Montana Gives Governor More Power to Pardon Prisoners

The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole has adopted a policy on how it will implement a new law that allows the governor to grant clemency to prisoners even if the board recommends against it.

 

Under the new policy, adopted Wednesday, if there is no new information in an application for clemency the panel can rely on existing records and move the application along. If the application is new, the board staff will have to review it and report to the panel, which can request an investigation.