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Parole Denial

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LDSayler

Junior Member
Montana. Can an inmate be denied parole for refusing to testify, for safety reasons, against an inmate that committed a crime in prison ?
 


quincy

Senior Member
Montana. Can an inmate be denied parole for refusing to testify, for safety reasons, against an inmate that committed a crime in prison ?
The Montana Parole Board writes its own rules, giving itself broad discretion in parole hearings to grant or deny parole.

Although inmates are eligible for parole after serving a percentage of their sentence (sometimes as little as one-quarter of their sentence), this does not mean that all who are eligible will be granted parole. The primary consideration when determining if parole will be granted is public safety.

Prior to a parole hearing for any eligible inmate, the parole board after reviewing the inmate's file can set "pre-conditions" for release. These pre-conditions must be met before there is a chance for parole to be granted. Some of these preconditions make the denial of parole pretty much a foregone conclusion - the conditions set out for the inmate are difficult or impossible for the inmate to satisfy.

In your case (or in the case of the inmate you are writing about), the pre-condition can be satisfied but perhaps not without some risk to the inmate (although if he will be testifying against someone already incarcerated, the risk to his own safety might be minimal).

If the inmate wishes to have the pre-condition that has been set out for him re-evaluated and reconsidered, he can request a parole board review. He will do best if he has an attorney assist.
 
Last edited:

LDSayler

Junior Member
The Montana Parole Board writes its own rules, giving itself broad discretion in parole hearings to grant or deny parole.

Although inmates are eligible for parole after serving a percentage of their sentence (sometimes as little as one-quarter of their sentence), this does not mean that all who are eligible will be granted parole. The primary consideration when determining if parole will be granted is public safety.

Prior to a parole hearing for any eligible inmate, the parole board after reviewing the inmate's file can set "pre-conditions" for release. These pre-conditions must be met before there is a chance for parole to be granted. Some of these preconditions make the denial of parole pretty much a foregone conclusion - the conditions set out for the inmate are difficult or impossible for the inmate to satisfy.

In your case (or in the case of the inmate you are writing about), the pre-condition can be satisfied but perhaps not without some risk to the inmate (although if he will be testifying against someone already incarcerated, the risk to his own safety might be minimal).

If the inmate wishes to have the pre-condition that has been set out for him re-evaluated and reconsidered, he can request a parole board review. He will do best if he has an attorney assist.


Thank you for your well written response. My basic concern here, and with respect to your paragraph #4, is that the inmate who committed the crime in prison, attempted murder, is serving a life sentence and has a lot of pull with numerous inmates, not to mention, unlimited resources. The inmate that will be expected to testify, as a precondition for release, has been denied once before and is worried that if he is denied again, even after testifying, his life will be seriously endangered. I tend to agree.

Is there anything that can be done to afford this inmate protection if he is denied again? Montana DOC has one of the worst reputations for not granting parole, even with attorney assist, at least in recent decades, as you may be aware. Does the prison have an obligation to make concessions to assure protection of inmates that, because of certain judicial processes, suddenly become high risk targets within the system?

Any and all advice, will be greatly appreciated.
 

quincy

Senior Member
Thank you for your well written response. My basic concern here, and with respect to your paragraph #4, is that the inmate who committed the crime in prison, attempted murder, is serving a life sentence and has a lot of pull with numerous inmates, not to mention, unlimited resources. The inmate that will be expected to testify, as a precondition for release, has been denied once before and is worried that if he is denied again, even after testifying, his life will be seriously endangered. I tend to agree.

Is there anything that can be done to afford this inmate protection if he is denied again? Montana DOC has one of the worst reputations for not granting parole, even with attorney assist, at least in recent decades, as you may be aware. Does the prison have an obligation to make concessions to assure protection of inmates that, because of certain judicial processes, suddenly become high risk targets within the system?

Any and all advice, will be greatly appreciated.
The inmate can contact a prisoners' rights lawyer to see if the pre-condition can be changed to a condition of parole instead, where his testimony will occur AFTER he has been released on parole from prison. Either that, or perhaps the lawyer can help arrange a transfer to another prison or at least another cell block, so the inmates will not come into contact with each other.
 

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