Tag: Montana Legislature prison reform

Montana Law and Justice Interim Committee – Someone Call Search and Rescue

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. 

 






 


























	


	
	






	
	

		
Governor Bullock & Dept of Corrections Duplicity in Montana Prison Overcrowding
	


	

		
In 1999 the State of Montana signed a contract with Corrections Corporation of America for operation and management services at Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby MT.  Crossroads Correctional Center is a for-profit correctional facility operated by a multi billion dollar corporation based in Tennessee.  Formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America it is now known as CoreCivic.


Senate Bill 224 (2015) created a 15 member Commission on Sentencing to address the overcrowding in Montana Prisons.  Montana Governor Bullock recently signed into effect a package of bills to address overcrowding in Montana Prisons. These actions sure look good to Montana tax payers and certainly help in future elections.  The citizens of Montana owe accolades to Governor Bullock and his appointed Director of Montana Department of Corrections Mike Batista for their caring concern of the incarcerated and the effect of incarceration on the families of Montana.  Right?!?  You are so wrong!!  Governor Bullock and Director Mike Batista have, in a very duplicitous manner, contributed to overcrowding in Montana Prisons.


In 1999, Governor Marc Racicot and DOC Director Rick Day signed a contract with Corrections Corporation of America.  (The full contract and the excerpts are at the end of this post.) (excerpt 1) Section XXXXIX Section LI ” …agrees to house additional inmates transferred to the Facility in a number not to exceed the design specifications of the unit(s) Contractor proposes to use… “  To paraphrase, the Contractor cannot overcrowd the cells and prison.


In 2014, Governor Bullock and DOC Director Mike Batista amended Marc Racicot’s contract to read (excerpt 2) Amendment #13 Section II  General Requirements (J) Notwithstanding, any other provision herein or in the Development Agreement, the Department authorizes the Contractor to add a third bunk in some cells for a total of 53 additional beds to house MDOC inmates.”  To paraphrase, Bullock and Batista authorized the Contractor to overcrowd the cells and prison beyond design specifications.


Accolades Governor Bullock and Director Mike Batista.  You just hid your duplicity in overcrowding the prison because no citizen is going to read a 212 page contract.  That is until now.


In 2016, Governor Bullock and DOC Director Mike Batista amended Amendment #13 (excerpt 3) “Notwithstanding any other provision herein…the Department authorizes the contractor to continue housing MDOC inmates in the 53 bunks that were added pursuant to Amendment #13 through June 30, 2017.”   To paraphrase, Governor Bullock and Director Mike Batista, while pretending to pass bills, create commissions and putting forth false precepts, are actually authorizing overcrowding the prison cells beyond design specifications through June of 2017.


Drum roll, applause, standing ovation.  No one is going to read this contract so the duplicity of Governor Bullock and his appointed Director Mike Batista goes undiscovered and they can take their public bows to their good works.  Please, extend your Montana values, we have caught on to what your values really are.


Excerpt 1 page 149
Expansion: Contractor, on sixty (60) days' notice, agrees to house additional inmates transferred to the Facility in a number not to exceed the design specifications of the unit(s) Contractor proposes to use in housing and managing the additional inmates.


Excerpt 2 page 9
Section II
General Requirements
  (J.)  Notwithstanding, any other provision herein or in the Development  
        Agreement, the Department authorizes the Contractor to add a third 
        bunk in some cells for a total of 53 additional beds to house MDOC
        inmates.

Excerpt 3 page 2
SECTION II
General Requirements
Subsection J shall be revised to read as follows:
J.  In Amendment #13, the Department authorized the Contractor to add a third bunk ("Third Bunks") in some cells for the purpose of housing a total of 53 additional MDOC inmates at the facility through June 30, 2015.  Notwithstanding any other provision herein or in the Development Agreement, the Department authorizes the contractor to continue housing MDOC inmates in the 53 bunks that were added to Amendment #13 through June 30, 2017.

Here is the entire contract if you want to read it.
CCAOperationandManagement