Viewpoint: Gianforte prison crisis one parole denial at a time
Doug James
Montana’s prison population is exploding.
In 2000, we had about 2,550 inmates in Montana.
Today? Roughly 5,000.
Congratulations Montana. We doubled prison.
Why? You will hear the usual hits. Immigrants. Mexican drug cartels. Montana’s growing population. Republicans who voted with democrats in the Legislature.
But, the biggest reason? Governor Greg Gianforte.
No, he wasn’t getting tough on crime. Easier than that. Slicker too.
He just changed the Parole Board. That’s all it took to create a silent earthquake.
Montana law provides that the Governor appoints the members of the Board of Pardons and Parole. Rule 20.25.101, Administrative Rules of Montana. Gianforte appointed members willing to pretend that the law means whatever they want. Members who would keep people in prison longer. Much longer.
Most inmates are eligible for parole after serving 25% of their sentence. Mont. Code Ann. Section 46-23-201 (2025). Gianforte’s Parole Board looks at that number as a suggestion. An inmate’s chance of getting parole after serving 25% is about the same as winning the lottery. It’s a false hope. And, for the inmates and their families, it is crushing. Today, many inmates serve 50% or more of their sentences – before they have a realistic chance at parole.
Why? Because the Parole Board keeps saying that granting parole would “undermine the severity of the crime.” Seriously. Remember, these inmates were sentenced by judges who considered the severity of their crimes. Apparently, the Parole Board wants to resentence everyone. That’s not its job.
We must look beyond vengeance. Nearly everyone in prison will return to society. Keeping people in prison separates them from family and their support networks. You know, the things that will help them succeed when they get out of prison. Keeping many inmates in prison longer actually makes us less safe.
The Parole Board has a civic responsibility to look beyond the day the prison door closed on an inmate. Who is that person today? Have they matured, grown? Have they taken responsibility? And, the big question – if they are released, will they be a threat to the public? Not asking these questions is malpractice. If the Parole Board doesn’t ask, how can it morally deny parole? It can’t.
The Parole Board’s uniform denial of parole is a theft of public trust and a waste of public resources.
The Parole Board isn’t just ignoring the law. It’s undermining Judges who considered the severity of the crime at sentencing. And, those judges expected the defendants to be paroled at 25%. One Judge, while sentencing an inmate, said, people “very rarely spend their entire sentence” in prison. “It’s usually about a quarter of the sentence.” It once was. It isn’t true today.
Our prison population is exploding because inmates can’t get out. They are now staying in prison more than twice as long as expected. The result – inmates are piling up in our local jails waiting for beds. It is an intentional and needless waste of resources. And, excessive punishment does not serve any constructive purpose.
Montana has been tricked into spending a billion dollars on more prisons. Montana is spending around $700 million to expand the prison in Deer Lodge. Adding another five housing units with 1,000 beds. And, on top of that, $250 million for the women’s prison.
Think what that billion dollars could do for education, affordable housing, daycare shortages, and other needs. It could be transformative. Crime prevention or jails. Which is your choice?
Our legislature adopted a statute that makes inmates eligible for parole after they serve 25% of their sentence. Section 46-23-201, Mont. Code Ann. (2025). It isn’t automatic. But, the Parole Board shouldn’t keep them in prison for the same reason that the judge gave them a long sentence.
The rules changed. Surprise.
The result is prison overcrowding. And, not just the prisons. Prisoners are backed up into local jails waiting for space in Deer Lodge or in the Women’s Prison. And, we have roughly 600 inmates currently in a for-profit prison in Mississippi. Montana taxpayers are paying CoreCivic tens of millions of dollars every year to lock up Montana prisoners.
Governor Gianforte and the Parole Board could save Montana taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars if they would just parole rehabilitated inmates after they served 25% of their sentence.
Actually, we do not have a shortage of prison beds. We have a Gianforte-made problem. A parole policy problem.
Montana doesn’t need to spend a billion dollars on new prisons. It just needs a Governor and a Parole Board who will follow the law. There is a moral urgency for change.
Doug James is a retired Montana attorney and an advocate for smart public policy.