Prison lost dying inmate's parole requests
Wednesday, September 10, 2003 Posted: 10:36 AM EDT (1436 GMT)
HELENA, Montana (AP) -- Montana State Prison officials misplaced a dying inmate's request for medical parole, a yearlong oversight that left Roy Link behind bars where his medical costs have mounted.
Although the prison's medical director said Link should be considered for early release due to his failing health, that recommendation never made it to the desk of Warden Mike Mahoney or the state Board of Pardons and Parole for review, said Cheryl Bolton, Mahoney's administrative officer.
Prison officials have since changed the way they handle inmates' requests for early release due to medical condition, hoping to prevent such applications from getting lost or forgotten.
Cathy Redfern, administrator of health services at the prison, said a new form for processing and tracking medical parole requests had been in the works for about six months and was approved just days before an Associated Press story detailed Link's situation.
"The medical parole process has been a concern of ours for a while," she said.
A new application for Link has been prepared and is expected to be before the warden this week said Julie Reardon, managed care coordinator for the Corrections Department. If approved, the Board of Pardons could act as early as its October meeting.
Confined to bed
Link, serving a 25-year sentence for helping his sister murder their stepfather in 1996, submitted his request for medical parole in early August 2002. It got lost in the prison's bureaucratic system.
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"Did we lose it? Did someone mess up in following through on the process? I don't know," said Linda Moodry, prison spokeswoman.
As a result, the Board of Pardons never had the chance to decide if Link should be released before his normal parole eligibility date of December 2005.
In a letter to The Associated Press, Link, 63, said he wants to be paroled because he is terminally ill and can barely function. "I have been mostly confined to my bed due to pain and weakness, and am not able to perform the tasks of daily living," he wrote. "Taking a shower can be all the activity I can handle, sometimes for several days."
He was diagnosed by Dr. Liz Rantz, prison medical director, as having heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and severe back pain. Link also claimed to have nerve damage, degenerative bone disease, arthritis and migraine headaches related to his military career. He has had four heart surgeries since his first heart attack in 1983.
Minimal risk
Joe Williams, head of the Centralized Services Division in the Corrections Department, said the prison has spent $14,200 on Link's medical care in the 32 months he has been an inmate.
In a May 2002 letter to Rasha Krishna, another prison physician, Dr. Alan Gabster of Missoula said Link should be freed because "his further life expectancy is extremely limited and the risk he poses, because of his physical disability, would seem to be somewhat minimal."
Link's request for medical parole went to the warden's office in early August 2002 and was routinely referred to the medical staff for review.
Rantz, in a memo about two weeks later, said, "I would request that his medical condition be taken into consideration and that his parole eligibility be reassessed."
Bolton said Warden Mahoney never received Rantz's recommendation. Link, after not getting a response to his request, sent another copy of the application to Bill Slaughter, Corrections Department director.
Bolton said that was returned to the prison to go through the proper channels. But, like Link's first request, that too cannot be found.
I think there are a couple issues here, the immate whose request was lost, and the fact that you can request to get out of jail early due to poor health. Up until I read this article, I had never thought much about immates getting out early due to poor health. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I think for me personally, part of it depends on the crime, and how bad it was. I don't think someone who has murdered a child should be let out early to live out their last days in some sort of comfort.
Wednesday, September 10, 2003 Posted: 10:36 AM EDT (1436 GMT)
HELENA, Montana (AP) -- Montana State Prison officials misplaced a dying inmate's request for medical parole, a yearlong oversight that left Roy Link behind bars where his medical costs have mounted.
Although the prison's medical director said Link should be considered for early release due to his failing health, that recommendation never made it to the desk of Warden Mike Mahoney or the state Board of Pardons and Parole for review, said Cheryl Bolton, Mahoney's administrative officer.
Prison officials have since changed the way they handle inmates' requests for early release due to medical condition, hoping to prevent such applications from getting lost or forgotten.
Cathy Redfern, administrator of health services at the prison, said a new form for processing and tracking medical parole requests had been in the works for about six months and was approved just days before an Associated Press story detailed Link's situation.
"The medical parole process has been a concern of ours for a while," she said.
A new application for Link has been prepared and is expected to be before the warden this week said Julie Reardon, managed care coordinator for the Corrections Department. If approved, the Board of Pardons could act as early as its October meeting.
Confined to bed
Link, serving a 25-year sentence for helping his sister murder their stepfather in 1996, submitted his request for medical parole in early August 2002. It got lost in the prison's bureaucratic system.
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Montana
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"Did we lose it? Did someone mess up in following through on the process? I don't know," said Linda Moodry, prison spokeswoman.
As a result, the Board of Pardons never had the chance to decide if Link should be released before his normal parole eligibility date of December 2005.
In a letter to The Associated Press, Link, 63, said he wants to be paroled because he is terminally ill and can barely function. "I have been mostly confined to my bed due to pain and weakness, and am not able to perform the tasks of daily living," he wrote. "Taking a shower can be all the activity I can handle, sometimes for several days."
He was diagnosed by Dr. Liz Rantz, prison medical director, as having heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and severe back pain. Link also claimed to have nerve damage, degenerative bone disease, arthritis and migraine headaches related to his military career. He has had four heart surgeries since his first heart attack in 1983.
Minimal risk
Joe Williams, head of the Centralized Services Division in the Corrections Department, said the prison has spent $14,200 on Link's medical care in the 32 months he has been an inmate.
In a May 2002 letter to Rasha Krishna, another prison physician, Dr. Alan Gabster of Missoula said Link should be freed because "his further life expectancy is extremely limited and the risk he poses, because of his physical disability, would seem to be somewhat minimal."
Link's request for medical parole went to the warden's office in early August 2002 and was routinely referred to the medical staff for review.
Rantz, in a memo about two weeks later, said, "I would request that his medical condition be taken into consideration and that his parole eligibility be reassessed."
Bolton said Warden Mahoney never received Rantz's recommendation. Link, after not getting a response to his request, sent another copy of the application to Bill Slaughter, Corrections Department director.
Bolton said that was returned to the prison to go through the proper channels. But, like Link's first request, that too cannot be found.
I think there are a couple issues here, the immate whose request was lost, and the fact that you can request to get out of jail early due to poor health. Up until I read this article, I had never thought much about immates getting out early due to poor health. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I think for me personally, part of it depends on the crime, and how bad it was. I don't think someone who has murdered a child should be let out early to live out their last days in some sort of comfort.
I know a lot of you may be mad at my views but it's just my opinion and I respect all of yours. For some reason I just can't be silent about this.. So please don't be mad at me!! 
) The idea of rehabilitation in prison is a fairly new concept in justice, and not something that our system is set up to deal with - so they end up doing a half @ssed job and we just end up with smarter criminals when they are released early because we are putting the small time criminals in with the big criminals, and just like the movie Blow showed, it ends up being a crime school for many of them. Sad thing is, prison really is a step up in the world for many of the people in there. And they can still get their drugs and sex, they just don't have to worry about finding a job or if the will be evicted or have the electricity turned off.
