Now under DOC, BOP grants parole to 8 inmates

The CNMI Board of Parole conducted its first parole hearing as part of the Department of Corrections at the Vicente Taman Seman Building in Susupe yesterday and at the end of the proceedings granted parole to eight DOC inmates.

In a press conference after the hearing that also doubled as a board meeting with members of the CNMI Board of Parole, DOC Commissioner Anthony Torres shared that among the eight parolees, six would join the active parole program which already has 13 individuals, making it a total of 19 current parolee releases.

In regards to the other two inmates granted parole yesterday, BOP chair Chris Leon Guerrero noted that they are currently detained at the federal [court] so they were basically being transferred to the feds. Leon Guerrero didn’t disclose the details of the case but noted that the individuals were foreign nationals with cases involving drugs, specifically meth.

Leon Guerrero told the media that, so far, most current parolees are doing well.

“They’ve been doing good. The violations of parolees are pretty low, so its showing that the system is working.” He expressed his faith in the collaboration with DOC and Torres. Leon Guerrero added that the current programs and partnerships Torres has been implementing with the court and businesses makes getting back into the outside world smoother for parolees.

“Some have jobs waiting for them as well…Whenever an inmate has a job within DOC and can be furloughed to work, those are opportunities for them to be reintegrated back so they can be a full-time employee as well.”

Torres emphasized that their priority is not just to give parolees a second chance, but to ensure the community safety and security so he shared that before granting parole, parolees were instructed that if they were caught in violation of the conditions or committing another crime, they will be immediately put back into prison.

“These are the conditions, you know what the conditions are, don’t violate them because if you do and your egregious, you’re coming back right away. And we’re not brushing things under the rug, we’re not just saying don’t do it again; there are going to be systems in place, where if they get caught, they’re coming back right away, and they are going to have to go through the board hearing process for the revocation process because again public safety is my No. 1 priority. God forbid, you let somebody out without going through this process, and they hurt somebody, you don’t want that, that’s putting the community at risk and that will never happen, never ever happen, under my watch. “

Leon Guerrero added, “That’s why we have to remind them that this is a one-time opportunity for them, because when they violate that contract, they’re back in.” He shared, “Right now we are building this collaborative effort where we will conduct ourselves in a way that there is progress forward for the community and the inmates.”

He assured that parolees are ordered to coordinate with parole officers and continue to get counseling and guidance, even when released.

As the first parole and board meeting where the agencies are joined together Torres shared what the Board of Parole and DOC plan to do in enhancing the process of granting parole.

As of now, he said the process is that inmates can apply for parole, and as a commissioner, Torres does an assessment for each applicant deciding who is eligible to be on parole.

The commissioner will then submit the list to the Board of Parole and, in partnership with DOC, the board will schedule a public hearing where it will be decided whether or not paroles will be granted to those eligible.

Torres said that, while they are in the early stages of being a joint entity, they plan to enhance the eligibility requirements.

“That’s something I’m going to speak to the board about adding favorable work performance or work progress, evidence-based programming, completing the residential substance abuse treatment program… those are some of the examples that we’re looking to include into the eligibility requirements because right now it’s just one-year good conduct time with a little bit of programming here and there. But the majority of the individuals who were granted parole here [today] were a part of the outreach program, who were going to NMTech, who conducted some psychology programming in partnership with HOPE Recovery Center.”

He added that as commissioner, he hopes to enhance the operations piece with parole staff, supervision, and risk assessments.

“We want to streamline a lot of what they’re doing… a lot of everything were on paper and manual, so this is a new beginning, this is a new chapter…”

Leon Guerrero shared that at this time, there are 14 applicants for parole, nine elligible to be heard and eight were approved parole.

Torres shared that those that were denied will have the opportunity to reapply as parole hearings will be held every six months.

The administration of Gov. Arnold I. Palacios issued Executive Order 2024-008 in Aug. 9, 2024 that essentially transferred the Board of Parole to the Department of Corrections giving the department full control of the CNMI parole system.