Please, can someone ask Reginald Michael where this stops? Maybe with Mr. Michael’s alleged history he isn’t the person to ask. Governor Bullock, where does this stop? Members of the Legislature, where does this stop? Members of the Law and Justice Interim Committee, where does this stop? PREA is a serious issue and someone needs to be held accountable. Apparently only Montana tax payers are held accountable. Your tax money will pay this lawsuit. Who do you hold accountable?
According to the above chart, The State of Montana has the most criminal elements in the founding NATO countries- OR – Montana has the most corrupt, power hungry and politically motivated judges, prosecutors and Department of Corrections in the founding NATO countries.
Montana citizens don't appear to be so different from people from other areas. Here are some interesting facts about people from Montana. Actor Bill Pullman taught film and photography at Montana State University before becoming a full-time actor, and currently owns a ranch near Whitehall. Academy Award-winning director Brad Bird was born and raised in Kalispell. Carroll O'Connor, who played Archie Bunker on the sitcom "All in the Family," attended the University of Montana. Aviator Charles Lindbergh was a mechanic at the Billings Municipal Airport (now Billings Logan International Airport). Country singer Charley Pride played minor league baseball for both the Helena Smelterites and the Missoula Timberjacks. Actor Christopher Lloyd owned a ranch in the Bitterroot Valley for a number of years, on which he spent much of his time. Late-night talk show host David Letterman lives for much of the year on his ranch near Choteau. Actor Dennis Quaid owned a ranch in Paradise Valley, where he spends a significant amount of time. Daredevil Evel Knievel was from Butte. Gemini 7 astronaut and Apollo 8 commander Frank Borman lives in Big Horn County. Academy Award-winning actor Gary Cooper was born in Helena and spent much of his teenage years there before graduating from Gallatin County High School in Bozeman. Space Shuttle astronaut and physicist Loren Acton was born in Lewistown and attended Montana State University, where he is currently a professor of solar physics. There are actually too many notables from Montana to mention, so I am saying the people from Montana don't seem to be as dangerous as the statistics indicate. Perhaps the other theory, corrupt, power hungry and politically motivated judges, prosecutors and Department of Corrections seems more probable.
34% of the prison population in the State of Montana is due to sanctions and revocations of probation and parole resulting from technical violations. Missing an appointment with a supervising officer can result in a return to prison. 25% of the revocations and sanctions are due to very serious violation or new crime. (The above statisics obtained from the Council of State Governments Justice Center.) The Department of Corrections population report, 10/2/2019, reveals there are 2723 inmates incarcerated at the Men and Women’s Prisons. 925 of these inmates are revocations and sanctions. 25% of the 925 revocations and sanctions are due to very serious violation or new crime and these people should be revoked and sanctioned. 694 people in prison are there for a technical violation because meeting their supervision requirements is almost impossible.
The State of Montana is a vast and rural area. For people living on the edge of poverty and trying to rebuild their lives, the costs and logistics of community supervision can be crippling. In Montana, home to 13 federally recognized tribes on seven reservations with few services on site, people may have to travel 60 miles to check in with their probation officer or take a necessary class. Without the means to travel 60 miles on secondary roads during severe weather and lacking cell phone coverage and internet services, these people cannot meet supervision requirements. And yet we continue to incarcerate these people at staggering numbers and overwhelming amounts of money.
It costs tax payers in the State of Montana about $35,000.00 per year to incarcerate one person. Montana has 694 prisoners incarcerated for technical violations i.e. failure to complete a class or failure to check in with a supervising officer when logistically they simply cannot meet the requirement. 694 prisoners X $35,000.00 = $24,300,000. That is twenty four million, three hundred thousand dollars.
The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole holds all their very important parole board hearings through video conferencing. They do not meet face to face with inmates requesting parole. Very important careers such as teachers, nurses, physician assistants are obtained through online classes. Telemedicine and telehealth is transforming medical care in rural areas. Are we ready Montana to transform the lives of people on probation and parole and help them succeed with their supervision requirements or do we just not care?
Twenty four million, three hundred thousand dollars would go a long way in helping individuals to succeed with supervision requirements. We can use that money to set up video conferencing between impoverished probationers and their supervising officer. These video conferencing centers can be set up in tribal offices, law enforcement centers, or state offices. Required classes can be done through internet video conferencing while the probationer is online participating with the class.
Supervising officers travel to these rural areas to do home checks, and assist in arrests, sanctions and revocations. Perhaps supervising officers could travel to these rural areas quarterly to meet with the individuals they have been communicating with through video conferencing, not to revoke and arrest them but to assist them in succeeding. I would point out that a chaperone should be included with the officers traveling together so there isn't anymore "he-said" but I digress here.
If a sanction is required maybe community service or house confinement with permission to go to work and medical appointments. Not prison. Use the money for success, not failure. Despite the prison sanctions and revocations of the Montana Department of Corrections, I just don’t believe Montana has the worst criminal elements in the founding NATO countries. However, we may have the most corrupt Department of Corrections, judges and prosecutors in the founding NATO countries. The chart seems to indicate that.
Deep in the center of Montana lies the refreshingly authentic community of Lewistown. Intersected by a beautiful, spring-fed stream, encircled by gentle island mountain ranges and surrounded by Montana’s natural beauty, Lewistown is a premier destination for fishing, hunting, hiking and biking. Showcasing the heart of a Western lifestyle, Lewistown is the perfect place to find your center. Intoxicated with power from which it seems it cannot recover, Community Counseling and Correctional Services Inc (CCCS Inc) has found its center or so they continue to pretend.
CCCS Inc and its dummy company Montana Behavioral Health Inc is a failing institution. They are hemorrhaging money, losing investments for failure to pay property taxes and closing treatment centers. And yet, CCCS Inc owns a beautiful vacation home deep in the center of Montana on a beautiful golf course surrounded by premier fishing, hunting, biking and hiking. CCCS Inc is also a private contract, non-profit prison. Oh, the profit in non-profit.
This 3360 square foot vacation home has vaulted ceilings, 5 bedrooms and three baths. As with all facilities owned by CCCS Inc. it is carefully staged but deteriorating. There are dead birds on the property, the exterior is in need of repair and of course abandoned. This abandoned property is valued at $330,000.00, one third of a million dollars. One third of a million dollars of taxpayers money. Montana tax payers believed this money would be invested in drug and alcohol treatment for a better Montana. Instead taxpayers got an abandoned deteriorating home.
“Power intoxicates men. When a man is intoxicated by alcohol, he can recover, but when intoxicated by power, he seldom recovers.” James F. Byrnes.
Why is this information important? Montana’s well-vetted legislators are closing the drug and alcohol treatment center at the state prison to send prisoners to CCCS Inc treatment centers. This includes Nexus Treatment Center in Lewistown. Montana is planning on investing millions of dollars into a company that just lost a 2 million dollar property to a California company speculating in delinquent property taxes. CCCS Inc owns a deteriorating abandoned vacation home valued at one third of a million dollars. Two million, three hundred and thirty thousand dollars of tax payer money, designated to treat Montana prisoners, squandered by the intoxication of power. And yet Montana continues to send millions of dollars to a company intoxicated by power from which it will never recover.
CCCS Inc uses the “higher power” concept in its treatment programs. With this concept many are able to recover from the intoxication of addiction. Luke 4:23 Physician, heal thyself. Before attempting to correct others, CCCS Inc needs to be sure they aren’t guilty of the same faults. The intoxication of power.
CCCS Inc cannot heal others until they heal themselves. The intoxication of power has led to a failing company and Montana continues to pour millions of dollars into an intoxicated failing company.
What is the answer? Two million, three hundred thousand squandered dollars would go a long way in helping people to transition out of prison. We have to give people hope. Hope for a better way of life through housing, jobs, medication and community treatment. We have to give people a belief that they are better than the worst thing they did. Despite the millions of dollars poured into CCCS Inc, CCCS Inc cannot give people the hope they need. They can’t heal their own faults, how can they give hope to others.
Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness. Desmond Tutu
The gateway to drug and alcohol addiction is childhood abuse. Let’s give hope to these people, not millions of dollars to a failing intoxicated company. Give hope through help. Use the money to actually help people transition.
A Missoula MT man, Craig Gibson, sexually assaulted a five year old girl on numerous occasions in 2013.
April 7, 2015, The Honorable Judge Robert L. “Dusty” Deschamps sentenced Craig Gibson to twenty years with the Montana Department of Corrections, with all but five years suspended. Judge Deschamps recommended Gibson be placed in the community of Missoula while he is under DOC supervision. No prison time, he just has to pay for the child’s counseling. Montana Code Annotated 46-18-222(6) allows the judge to make this determination.
“One of the things is he’s almost claiming to be the innocent victim of circumstance,” Deschamps added, asking Dr. Michael Scolatti, who conducted Gibson’s psycho-sexual evaluation, if he believed the defendant had accepted responsibility for his actions.
“I don't think he is accepting full responsibility, and I do think he is minimizing,” Scolatti said. “I think he facilitated this and encouraged this. That's bothersome to me.”
Craig Gibson is a pedophile that sexually assaulted a five year old girl on numerous occasion. He also has a facebook page with pictures of him posing with a young girl. I have intentionally cropped the child’s face from the pictures.
Judge Deschamps did not order the removal of these pictures from Gibson’s facebook. Gibson’s probation officer did not order him to remove these pictures from his facebook.
Gibson’s attorney, Pat Sandefur, argued the defendant was ashamed and embarrassed by the incident and had a difficult time expressing his guilt to the psychologist during the evaluation.
He also said the defendant has no previous felonies and has had no contact with the child since he posted bail in September of 2013. He’s been gainfully employed for four years, and will be able to pay for the girl’s counseling for the remainder of his life.
Pay for the girl’s counseling for the remainder of his life? What about the remainder of her life? What happens to this child’s mental health when she finds this facebook page with Gibson cuddled up to a little girl during the time he was sexually assaulting her, the victim? She will find out there is no justice from Judge Robert L. “Dusty” Deschamps.
These are not my pictures. For decency sake I have cropped the child’s face from the pictures. These pictures are online for all to see on Craig Gibson’s facebook page. The judicial system has failed the children of Missoula by not protecting them from a pedophile that posts pictures of children on his facebook page. Gibson need only visit his facebook page to meet his sick psychological needs. Judge Deschamps and the Department of Corrections have failed all the children of Missoula and Montana.
Missoula, are these your values? You need to hold the Department of Corrections accountable and you need to replace Judge Deschamps. No pedophile should be allowed to post pictures of children online and not be ordered by the judge or their supervising probation officer to remove the online pictures. Stand up Missoula and protect your children. Don’t leave it to Judge Deschamps to protect your children because he has failed in his obligation to the children.
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.
The LJIC is responsible for monitoring the activities of the Office of the State Public Defender (OPD),
the Department of Corrections (DOC), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and any entities attached to
those agencies for administrative purposes. The administratively attached entities that the LJIC
monitors are:
• the Board of Pardons and Parole (attached to DOC);
• the Board of Crime Control (attached to DOJ until January 1, 2018, when it will
transfer to DOC);
• the Gaming Advisory Council (attached to DOJ); and
• the Public Safety Officer Standards and Training (POST) Council (attached to DOJ).
The LJIC is required to monitor the operations of the agencies under its jurisdiction and should give specific attention to: 1) identifying issues likely to require further legislative action; 2) identifying opportunities to improve existing laws that govern an agency’s operation and programs; 3) determining whether the experiences Montanans have had with an agency can be improved through legislative action; and 4) reviewing proposed agency legislation.
The Law and Justice Interim Committee has been meeting for the last two years implementing and monitoring laws designed to reduce prison overcrowding and recidivism. The members come to the meetings with their designer coffee's and wander in late after roll call. The law enforcement personnel testifying get to put on "their good stuff" and look shiny. The agencies being monitored turn out their best looking people dressed all fancy and smiling, with reports that have been worded just right. The Committee Members tour prison facilities and of course Director Reginald Michael always looks great and speaks eloquently. Everyone looks shiny, dresses well and drinks expensive coffee...and spend millions of dollars.
The 2017 Legislature passed a package of bills purported to reduce prison overcrowding and recidivism in the Department of Corrections population. The Law and Justice Interim Committee was tasked with monitoring the operations of the agencies in implementing this package of laws. Perhaps the committee members got lost in Montana attempting to implement the law MCA 44-7-120. A law that actually provides housing for those inmates being released from prison. This law sprang from Senate Bill 65 and is now an actual law that cannot be enforced. I fear the members are lost somewhere looking for the housing created by this law. It is the only explanation I can find for their complete lack of monitoring the agencies they have been tasked to monitor and identifying opportunities to improve existing laws that govern an agency’s operation and programs.
Here are some recent newspaper headlines concerning these laws created by the legislature and tasked to the Law and Justice Interim Committee to implement and monitor. Yellowstone County: A Montana sheriff is saying efforts to reduce jail crowding are backfiring Flathead County: “Nothing that happened at the Legislature has affected jail overcrowding at this point. Lewis and Clark County: The planned renovations will bring capacity from the current 80 inmates to 156.
The Law and Justice Interim Committee, after two years of drinking designer coffee, listening to law enforcement personnel dressed up in their “good stuff”and listening to the carefully worded reports of monitored agencies, voted for the following legislative action to reduce prison overcrowding and reduce recidivism:
LAW AND JUSTICE INTERIM LEGISLATION
The committee voted in September 2018 to forward 3 bills to the 2019 Legislature.
LC 93 (LClj01) — Clarifying interim oversight of the Office of State Public Defender. Section 1. Section 5-5-228, MCA, is amended to read: (iv) the office of state public defender;
LC 360 (LClj02) — Revise appointment of board of pardons and parole members. Section 2. Section 2-15-2305, MCA, is amended to read: The members must be appointed as provided in [section 1]. using the process provided for in [section 1].
LC 361 (LClj04) — Eliminate or revise MCA references to Article II, section 36, of the Montana Constitution (Marsy’s Law). Marsy’s Law was passed by the heart strings of voters. The Montana Supreme Court has declared Marsy’s Law unconstitutional.
Two years of work, millions of dollars and the Law and Justice Interim Committee have added 23 words in two laws to relieve prison/jail overcrowding and to reduce recidivism. Meanwhile a few miles down the road the Montana Innocence Project, with the help of volunteers and donations, have exonerated seven wrongfully convicted people in Montana. The Montana Innocence Project did this without tax payer money, wearing jeans and t-shirts and fighting state prosecutors to free innocent people.
I fail to see where the addition of 23 words is going to relieve prison overcrowding, reduce recidivism and provide housing for those leaving prison. The Law and Justice Interim Committee has given a whole new meaning to GET LOST IN MONTANA.
December 28, 2017, prosecutors charged Dr. Patrick McGree, a longtime family physician in Butte, with two felony counts of sexual intercourse without consent, three counts of sexual servitude, and two counts of misdemeanor sexual assault.
McGree has been a physician in Butte for 31 years, working from an office on South Clark Street in recent years and also practicing at the North American Indian Alliance clinic in Butte.
Eric Sell, with the Department of Justice, confirmed that Dr. Patrick McGree, a family practice physician, is under investigation. Sell said the Butte-Silver Bow County sheriff’s office requested the state to investigate McGree in late December 2016. The Montana Department of Justice discloses that Dr. McGree operated a private clinic and also practiced at the North American Indian Alliance clinic in Butte. What the Montana Department of Justice does not disclose is that Dr. McGree also practiced at the Women’s Center at the Butte Pre-Release, Community Corrections and Counseling Services Inc (CCCS Inc).
Community Corrections and Counseling Services Inc (CCCS Inc) filed forms 990 with the IRS. Form 990 shows CCCS Inc paid Dr. McGree, as an independent contractor, $140,500.00 for services provided to the women at the center in 2015. In 2016, CCCS Inc paid Dr. McGree $139,350.00 and in 2017, after the state began investigating Dr McGree for sexual assault and sexual servitude, CCCS Inc paid Dr. McGree $117,500.00 for services to the women at the Butte Pre-Release.
The Montana Department of Justice investigators, through their investigation, knew or should have known that women at the Butte Pre-Release were possible victims of sexual servitude to Dr. McGree. Community Corrections and Counseling Services Inc. (Butte Pre-Release) knew or should have known that Dr. McGree was under investigation from December 2016 for sexual assault and sexual servitude and continued to force women in 2017 to possible sexual assault and sexual servitude for services provided to the women under the care of CCCS Inc. Montana Department of Corrections knew or should have known that the women at Butte Pre-Release were being subjected to possible sexual assault and sexual servitude through services provided by Dr. McGree. All these agencies knew or should have known that the women at the Butte Pre-Release were possible victims of Dr. McGree and failed to identify them as victims.
The Department of Justice, Community Corrections and Counseling Services Inc and the Montana Department of Corrections failed in their duty to protect and identify each possible victim of Dr. McGree, even to the point of forcing these women to actually being possible victims and forcing them into sexual servitude.
The Montana State Legislature should call for an immediate investigation of The Department of Justice, Community Corrections and Counseling Services Inc and the Montana Department of Corrections for failure to disclose this information to prosecutors. All victims from the Butte Pre-Release need to be identified and provided with the necessary counseling and assistance to help them recover from the trauma inflicted from the actions of Community Counseling and Corrections Inc.
“The defendant said he wanted the agents to just pull his license and make it easier.” These are women with no voice. Who will be their voice? These women were not sentenced to sexual assault and sexual servitude. It was forced upon them by the people that had power over them. These people now need to be identified.
By a lie, a man… annihilates his dignity as a man. Immanuel Kant
Warden Lynn Guyer, with a stance of self aggrandizing, is loudly proclaiming to the people of Idaho that the Montana State Prison has no programming, no mental health treatment, no educational opportunities and dry cells (this last comes from his experience with lawsuits in Idaho). He is coming to Montana to overcome the challenges that have been created at The Montana State Prison. I am giving Warden Guyer the benefit of the doubt that he didn't show up at the Old Territorial Prison to proclaim these outlandish remarks but rather he actually arrived at the current prison.
The Montana State Prison definitely has its' problems, mainly that of overcrowding. The state has incarcerated people at an alarming rate, particularly the American Native population. I am hopeful this scourge is lessening with the retirement of Ron Alsbury. The newly configured Board of Pardons and Parole, the lynch pin of prison reform, is failing. Lynn Guyer's edict in Idaho that the state prison has no programming, mental health treatment, education and dry cells is completely and unequivocally false. By a lie, a man... annihilates his dignity as a man.Immanuel Kant. Shall we take a look?
PROGRAMMING AND EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES:
Montana Correctional Enterprises (MCE), headquartered near Montana State Prison at Deer Lodge, employs 75 civilians and provides daily training for approximately 500 inmates at Montana State Prison and Montana Women’s Prison in Billings.The Montana Correctional Enterprises Divisionprovides vocational education, on-the-job training and work experience to inmates in industry, vocational and agricultural programs. Inmates working in these programs develop marketable job skills, a strong work ethic and self-esteem through a feeling of pride in their accomplishments, often for the first time in their lives. In addition, inmates earn a wage to pay their victim restitution and court-ordered fines, and to save money for their release.INMATE ACADEMIC EDUCATION
Curriculum
The Montana Adult Basic Education Content Standards set by the Montana OPI will be issued to govern all classroom curriculums.
In order for students to receive pay, they must be assigned full time. School is a work assignment and students are not allowed to be assigned to another work assignment, while attending school.
The Life Skills Program provides learning opportunities directed at independent living through practical preparation in a variety of areas. Life Skills rules that are approved by the Education Department will be discussed with and signed by the inmate before they begin class. If an inmate is identified as having a disability that affects his ability to participate in educational programs, an appropriate accommodation shall be provided, including, but not limited to, individualized instruction. The list continues, however in the interest of space this should give you an idea of educational opportunities.PROGRAMMING FOR SUBSTANCE ABUSE- A message from Department of Corrections Director Reginald Michael. Lynn Guyer, by declaring there is no programming, denies Director Reginald Michael's message that this program exists.
The Montana State Correctional Treatment Center in Deer Lodge accepted its first 30 inmates, DOC Director Reginald D. Michael said. The secure, remodeled facility formerly housed the Treasure State “boot camp” program and now provides a 90- to 180-day intensive chemical dependency treatment program for prison inmates approaching their release dates. “It’s critical that we create opportunities for people to stop coming back to prison,” Michael said in a news release. “By helping inmates develop responsible thinking, become more accountable and learn the skills they need to overcome addiction, this new program will give offenders a real opportunity to take their lives in a more positive direction.”
MARTZ DIAGNOSTIC INTAKE UNIT (MDIU)
Mental health assessment and evaluation
In nearly all cases, mental health services, including evaluations, are voluntary and inmates have the right to decline mental health services if they choose.
Newly arrived inmates are told how to access mental health services and what to do if they experience a mental health emergency.
Inmates are offered an opportunity to sign a release of information form that allows mental health staff to request the inmates’ past mental health records to aid in assessment and treatment.
Within two weeks of arrival at MDIU, each inmate receives a brief mental health screening, which is usually completed by a mental health technician. Based on the results of this screening, inmates who need additional evaluation and assessment are referred to a licensed clinician. This additional assessment is completed within 30 days of admission.
Inmates who may have developmental or learning disabilities are also offered an assessment at MDIU.
DRY CELLS
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS MONTANA STATE PRISON OPERATIONAL PROCEDURE
Dry/Strip Cell ProceduresTo enable staff to isolate contraband ingested, or inserted in body cavities, inmates are subject to dry/strip cell procedures in cells where the toilets cannot be flushed.
By a lie, a man... annihilates his dignity as a man. Immanuel KantHow unfortunate Warden Lynn Guyer has chosen to start his career in Montana by throwing his boss, Director Reginald Michael, under the bus by denying the programs that Mr. Michael says exist. Now who do we believe, Director Reginald Michael or Warden Lynn Guyer? Director Reginald Michael says all the above programs exist and Warden Lynn Guyer says the above programs don't exist. Lynn Guyer It is going to be a huge challenge. No programming, mental health treatment, education and drycells.Do we need to make changes at the prison? Absolutely. Can we improve programs at the prison? Absolutely. Can these changes and improvements be made by someone with a hero complex? Can these changes and improvements be made by someone that throws their boss under the bus before they even begin their job? Can we ever believe anything Warden Guyer says if he starts his job with lies? Who do we believe?
By a lie, a man... annihilates his dignity as a man. Immanuel Kant
HELENA — A former Idaho corrections official has been named the warden of the Montana State Prison. Corrections Director Reginald D. Michael said Tuesday that Lynn Guyer will begin his job at the Deer Lodge prison on Oct. 22. Guyer retired in May 2016 after 13 years as warden of the North Idaho Correctional Institution.
Warden of the North Idaho Correctional Institution (NICI)? Does anybody actually know what the North Idaho Correctional Institution is? Well let’s take a look because it isn’t a prison.
NICI primarily houses defendants sentenced under a retained jurisdiction sentence. Retained jurisdiction provides a sentencing alternative for courts to target defendants who might, after a period of programming and evaluation, be viable candidates for probation rather than incarceration. Retained jurisdiction means the judge retains jurisdiction over the defendant. Idaho Department of Corrections does not have jurisdiction over the defendant, the judge retains that jurisdiction.
Per the Idaho Department of Corrections Website:
"Retained jurisdiction, often called a rider, is a sentencing option available to judges in the State of Idaho. Offenders sentenced under retained jurisdiction are called as retained jurisdiction. During the 90- to 365-day retained jurisdiction sentence offenders receive treatment." http://www.idoc.idaho.gov/content/prisons/inmate_classification...
The North Idaho Correctional Facility is a treatment center, not a prison. NICI currently averages a 414 male defendant population serving retained jurisdiction sentences (“riders”) between 90 to 180 days where defendants receive treatment for substance abuse, counseling, GED and workforce training. At their rider’s completion, defendants are evaluated and recommended to the court to be either placed on probation or ordered to serve their underlying prison sentence.
Defendants at NICI are not serving prison sentences, they are receiving treatment. Retained jurisdiction is what is commonly referred to as the "Rider" program. There are now several options for this available to the Judge. Depending on what one is utilized, the "end date" is when the Judge has to decide whether to place the defendant on probation, or to simply impose the sentence and remand to the custody of the Department of Corrections. During the time at the treatment center where Lynn Guyer was the warden, the defendant has not yet been remanded to the Department of Corrections.
Here is Lynn Guyer's work history in corrections:
Lynn Guyer started his career at the treatment center at the North Idaho Correctional Institution as a correction officer. Two years later he transferred to the Nampa Community Work Center as employment development coordinator. In 1990, he went to Caldwell to work as a probation officer, four years later to the IDOC central office in Boise as program coordinator for Probation and Parole (P&P), and in 1996 was promoted to P&P district manager in Twin Falls. In June 2003 be became warden at the North Idaho Correctional Institution treatment center.
He worked at a treatment center as a correctional officer. He then worked as an employment development director. He then worked as a probation officer and then became "warden" at the same treatment center where he worked as a correctional officer. With this work history he now has the experience to be warden for the Montana State Prison (MSP), the largest correctional facility in the state, housing nearly 1,500 male inmates in a 68-acre compound designed to handle all custody levels: maximum, close, medium and minimum.
The Deer Lodge High School mascot is the "Wardens". Just because the high school students call themselves "Wardens" does not make them experienced to be the Warden of the Montana State Prison. Being a warden of a treatment center does not make Lynn Guyer experienced to actually be a warden of a prison.
Maybe Reginald Michael said it best at the Interim Law and Justice Committee meeting recently held in Helena. "It's very hard to find someone to work in the middle of nowhere Montana." Well, Mr. Michael, that's where we are.
Warden of the Montana State Prison, no experience necessary.
Community Counseling and Correctional Services (CCCS) Inc is a not for profit, private correctional facility in Butte that contracts with the Montana Department of Corrections (MDOC) to incarcerate and provide treatment for adult offenders. CCCS Inc contracts with MDOC to provide addiction treatment at WATCH, the men’s program at Warm Springs and Watche, the women’s program in Glendive.
The men's WATCH program has a capacity of 115 individuals. CCCS Inc contracts with the Montana Department of Corrections for a per diem daily rate of $63.69. The total daily per diem rate is $7324.35. The treatment program lasts for 6 months or 180 days. The total cost of treatment for 115 individuals for 6 months is $1,318,383.00.
The women's WATCHe program has a capacity of 50 individuals. CCCS Inc contracts with the Montana Department of Corrections for a per diem daily rate of $103.62. The total daily per diem rate is $5181.00. The treatment lasts for 6 months or 180 days. The total cost of treatment for 50 individuals for 6 months is $932,580.00.
The total cost for 6 months of treatment for WATCH and WATCHe is $2,250,963.00.The 2017 Legislature changed state law concerning treatment programs for people convicted of fourth or subsequent DUI. Whereas people convicted of a fourth or more felony DUI charge were previously required to either serve prison time or complete WATCh’s in-patient treatment, House Bill 133, a sweeping sentencing-reform bill passed last year, contains a provision that allows them to be sentenced to an appropriate treatment court program instead, which Mike Thatcher (CEO of CCCS Inc) finds baffling.
Baffling? Participants in treatment court programs are enrolled for 12 - 18 months at a cost of $4000.00 per offender. If all 165 WATCH's participants were treated in treatment court programs the total cost would be $660,000.00 for 12 months of treatment vs the $2,250,963.00 for 6months of treatment through the CCCS Inc WATCH programs. In treatment court the offender has access to a social worker, an addiction counselor, a probation officer and a public attorney. They are required to find their own housing, get a job, pay taxes and are at home with their children rather than the children being farmed out to foster care or elderly grandparents. The job requirements for CCCS Inc is a high school diploma or GED vs a social worker, addiction counselor, a probation officer and a public attorney, all educated professionals.
Mike Thatcher and the Montana Department of Corrections operates on an antiquated belief system. Evidence-based practices (this is a popular phrase now used in the correctional system) shows that addictions are the result of early childhood trauma. Mike Thatcher believes Montanans "advocate that people should be completing WATCh as a ‘pound of flesh.’”
I believe that most Montanans advocate for the ability to provide housing, food, education and opportunities for their families. The antiquated "pound of flesh" phrase comes from Shylock, a character in the play The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. He is a Jewish money-lender who lends money to Antonio. When Antonio is unable to pay the money back, Shylock says he has the right to cut a pound of flesh from Antonio's body. I don't believe that Montanans want to cut flesh from the bodies of victims of childhood trauma.
With a salary of a quarter of a million dollars a year, Mike Thatcher can afford a Shakespearean belief of cutting the flesh from trauma victims. Other Montanans cannot afford the huge tax burden of supporting CCCS Inc and the Montana Department of Corrections antiquated belief system. William Shakespeare died 400 years ago. In 400 years we have evolved to evidence-based practices for treating early childhood trauma. That evidence-based practice does not include cutting flesh from people.
Montanans advocate for improving the lives of their families. Unnecessary tax burdens of millions of dollars does not improve the lives of Montana tax payers, it only improves the bank balances of CCCS Inc and the political position of the Montana Department of Corrections.
Are you still baffled Mike Thatcher (CEO of CCCS Inc) and Reginald Michael (Director of MDOC)?
