I would like to bring to your attention a flaw in our judicial process concerning inmates that go before the Wyoming Board of Parole. 

                The Wyoming Board of Parole offers many inmates a second chance of proving themselves to be a contributing member of society.  According to the 2014-2016 strategic plan, our (Wyoming’s) recidivism rate is proof that many inmates who are granted parole are successful at that, while few are not, which is why we as a state hold one of the lowest recidivism rates in the nation.  But, there are a portion of inmates that do not receive the same attention or consideration from our parole board as they should.  This is a contradiction between the WDOC’s Mission, Vision, Philosophy, and Core Values which clearly states that all offenders have the potential to live as law-abiding citizens and successful collaborative re-integration back into society and the Wyoming Board of Parole’s policy.

                Inmates serving sentences of ‘life’ in our state are thrust in limbo.  They were once allowed to go before the parole board after serving ten years and present the progress that they have made during their incarceration every other year.  Many of them focus on and take pride in the fact that they successfully completed a certain amount of their sentence without any rule infractions, yet none of these individuals are considered as good candidates for parole due to their crimes and their sentences.  None of them are considered for parole or commutations.  In our state, inmates serving a life sentence must first receive a commutation to their sentence from ‘life’ to some sort of sentence in a number of years.  In order for this to take place, the parole board has to recommend the commutation of a sentence to the Governor for consideration.  I have not heard of any request for a commutation to be recommended to the Governor in the last ten years.

  Please consider this; what positive reinforcement does an inmate serving a life sentence have to prompt them to act as a model inmate?  Many of them do not get visitors any longer and they look at segregation as a vacation.  Recently our parole boards’ guidelines have changed concerning inmates serving life sentences.  These individuals are no longer allowed to go before the board in person to communicate with the board members; rather they compile a ‘Commutation Packet’ and mail it to the board for review once every five years.  I do not know of any inmate serving a life sentence, in recent time, being considered for commutation by the parole board.

                The state of California released their “Lifer Parolee Recidivism Report” January 2013.  This report captures detailed statistics supporting that individuals serving Indeterminate sentences (lifers) that were granted parole were much more successful than those that were paroled serving Determinate sentences.  I believe that many of the inmates serving life sentences in the state of Wyoming would further support California’s findings if they were to be commuted and paroled. 

                The Wyoming Board of Parole has the ability to amend or change any of their policies at any time. Please consider implementing structured guidelines that allow these individuals serving a ‘life’ sentence a second chance to become a productive member of our society and further prove that Wyoming can rehabilitate all of their inmates.