To: The Montana State House, The Montana State Senate, and Governor Steve Bullock
Investigate the State of Montana Department of Justice, Department of Corrections and the Board o...
While Native Americans make up 6.5% of Montana's overall population, they make up 40 - 50% of Montana prison system! Minorities and low income people fill Montana courts and are often railroaded through and handed unjust sentences simply because they can't afford an attorney. They then fill Montana prisons (one is a for profit entity!) while their families pay the price - with loss of a family member and usually an income (and a parent), extremely high telephone costs and retaliation if they speak up against abuse, torture and injustice in these systems. Inmates are in poor health due to inadequate diets, poor living conditions and lack of proper medical care. Guards at the prison for profit have ZERO requirements to be hired and do not have to undergo even a background check. The Board of Parole and Pardons hands out "sentences" even though people were already sentenced in a court of law. They are out of touch with reality claiming almost everyone is a danger to the community yet never speaking to the people who know the inmates best or considering all the errors and bias that are written into pre-sentence reports and other documents prison staff write about inmates without their input.
Why is this important?
I am starting this petition because my son was railroaded through the courts in Billings, Montana (Yellowstone County), forced to "take a plea" and, despite being promised that if he took the plea he "wouldn't do any jail time" has been sitting in Montana prisons for over a year and a half with no end in sight. The MT Parole Board refused to inform us as to when his hearing was despite our numerous requests, then held the hearing without talking to anybody who knows him and could vouch for his good character, deemed him a danger to the community and placed unreasonable demands on him,specifically that he attend boot camp for a 2nd time knowing full well he failed the program once already because he refuses to admit guilt for a crime he didn't commit. It is commonly known that the BOPP often withholds information from families, does not notify them of inmate hearings and regularly place unrealistic demands on inmates, sometimes keeping them in prison for years after they have been "paroled" when they are unable to satisfy the BOPP's unreasonable demands.