board granted 59 paroles.  This is a 24% parole rate.

February, 2017: The Board made final dispositions on 252 matters.  The Board granted 61 paroles.  This is a 24% parole rate.

March, 2017:  The Board made final dispositions on 285 matters.  The Board granted 81 paroles.  This is a 28% parole rate.

The average parole rate under the old volunteer board for January, February and March 2017 is 25%.

Data under the new one half million dollar a year board:
January, 2018:  The Board made final dispositions on 278 matters.  The Board granted 70 paroles.  This is a 25% parole rate.

February, 2018:  The Board made final dispositions on 284 matters.  The Board granted 77 paroles.  This is a 27% parole rate.

March, 2018:  The Board made final dispositions on 331 matters.  The Board granted 88 paroles.  This is a 27% parole rate.

The average parole rate under the new one half million dollar a year board for January, February and March 2018 is 26%.  

For one half million dollars a year the State of Montana is getting a 1% increase in paroles granted.

There was broad bipartisan legislative support for the changes to the parole board.  The bill passed 97-3 in the House and 47-3 in the Senate. Only six people were against the huge financial expenditures for a 1% increase in granted paroles.  

I am not seeing the rosy picture Annette Carter presented to the Criminal Justice Oversight Committee.  Data can be skewed in many ways to present brilliant work and great results. Wording of the data can skew the true meaning. The data provided to the Oversight Committee was for the one month of April 2018.  The Board simply schedules in the month of April everyone they know they are going to parole.  That would surely skew the great results of the Board.  

Oh the tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive.  Look at all the data before pronouncing the brilliant success of the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole.  The new board achieved a 1% increase in parole over the old board.

State of Montana Board of Pardons and Parole – The Insanity Of The Group

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.

 

Montana Senate Bill 64 & Montana Dept of Corrections – Unicorns Included

Senate Bill 64 is an act, requested by the Commission on Sentencing, revising the Board of Pardons and Parole and revising Probation and Parole to reduce recidivism.

I believe that most of the members on the Commission on Sentencing are very sincere in their wish to create a better outcome for the people entrapped in an antiquated correctional system.  Unfortunately, these very sincere people do not know the real obstacle in the path the majority of parolees take when released on parole.

Parolees have spent many years living in a harsh, hard, violent environment.  They have spent years in a hyper-vigilant state.  Many of these prisoners had at least one mental health issue before being incarcerated and it is fair to say all those incarcerated experience some mental health issue due to the conditions they have endured.

From January through June, 2017, there was 379 paroles granted, excluding those paroled to a federal retainer.  55% percent of the 379 were paroled to a pre-release center before going to probation and parole.  The stay at a pre-release center is usually 6-8 months.

If you read my last post you will know the qualifications to supervise parolees at a pre-release center is a high school diploma or GED.  Parolees, straight from prison, with mental health issues and in hyper-vigilant states are being supervised by someone with a high school diploma.  This GED or high school diploma does not, in anyway, prepare a person to help a parolee make a successful transition.

Montana Department of Corrections

HOW MONTANA’S PROBATION AND PAROLE SYSTEM WORKS

  • About 56 percent of men and 46 percent of women return to a corrections program within the first year.

The first year is a critical time for a parolee for  successful reentry.   55% of parolees, the first year,  are under the supervision of someone totally unprepared to help a hyper-vigilant person, with mental health issues, that has lived and survived a harsh, violent environment.  Then the Department of Corrections gives statistics that 56% of men and 46% of women return to a corrections facility within one year after requiring them to spend the greater portion of that first year under the supervision of someone totally unprepared to supervise them.  This private contract facility is not even required to report to the Montana Department of Corrections the classes, counseling or medication given the parolee when the parolee transitions from pre-release to probation and parole.  55% of parolees are sent to pre-release and 56% of parolees return to prison within one year.

Senate Bill 64 requires a 5 member board for the Board of Pardons and Parole.  With an annual salary of about $90,000.00 per board member, the State of Montana will spend almost a half a million dollars annually to professionalize the board.  Then this professional board sends the majority of parolees to a pre-release center that almost guarantees their failure for reentry.

If you believe this bill will reduce recidivism, then you are waiting for a unicorn to bring you a rainbow ice cream cone.  You cannot expect a successful reentry when a mentally ill parolee is supervised by someone with a high school diploma or GED.  The very sincere people sitting on the board of the Commission on Sentencing cannot be aware of the true obstacle confronting the parolee —      Pre-Release.

A Reader’s Digest version of a better plan:  If we parole 800 people a year and 55% (440 people) go to Pre-Release at $57.00 per day,  we are spending $25,000 a day for the equivalence of high school supervision.  At $25,000.00 a day for 210 days (7 months per person) we are spending $5,250,000.00 per year for the equivalence of high school supervision.  Take the half a million dollars for the new Board of Pardons and Parole that send the parolees to the equivalence of high school supervision, we would have $5,750,000.00 to divide between 800 parolees.  Each parolee would get $7,200.00 for housing, education, job training and medication for a successful reentry.  They could be set up with Medicaid, SNAP, and appropriate and required social services for a successful reentry rather then leaving a pre-release with no funds, training, education, social services or even a place to live.

Rather than spend tax dollars on exorbitant salaries for CEO’s of Pre-Release Centers, $250,000.00 to $330,000.00 per year salaries, and salaries for supervisor’s with a high school education, spend the money directly on the parolee and provide them the necessary tools for a successful reentry.  The funds could be administered by the reentry program within the Department of Corrections.

Let’s stop waiting for the unicorns and actually spend the money directly on the parolee.

 

 

 

 


	


	
	






	
	

		
The Real Legacy of Mike Batista and Montana Corrections
	


	

		
Montana’s prisons are over capacity due to an 11 percent increase in the prison population between FY2008-2015.  Mike Batista was the administrator for the Division of Criminal Investigation for the Montana Department of Justice for 20 years before being appointed as director for the Department of Corrections in 2012.  Now Mike Batista is currently named to the Board of Pardons and Parole.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  Let’s look at Batista’s legacy.


During Mike's tenure with the Division of Criminal Investigations, he employed a computer forensic scientist named Jimmy Weg.  Attached is an email obtained from Jimmy Weg.  

seq-2 (1)
click on link

This email is disturbing in so many ways. The email itself testifies to the fact that the "science" of computer forensics is junk science.  Jimmy was asked to help defend a search warrant.  Jimmy clearly says the defense is correct in their assessment of the search warrant. Jimmy says "TRUE" to defense claims. "WE'VE ALL HEARD OF CASES IN WHICH A SIGNAL WAS IN FACT STOLEN LEADING TO A SEARCH OF THE WRONG COMPUTER."  "..[nothing] IS FAIL SAFE."  Under the leadership of Mike Batista, Jimmy Weg continued to knowingly provide false and incomplete "evidence" to ignorant judges who in turn rubber stamped any search warrant request.  Immediately the innocent victim of the "scientific evidence" is turned into a criminal.

Mike Batista employed an investigator, Arlyn Greydanus.  Arlyn's son was a person of interest in a crime and was interviewed by law enforcement.  Mike Batista then authorized Arlyn to transport the evidence from Helena to the Missoula Crime Lab.  WOW!! Talk about evidence handling.  Obviously the son was cleared of any wrong doing.

During Mike's tenure as Director of Montana Department of Corrections, Mike signed a contract with Crossroads Correctional Facility authorizing Crossroads to add extra bunks in cells overcrowding the prison cells.  After authorizing Crossroads Correctional Facility to overcrowd the prison, Mike then asks the State of Montana for millions of dollars to alleviate the overcrowding he authorized.
  
Mike Batista worked with Ron Alsbury, Chief of Probation and Parole, to exponentially revoke and rescind the probation and parole of hundreds of men and women, particularly of American Indian descent.  After this unprecedented number of revocations, Mike Batista asks Montana citizens for millions of dollars to correct the challenges he created.

Mike Batista knowingly allowed search warrant applications based on "evidence" that was questionable at best and according to his own forensic examiner, known to be false.  Judges were not informed in these applications that probable cause was not, in fact, probable cause at all.

Batista allowed his own investigator a clear and probable opportunity to alter evidence in favor of the investigator's son.

Mike Batista signed a contract to authorize the overcrowding of prisons. He worked with Ron Alsbury to revoke and rescind the probation and parole of hundreds of people.  Mike Batista then pretends to be the savior of overcrowded prisons.

Now Batista is serving on the Board of Pardons and Parole deciding the fate of the people he incarcerated.  Many of these people are victims of the "probable cause" search warrants submitted by his investigators under his supervision.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.