The media recently blasted GOP legislators for holding a "secret" public meeting in a Helena Hotel. Yet the media remains strangely mute when the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole (BOPP) conducts its business with murky impunity, no oversight and disallows appeals to their decisions.
Incarcerated citizens are entitled to fair hearings and the chance to regain freedom. Even though some prisoners have maintained their innocence for years, the BOPP insists parole will not be considered until guilt is admitted and remorse expressed. Admitting to a crime one didn't commit can and does land innocent people in prison. What reasonable person would make that mistake twice? Thus, some inmates sit in jail subject to a BOPP-created Catch-22 situation, each costing Montana taxpayers approximately $40,000 annually.
Legislators should reform parole board
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