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| Montana Corrections to get tribal liaison |
| By Great Falls Tribune |
| Published: 06/28/2006 |
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ARLEE, MT There are more than 10,000 people in Montana's correctional system, and the state wants to keep seven more from entering it. That's the goal set for the system's new tribal liaison, who will be based in Great Falls and will work to help Indians navigate the complexities of the courts and prisons. "I think it will give us hope that our enrolled members will get a fair shake," said Fort Belknap Tribal President Julia Doney. Native Americans are wildly over-represented in Montana's prisons, according to Department of Corrections statistics. They account for only 6 percent of the general population but comprise 17 percent of Montana's male inmates. The numbers are even more out of whack in the women's prison, where about 26 percent of the inmates are Native American. "We can't stick our heads in the sand any longer and pretend there's not a problem," said Bill Slaughter, the Corrections Department director who is retiring this week. He'll be replaced by department veteran Mike Ferriter. The problem was discussed in detail at a Corrections Advisory Council meeting here, hosted by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes. Among the theories as to why so many Native Americans are in the prison system is that they're unfamiliar with ways to negotiate lesser sentences in cases where that might be appropriate. That's where the cultural officer comes in. The state originally had contemplated hiring two such officers with a $100,000 federal grant but realized that when other costs were factored in, "we'd be paying peanuts," said Corrections Department spokesman Bob Anez. Keeping just seven people out of the system will save the state between $132,000 and $440,000, depending on the proportion of male and female inmates, she said. Female inmates are less costly because their sentences tend to be shorter. Even if the seven people kept out of prison are all women, the state still would save the liaison program's $100,000 annual cost in the first year, she said. If the program is successful, advocates will push to have it included in next year's state budget. Great Falls was chosen as the liaison's location the cultural officer will work out of the public defender's office there because of the high number of Native American inmates from Cascade and surrounding counties, he said. The state has interviewed six people for the job and has narrowed the choices down to two. Cascade County Sheriff Dave Castle said he welcomes the help. "Confusion comes in when Native Americans don't understand the system," he said. "If we have the Native cultural officer, I think it'll decrease the communication barrier we all run into." The cultural officer will work with Native Americans who come into the corrections system from Cascade, Glacier, Hill, Liberty, Phillips, Teton and Toole counties. Fifty-four Native Americans are sentenced to prison from those counties annually and another 23 come back into the system when their probation is revoked, said Reno Charette, coordinator of American Indian Affairs for Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Doney said anything that could help keep tribal members out of prison is worth a shot. Doney, who is Assiniboine, added that she's in touch with several Fort Belknap residents who are in prison. "I get letters from them and my heart breaks every time I read them because I feel so helpless as a community leader," she said. Doney blamed racism in part for the skewed proportion of Native Americans in prisons, as did Luana Ross, an associate professor of women's studies at the University of Washington. Ross, author of "Inventing the Savage, The Social Construction of Native American Criminality," studied inmates at the women's prison in Montana in the early 1990s. "The conditions I found in the prison were deplorable and they absolutely horrified me," said Ross. "...Do Native American women have a different experience than white women? Indeed they do. They have a very different experience, due to racism." Ross said later that she was heartened to hear about new prison programs that incorporate Native American values and practices. Her niece, Lucille Leptich Cruz of Great Falls, a former methamphetamine user, spent three years in prison and, she said, "came out almost ashamed of being Native. I spent my whole life being proud of being Native and it did not take the system long to undo that." Ross said that when she did her study 16 years ago, inmates requested an American Indian liaison. Tuesday, corrections officials invited her to return to the prison and talk to inmates again. The liaison program, which is modeled after one in Lethbridge, Alberta, "is unique in America," Slaughter said. "There's a lot of eyes on this program, not just in Montana but in the nation," he added. |
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