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.