Tag: Montana BOPP

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.