Category: Uncategorized

Montana Senate Bill 65 – Housing Options With No Options, to Reduce Recidivism

Montana Senate Bill 65 was enacted by the request of the Commission on Sentencing.  The heart of the law is to revise laws regarding housing options for offenders and to create a supportive housing grant program to reduce recidivism.   Senate Bill 65 is a disappointing failure.

Once again, I think the people that comprised the Commission on Sentencing had a sincere desire to help offenders and to reduce recidivism by providing housing after leaving correctional facilities.  Unfortunately, the first thing that jumps out at me is this bill authorizes probation and parole officers to carry firearms.  Probation and parole officers should be allowed to carry firearms but I don't see where this enactment helps with housing. Under the same section that allows officers to carry firearms, they are to administer the rental voucher program.  I am very confused how the carrying of firearms has anything to do with the rental voucher program.  But I digress, let's look at the rest of the bill.

Senate Bill 65 encourages the Department to coordinate with local governments and local agencies to identify all available housing options.  Most communities and agencies are aware there is not enough affordable housing in their communities for citizens in need, let alone for those just being released from prison.  How does this bill increase housing options if no options exist?  This bill fails to create housing options.  There are no housing options.

Senate Bill 65 does not allocate any funds for housing.  The bill is enacted on some obscure hope that federal and state grant money will be available to pay for this act.  Section 2 states "within the limits of available funds...develop and administer a supportive grant program to improve access to housing..." "Grants available...consist of state appropriations and federal funds..."  The State of Montana is in a budget crisis.  There is no money in the state coffers to provide housing.  The Federal Government is in a budget crisis.  What state and federal grants are we looking at?  In the unlikely event grant funds are given, the bill allows the grant money to be used to hire case managers, hire housing specialists, hire employees for housing placement services and to reimburse landlords for tenant-related damages.  After hiring all these new state employees there won't be any money left for housing vouchers, just new state employees.  

This housing bill authorizes the "siting, establishment and expansion of prerelease centers".  Prerelease centers are not housing options.  Build it and they will come. Prerelease centers are only options for recidivism.  If we build more centers we need more recidivism.  This kind of blows the whole Commission on Sentencing out of the water.  Reduce recidivism by increasing the need for recidivism.

This next one is good.  Senate Bill 65 requires the Department to "maintain data on the number of individuals who are discharged from the adult correction services into a homeless shelter or a homeless situation."  Wait..I thought the purpose of this bill was to provide housing not homelessness.  I guess providing housing grants went out the window to pay for all the new state employees hired to administer the housing grants.  Now we have to hire someone to track the data on those discharged to a homeless shelter.  This is very responsible use of grant money.  No housing just new state employees.

Senate Bill 65 is based on receiving obscure, unknown federal and state grants from government agencies that have no money.  The grant money then will be used to hire new state employees to administer the grant money except all the grant money will be used to hire new employees to administer the grant money and there won't be any left to provide housing.  Then to reduce recidivism, Senate Bill 65 authorizes the creation of new prerelease centers that will only increase recidivism because we have to fill the new centers with offenders.  Then because all the grant money is used for new state employees, Senate Bill 65 requires the tracking of those released to homeless situations.

Senate Bill 65 only creates new jobs for state employees and no housing options for offenders leaving correctional facilities.

Montana Senate Bill 63, The Constitution and The Gestapo

Montana Senate Bill 63 was introduced and passed by the 2017 Legislature by request of The Commission on Sentencing.  Unfortunately, this bill will have a chilling effect on the constitutional rights of all defendants.  If only the creators of this bill knew what they were actually doing, the creators of this bill would be appalled.  The creators of this bill have no idea the underlying use of Senate Bill 63.

Constitution of United States of America 1789 (rev. 1992)

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

CONSTITUTION
of the
STATE OF MONTANA
PREAMBLE
We the people of Montana grateful to God for the quiet beauty of our state, the grandeur of our mountains, the vastness of our rolling plains, and desiring to improve the quality of life, equality of opportunity and to secure the blessings of liberty for this and future generations do ordain and establish this constitution.
ARTICLE II
DECLARATION OF RIGHT
Sectn 24. RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED. In all criminal prosecutions the accused
shall have the right to appear and defend in person and by counsel; to demand the nature and cause of the accusation; to meet the witnesses against him face to face; to have process to compel the attendance of witnesses in his behalf, and a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the county or district in which the offense is alleged to have been committed, subject to the right of the state to have a change of venue for any of the causes for which the defendant may obtain the same.
The heart of Senate Bill 63 is an act allowing the early termination of remaining portions of deferred or suspended sentences.  In the case of deferred sentencing, the offender can be released from supervision after serving two years or one-half of the sentence, whichever is less.  In the case of a suspended sentence, the offender can be released from supervision after serving 3 years or two-thirds of the time suspended, whichever is less.  Conditional release can be granted as soon as the probationer has completed 9 months. This sounds really good!!  The caveat to this bill is the defendant has to pay all restitution and court-ordered financial obligations in full.  This caveat will be used as a tool to induce defendants to plead guilty or accept a plea bargain rather than exercise their constitutional rights to a trial, wherein they could be found not guilty.  Let me explain how this bill is nothing but a tool for prosecutors. 

A defendant that exercises their constitutional right to a trial will, through the arbitrary decision of the judge or request of the county attorney, be charged for the cost of the trial.  These costs include the time of the county attorney, witness fees and expenses, investigator costs, jury costs, the cost of the judges' time and defense attorney charges and expenses.  This can amount to thousands and thousands of dollars.  The prosecutor comes in like the Gestapo and, with steel-toed boots, uses this Senate Bill to induce the defendant, with provisions of an early release from supervision, to plead guilty and not incur the expenses of paying for a trial. If they request a trial the defendant can never get early release from supervision because they can't pay all court-ordered financial obligations.  The cost of exercising constitutional rights can amount to a lifetime sentence because the county attorney then places liens on all property of the defendant to pay for the trial.  You choose, early release because there are no court-ordered financial obligations or a lifetime of paying court-ordered financial obligations and no chance of early release.  This is the choice offered by Senate Bill 63.

Senate Bill 63 has only provided a tool to prosecutors.  Defendants can exercise their constitutional right to a trial and get a lifetime sentence paying for the cost of the trial.  Or, they can figuratively be kicked with steel-toed Gestapo boots into accepting a plea for early release of supervision as provided by Senate Bill 63 because there are no court-ordered financial obligations.

The creators of this bill have no idea of the underlying use of this bill. The underlying use will be used to induce defendants to plead guilty, waive their constitutional rights and, in many cases, innocent people will be convicted.  All with the promise of early release and no court-ordered financial obligations.

Senate Bill 63 ushers in the Gestapo and disposes of this preamble:
CONSTITUTION
of the
STATE OF MONTANA
PREAMBLE
We the people of Montana grateful to God for the quiet beauty of our state, the grandeur of our mountains, the vastness of our rolling plains, and desiring to improve the quality of life, equality of opportunity and to secure the blessings of liberty for this and future generations do ordain and establish this constitution.

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.

 

 

 

 


	


	
	






	
	

		
Welcome to Montana Board of Pardons and Parole – The definition of insanity
	


	

		
Montana has made changes within the Board of Pardons and Parole (BOPP) using a justice reinvestment approach and implementing Senate Bill 64.  The justice approach, addressing concerns of arbitrary  decisions (remember this term), replaced volunteer board members with Governor appointed, well paid board members.  The three board members are paid approximately $90,000.00 each.  This is a salary increase of a quarter of a million dollars during state level 4 budget cuts.


The three newly appointed, professional board members are as follows:


Scott Cruse.  Mr. Cruse is a retired FBI Supervising Agent from Helena MT. Zach Gervais, a Native American from Browning MT, should not have died.   Zach's killer had previously stabbed two people on the Blackfoot Reservation in unprovoked attacks, stabbing one man at least nine times.  Even though most everybody in Browning knew the assailant and where he lived, Mr. Cruse failed to make an arrest for the murders for seven months.  Only after Zach Gervais, in yet another unprovoked attack, was killed did Mr. Cruse take action and arrest the assailant.  If there was two murders in the neighborhood of Supreme Court Judge Mike Mcgrath you can be assured the assailant would not go at large for seven months to kill another judge.  Scott Cruse said they were just too busy to get the murder suspect arrested.  Zach Gervais should not have died because he did not live in Judge McGrath's neighborhood.

Annette Carter.  Ms Carter was previously employed with Probation and Parole, most recently as the Reentry Program Manager in the Director's Office.  Reentry refers to the offender transitioning from a correctional  facility to the community.  Annette Carter has repeatedly stated that since Pre-Release Centers are private, contracted facilities they are not required to provide offender records from the contracted facility to The Montana Department of Corrections.  Essentially, Montana Department of Corrections has no records as to how the offender responded to authority, interactions with other offenders and the public at large.  There are no records as to job performance in the community or how the offender responded to treatment. I addressed this issue, March 4, in a blog titled Montana Department of Corrections - A Shameful Failure.  How can you successfully complete your job as reentry manager if you don't know the issues and needs of the offender?  Oh wait, you need records for that information!  You can't successfully complete the job.

Mike Batista.  As Administrator for the Department of Justice Investigations, he allowed his investigators to falsify or omit crucial information when applying for search warrants.  He allowed his investigators to aid and abet other investigators to cover up their actions in omitting crucial information for search warrant applications.  As Director for the Department of Corrections, he was directly responsible for the overcrowding of Crossroads Correctional Facility and he allowed the unprecedented revocations of offenders, particularly those of Native American descent, to overcrowd all correctional facilities.  See my previous post, The Real Legacy of Mike Batista. 

These three board members have released many serious offenders to Parole status based on certain conditions.  These standard conditions are taken directly from the BOPP website: Parole upon completion of Pre-release. Regular Chemical Dependency counseling; regular Mental Health counseling; comply with court ordered conditions; restricted from entering any place where gambling takes place; shall not enter any place where intoxicants are the chief item of sale; restricted from participating in any medical marijuana program.  

Parolees are transitioned to private, contract Pre-Release Centers where arbitrary decisions, made by unqualified personnel, decide whether the offender is transitioning properly.  These "arbitrarily decided" incarceration records from these private, contract centers are not transferred to Probation and Parole when the offender transitions to community supervision.  The Probation and Parole officer has to make arbitrary decisions as to whether the parolee is allowed to continue parole or be revoked because they do not know whether the parolee successfully completed prerelease.

The following are qualifications for Resident Assistants at CCCS Inc, known as Butte Prerelease.  Resident Assistants are the eyes and ears for recording how the offender responds to authority, interacts with other offenders and the public at large.  These qualifications are taken directly from the website for CCCS: CCCS, Inc. is accepting applications for the following positions: Resident Assistant, Client Technician, and Security Technicians, at all of our SW Montana facilities. The entry level positions provide supervisory, security, transportation, and recreation services as required by the individual program. These positions requires High School diploma or equivalent.

The qualifications for working at Town Pump:
EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE:High school diploma or general education degree (GED); and related experience; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole transitioned from volunteer board members to a quarter of a million dollar, Governor appointed board because of concerns of arbitrary decisions. These board members come with serious background job performance.  BOPP then send parolees with serious offenses, to private, contract facilities where arbitrary decisions are made by unqualified personnel with a high school diploma or a GED.  These serious offenders are then released into the community, supervised by probation officers that have to make arbitrary decisions based on not knowing how the offender responded to treatment or even what treatment the offender received at the prerelease center.  We could just release these offenders to Town Pump and have the same outcome.

Parole should be granted.  Many offenders have been incarcerated for too many years.  The State of Montana will now pay a quarter of a million dollars a year to address concerns of arbitrary decisions, only to send parolees to prerelease centers where arbitrary decisions are made by someone with a high school diploma and then onto community supervision where parole officers make arbitrary decisions because they don't have the records of the arbitrary decisions made at prerelease.  So what did BOPP accomplish?  Nothing.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.







 


 







	


	
	






	
	

		
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.







 



	


	
	






	
	

		
Montana Judges Shocking State Purchases
	


	

		
Governor Bullock recently warned Montanans about worst case scenario, level 4 budget cuts.  Agencies across the state are preparing to slash spending including medical care for the needy and mental-health services.  All state agencies will be affected – except perhaps the Judicial and Judiciary Branch.  Here is a look at shocking purchases made by Montana Judges on state credit cards, paid for by your tax money.


A judge charged their child’s school pictures to the State of Montana, Lifetouch School pictures.  Perhaps this is the same judge that made charges to Victoria Secret and Brockels Chocolates, in which case he will probably need the memories of the school pictures.  The judiciary branch made charges to Eyemart Express and Sagebrush Optical.  And here I thought judges were blind.  Maybe this judge needed to see the movies at Shiloh 14 and Carmike Theatre or maybe to see the play at Grandstreet Theatre.  Yes, you the Montana tax payer paid for these showings.


I especially like the purchase made, and paid by Montanans, for custom dog tags at Dogtagus.  I ask, why does a judge need custom dog tags?  We know who you are.  Maybe the judge uses them as ID when he or she goes to the Billings Family YMCA, The Women’s Health Club or Flathead Health and Fitness for which you are paying the club dues.  Maybe they need custom tags to enter the Wheels of Thunder Roller Skating Rink where apparently Montana tax payers paid for a party.


Montanans can rest easy that a female judge is well dressed.  The charges to Missguided assures us of that.  Missguided is a clothing store that targets women ages 16-35.  I don’t know many female judges that fit the age range but, again, maybe the Lifetouch memories are needed here.  Maybe the 16 year old judge paid for her own school pictures.


I am sure the purchases made at Michael’s Hobby Store, Party America, Zumiez and Hobby-Lobby will go a long way to assist those wrongfully convicted persons in rebuilding their lives.  Perhaps with the new eyeglasses the judges can at long last read the legal briefs that will free these wrongfully convicted souls.


But if the health club dues you are paying for is not enough to keep these judges fit you can relax knowing the many purchases at Scheel’s, North 40 Outfitters and Master Sports will fill the bill in providing the necessary outlet for the mental health of these fine people.  Never mind that the rest of Montana will have mental-health services cut and medical care for the needy will be cut.  The judge that charged personal insurance at Kemper Insurance will have his or her needs met.  And if this is still not enough the purchase at Pug Mahon Irish Pub should take care of the rest, unless this takes us back to Victoria Secret and the need for the school picture memories.


The State of Montana checkbook should be used for the good of Montana.   I fail to see where Victoria Secret is for the good of Montana except maybe we have a happy judge.   Governor Bullock, please find the happy judge and get the money back and give it to somebody to buy their medication so they don’t commit suicide.


Find all this information at Montana’s Checkbook online.  Governor Bullock, please look at your website.


 


 

	


	
	






	
	

		
Private Corrections In Montana – The Joke Is On Montana
	


	

		
The Montana Department of Corrections contracts with Community Counseling and Correctional Services Inc. (CCCS Inc), also known as the Butte PreRelease Center, to provide correctional services in Montana.  CCCS Inc also operates the Bismarck ND Transitional Center.  CCCS Inc is a private not for profit correctional provider that pays exorbitant salaries to its’ executive officers at taxpayer expense.


CCCS Inc contracts with the Montana Department of Corrections for a per diem  rate of $53.03 for each incarcerated male.  There are 120 male beds at the Butte center.  CCCS Inc contracts for a per diem rate of $62.27 for each incarcerated female.  There are 55 female beds at the Butte center.  Apparently being a female is a pre-existing condition and therefore costs more to treat.


CCCS Inc recently contracted with Bismarck ND Transitional Center to incarcerate and treat offenders at a per diem rate of $48.00 per day.  This per diem rate is $5.03 per day less for each North Dakota incarcerated male than for each Montana incarcerated male.  The cost of living in North Dakota is comparable to the cost of living in Montana.


At $5.03 per day for 120 beds, Montana is paying $603.60 more per day for the same service than North Dakota is paying.  At $5.03 per day for 120 beds, Montana is paying $220,314.00 more per year for the same service to the same not for profit company than North Dakota is paying.  North Dakota sure has better negotiating skills than Kevin Olson, Administrator for Montana Probation and Parole.


Montanans love their North Dakotan jokes.  It seems the joke is on Montana.  We are paying almost a quarter of a million dollars a year more to the same company for the same service.  Eh, just raise Montana taxes, that will cover it.


 

	


	
	






	
	

		
Who Owns The New For-Profit Illegal Immigrant Detention Centers – You Do
	


	

		
Two of the nation’s largest for-profit prison companies are publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.  Corecivic (formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America) and GEO Group are the world’s leading providers in for-profit incarceration.  Corecivic owns the private prison in Shelby MT, Crossroads Correctional Facility.


Corecivic and GEO Group are in a fast and furious competition to build huge holding areas and prisons for illegal immigrants that are detained in the United States.  These holding areas and prisons are commensurate with the private prison holdings that are built for American citizens.  That is to say they dehumanize, degrade, abuse and provide substandard care for the humans placed in their facilities.


Many Montanans have strong opinions about immigration and illegal immigration in the United States.  Many op-eds, speeches, rallies, and marches have been held in Montana supporting immigrants to the United States.  Safe zones are created and people feel really good about the actions they take.  People are mad about the treatment of immigrants.  Let us see how mad you really are.


Vanguard Group Inc is the largest institutional investor in GEO Group.  The largest owner of Corecivic is Vanguard Group Inc.  The other significant holder is Blackrock Funds in both GEO Group and Corecivic


The State of Montana, through its investment portfolio, is invested in Vanguard Group Inc and Blackrock Funds.  Every time you cash your Montana Employee Retirement check or your teachers retirement check you are cashing in on your investment of each detained and imprisoned immigrant and every prisoner confined in overcrowded prisons.  For every SNAP recipient, welfare recipient and recipient of Medicaid in Montana, your benefit is based on the number of immigrants detained and imprisoned and for every prisoner forced into overcrowded prisons.  How mad are you now?


If you are still mad about the conditions placed on immigrants and prisoners, contact your legislator and tell them to pull your investments in Vanguard and Blackrock and accept a lower benefit.  If you are not willing to accept a lower benefit from the loss of the investment then you are complicit in the detainment and imprisonment of immigrants.  How mad are you now?


You can march and rally and carry your little sign.  The real test is are you willing to pull your investment in immigrant prisons and private prisons for American citizens and accept a lower benefit.  Or do you demand the same benefit off the suffering of these humans.  You own the investment, you decide.  The prisons are yours, make the decision then take action or take the money and be complicit in the suffering you are rallying about.

	


	
	






	
	

		
Oregon Militiamen, Mormonism and Our Public Schools
	


	

		


A cautionary tale for parents and students of Montana Public Schools.  Are your children being programmed to radical Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) theology?  Are your children coming home with certain innocent key phrases that you don’t even pay attention to?  Here are some key phrases you should be tuning into and why they are steeped in radical Mormon theology taught in your schools to your children.


1) The White Horse (refers to the White Horse Prophecy)

2) The Constitution is hanging by a thread.(Precursor for the White Horse)

 Variations:1) Shredding the Constitution 2) Tramping on liberties

                    3) Betraying the Founders

3) Secret Combinations (Mormon euphemism for Satanic conspirators)

4) National Center for Constitutional Studies


 Oregon Militiamen LaVoy Fincum, Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy have at least four things in common. They are devout members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons), they believe(d) in the White Horse Prophecy, they believe(d)  the United States Government was comprised of secret combinations and they all conspicuously carried pocket copies of the Constitution printed by the National Center for Constitutional Studies. Ammon and Ryan’s father, Clive Bundy, was not at the Oregon occupation but he shared the same beliefs during the Nevada standoff with the government and his family.


The nation misunderstood the real meaning behind the standoff.  The White Horse Prophecy, first attributed to the Mormon Prophet, Joseph Smith, reveals “the time would come when the Constitution and the country would be in danger of an overthrow and if the Constitution be saved at all, it will be by the elders of this Church.”  




LaVoy Fincum, Clive Bundy, Ammon Bundy, and Ryan Bundy were attempting to bring forth the White Horse Prophecy and, being Elders of the Mormon Church, were going to save the Constitution from the secret combinations of the Government.  Fincum made references to “The Title of Liberty” a story from the Book of Mormon in which the Nephites had to stand and fight for their liberty, religion and land.  Another Mormon occupier, Dylan Anderson, used Captain Moroni (the last remaining Nephite who hid the golden plates for Joseph Smith to find and translate the Book of Mormon) as his alias when talking to reporters.


Before the occupation Ammon Bundy said the constitution was “hanging by a thread” an allusion to the White Horse Prophecy, wherein Mormons would have to come forth and save the Constitution.  Glenn Beck and Senator Orin Hatch are often heard sending this coded message.  Most Americans that have heard this think of it as just another overblown commentary and think nothing of it.  To those familiar with the White Horse Prophecy, it is an unmistakable signal.  It is the calling to Mormon Elders to come forth and save the Constitution.


W. Cleon Skousen wrote the pocket constitution (see the cover page at the top of this post.)  This interpretation of the constitution is a fraudulent, pseudo-historical pamphlet.  Skousen believed the Constitution was based on a Christian theocracy and the Federal Government had no authority.  He drew his inspiration from the John Birch Society that was co-founded by the Koch brother’s father.  Throughout the pamphlet, in the margins, is Mormon theocracy and in coded language calling forth the Mormon Elders to save this land and Constitution.  The Center for Constitutional Studies was founded by Mormons and is headquartered in Idaho,


Florida distributed over 80,000 copies of this pseudo constitution to school age children before the Tampa Bay Times clued them into the notes and annotations by Skousen,


Sit down with your children.  Ask them if they have heard any of the phrases mentioned.  Check their school and homework and see if any of the phrases are included in the work.  If your child comes home with a pocket constitution with the picture shown at the beginning of this post go immediately to your school board.  Don’t let secret coded radical Mormon theology influence your children.


The nation got it wrong once, the standoffs were not about grazing rights, and federal overreach.  They were coded messages to the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to fulfill the White Horse Prophecy.  Don’t let that misunderstanding reach into the classroom.


 


 


 

	


	
	






	
	

		
“It’s Good Enough for Native Americans” Montana Prison – Two Rivers Detention Facility
	


	

		
In June 2004, Judy Martz, Republican Governor (remember her), met with James Parkey in Las Vegas. James Parkey is a suave salesman for the ever-growing private prison industry.  Parkey describes himself as the savior for local communities hit hard by unemployment and poverty.


Parkey runs a company called Corplan Corrections.  He was looking to sell Governor Martz a prison project for the State of Montana.  Through state officials he ended up in Hardin.  His method is to promise a full-service team to take on the entire project, a turn-key operation.

This team has a construction firm to build the facility, a prison operator to find prisoners, someone to run the facility, underwriters to sell bonds and a consultant to do an economic study.  To officials in a county where poverty is double the national average, it sounded like a good deal.

Hardin's $27 million municipal bonds earned the underwriters, Herbert Sims of Connecticut and Municipal Capital Markets Group of Dallas $1.62 million. The prison's designer and builder, Hale-Mills Construction of Houston a maximum price of $19.88 million.  Then there was lawyers, surveyors, consultants and Parkey himself.  No one knows how much Parkey made.

Hardin didn't make out so well.  The prison opened in mid 2007 and only had one contract in 2014 for a few months with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  

The Montana Department of Corrections refuses to house prisoners there, going so far as to have Attorney General Mike McGrath write some rambling opinion about the illegality of the facility.  It seems that the detention center is not in compliance with design standards.  The majority of Montana inmates are caucasian.  The Montana Department of Corrections refuses to house these caucasian inmates at the detention center because of substandard design. 

In 2014, The Bureau of Indian Affairs entered into a contract for a brief time with the Two Rivers Detention Center before pulling the Native American prisoners from the prison.  Now the Bureau of Indian Affairs is entering into another contract with the facility to house Native American inmates from across the northern plains. 

The Bureau of Indian Affairs was created as a part of the War Department...yes, the War Department.  How far does one need to think before realizing that the agency was created to be aggressive and suppressive. 

The War Department Bureau of Indian Affairs already has 11 federal prisons in Montana for Native Americans.


Montana


Blackfeet Adult Detention Center

Blackfeet Youth Detention Center

Crow Adult Detention Center

Flathead Adult Detention Center

Fort Peck Indian Juvenile Services Center

Fort Peck Police Department and Adult Detention Center

Fort Peck Transitional Living Unit

Northern Cheyenne Adult Detention Center

Northern Cheyenne Youth Detention Center

Rocky Boy Adult Detention Center

White Buffalo Youth Detention Center


The BIA now wants to add a 12th federal Native American prison in Montana at a prison that the State of Montana refuses to use for its' majority of caucasian inmates.

City Attorney Becky Convery housed a goat, hamsters, gerbils, cats and a field mouse named Mr. Jingles in the detention center.  Now we are going to make it another prison for Native Americans.

Please Montana can we stop this madness of locking everybody up.  We do not need a 12th federal prison in Montana.  Hardin was sold a bill of goods that did not work. We do not need to compound the bad decision by making another bad decision to lock up more Native Americans.