Montana: "New rules affect prison employees"

[cuchulainn]

from the Billings Gazette

http://www.montanaforum.com/rednews/2003/04/10/build/safety/felonypartner.php?nnn=2

New rules affect prison employees
By VERA HAFFEY
The Montana Standard

ANACONDA – A plan to revise Department of Corrections’ policies to comply with federal law will result in criminal background checks for employees.

This is to ferret out employees with domestic violence convictions that carry a lifetime ban on owning or handling firearms and ammunition.

The change is driven by the Lautenberg Amendment, a supplement to the Gun Control Act that became law on Sept. 30, 1996. The amendment makes it a felony offense for anyone convicted of a misdemeanor or felony crime of domestic violence to ship, transport, possess or receive firearms or ammunition – including members of the military and law enforcement.

In a March 31 memorandum, Director Bill Slaughter ordered around 1,000 corrections department employees to report to their supervisors any current or pending charges or past convictions for domestic violence. They are also asked to fill out a qualifications form and return that to their supervisors.

After disclosure, affected employees will be suspended with pay while an interview and investigation takes place to see if the law will impact their employment status, Slaughter said this week.

At Montana State Prison, many of some 600 employees work with or near guns, along with another 130 gun-carrying probation and parole workers.

“That’s a pretty significant number of people that it could affect,†Slaughter said. “If you’re convicted of a domestic violence felony or misdemeanor – and that’s the key word – you can’t possess or own or be in the proximity of firearms. If you’re convicted, you’re out of business.â€

Slaughter and other department administrators are hoping employees will volunteer the information prior to running background checks. Those who fess up may stand a better chance of keeping a job than those who keep quiet, because the department has a limited number of positions which could be filled by restricted individuals.

Those coming forward first could be offered new positions “somewhere else in the system,†Slaughter said. But those spots in juvenile or women’s corrections are apt to fill quickly.

“We’ll try to give people who are honest with us every benefit we can,†Slaughter said. “We have limited places we can mitigate these with. If you come forward, we might be able to make accommodations for you. Those people who have not told us the truth, we’re going to deal with them.â€

“If we can’t do that, then they’re going to be terminated,†he said. “That’s what the law requires. We’re going to follow the law.â€

In order for the amendment to apply, an individual must have been convicted of the crime of domestic abuse, the offense must have involved the use or attempted use of physical force or the threatened use of a weapon, and the individual must have had a familial or family-like relationship with the victim. Other factors are whether the individual was represented by an attorney; in applicable cases, whether the case was tried before a jury; and whether the conviction has been expunged or pardoned.

It is also a felony for any person to give a firearm to anyone known to have a qualifying conviction. The law applies to both government issue and privately owned weapons.

It isn’t clear why the department didn’t comply earlier with the law enacted several years ago. That was before Slaughter took his post as director.

“It came on the radar screens for us in 1996, when I was the sheriff in Gallatin County. We had to change some policies,†he said. “I was a little surprised that corrections hadn’t dealt with it prior to this.â€

Administration will perform background checks that delve into each employee’s criminal history. Any domestic violence charges turned up will be investigated closely to determine if there was a conviction or if the charge was dropped, expunged or otherwise eliminated from records.

Employees called into question will be suspended with pay pending a review to determine which are “sensitive†positions that require handling firearms or ammunition or working in close proximity to the weapons.

At the prison in Deer Lodge, Warden Mike Mahoney said there’s no way to gauge the impact of the change, or to how many employees will be affected, but it won’t come as a surprise to the state workers.

“The staff all know it’s coming,†Mahoney said Wednesday. “I hope it has a minimal impact, based on our budget situation. My official position is we need everyone we have.â€

Still, Mahoney says MSP will follow protocol to come into compliance with Slaughter’s memorandum and the law.

Mahoney plans to gather with management staff at a meeting Tuesday to discuss the memorandum and decide how to implement the policy change.

Reporter Vera Haffey may be reached via e-mail at [email protected]

Thursday, April 10, 2003

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[Standing Wolf]

Depriving people of their Second Amendment civil rights for misdemeanors is wrong.