We the People
A Tragic Death
By Senator Greg Hinkle
It was reported in the June 25th Missoulian news that another inmate had committed suicide in the Montana State Prison (MSP). Corey Weis was found dead in his cell. He was 26 years old. Someone lost a son. This incident is a real tragedy. My sympathies are with his loved ones. According to Dept of Correction (DOC) records, Corey was imprisoned for the charge of “criminal mischief”. For him, it was a sentence of two years at MSP. He was not a violent offender.
“Criminal Mischief” is a crime defined in MCA 45-6-101, briefly, it is the act of destroying someone’s property without consent. The conviction of criminal mischief is a maximum fine of $1,500 and/or six months in jail unless the property damage exceeds $1,500 then the maximum fine is $50,000 and/or ten years in prison.
Corey’s death might have been prevented. Restitution and restorative justice should have been the focus of his sentencing. He should not have been imprisoned but sentenced to a program of repaying the victim for his crime. The cost of Corey’s imprisonment is immeasurable by the loss of his life. Sadly, this is not an isolated incident.
The Law and Justice Interim Committee has been looking at the issue of preventing suicides in the jails and prisons in Montana. Most institutions in the state are adequately working to prevent suicides. I have reviewed the procedures for the Sanders County Jail. Our county jail personnel are staying alert to this issue.
There is another aspect of Corey Weis’s incarceration that must be considered and that is the financial cost. It would cost the taxpayers about $74,000 to imprison him for two years. The problem is that our correctional system is run like a business. The more people we lock up, the more money is spent on growing the agency. Restitution, which is provided for in MCA 45-6-101, could have been used in his case. The outcome may have been far different.
Here is another example, inmate Robert O. Frickel. A homeless man who broke into a dry cleaners store and stole about $9.30. Yes, I understand that figure is correct and there are no other charges. His sentence? It is six years at MSP for theft. It will cost the taxpayers about $222,000 to imprison Mr. Frickel because of a theft of $9.30. You are probably thinking there is more to this story. You are right. Mr. Frickel is indigent, no means to defend himself. It is easy for him to become just another inmate to occupy a bed in the prison system. More inmates translates into more justification of larger and more prison facilities. It boils down to money. Again, this is not isolated an incidence.
There is a better way. The truly violent offenders must be locked up. It is the non-violent offenders that should be sentenced under different guidelines. This is where restorative justice and restitution come into play. The costs saved to the taxpayer can be enormous and it can reduce our prison populations. That would result in a shrinking prison industry. You get the idea. There is a lot more to this subject. Montana’s incarceration rate is climbing dramatically. We are currently locking up about 459 people per 100,000 residents, compare that to Maine with 169 people and Louisiana with 886 people. We have entered into the top half of states with persons jailed per capita.
Bottom line, restorative justice may have saved Corey’s life. Our judicial/correctional system is in need of changing directions. The cost in human and financial terms is just too great to continue down the same road. If you have any questions about an issue that is far greater than the space that is used here, give me a call, 827-4645.
- Senator Greg Hinkle (R) (sponsor) and Senator Christine Kaufman (D) co-sponsor of SJ29: Restorative Justice. Both of these Senators have helped bring some of these issues to the light of day. They realize the severity of not only the cost to the Montana tax payers but also to the loss of life.
I applaud both Senators for identifying and problem solving with some solutions that are needed not only for the economic state of Montana’s taxpayers but to bring encouragement to Montana families as they deal with the fear of who will be the next person that feels suicide is the only way out of a corrupt, corporate prison system. Both political parties working together. Montana is in need of desperate change.
Reblogged this on nebraskaenergyobserver and commented:
This is a subject the original poster is an expert in, especially in Montana. I haven’t seen much from elsewhere but, I have heard anecdotally that many states are seeing the same thing. We need to look at it and keep control before the prison bureaucracy gets out of control.
My hat is off to Senator Hinkle for saying it like it is. As a member of the Law and Justice Committee he has first hand knowledge of the many problems. Corruption in the DOC and the attitude of the parole board that they are God has metasticized through the system like a cancer. Montana is manufacturing inmates through their blatant use of parole revocation to increase prison population, because money is what DOC is about…..it is big business and growing every day, and the Parole Board, an entity who answers to no one, continually issues sentences far beyond those that have been made by Judges. DOC propaganda that unfortunately is believed ;by those that are not familiar with how their greed is affecting the taxpayers. There is absolutely no transparancy with the DOC, which in itself is dispicable, however to do so would expose the “cash cow” they are growing, and will continue to grow unless our citizens push the legislature for a long overdue cleanup. Get involved and quit letting the DOC bully you and your tax dollars, as well as our social programs which are over burdened by the collateral damage of children and spouses left behind.