“Greetings Mr. Chairman and members of the committee,
By this statement we are appealing to you to hold the DOC accountable to its stated mission of ‘Corrections’ instead of perpetual and unforgiving punishment.
Clive Kinlock has 11 years clear conduct, which actually should be closer to 14. Yet at his March 2009 parole hearing he was denied for EIGHT YEARS. They say they will review his case in 2014 but they will absolutely refuse to consider his release until 2017! This additional cost to the state comes to about $235,000 more than the already $585,000 his incarceration has cost the taxpayers. The reason they recently gave to former Warden Mr. Mahoney is that Mr. Kinlock is not sufficiently remorseful and their belief he will continue to commit a similar crime if released. They say this in spite of clear evidence to the contrary from many people who have had personal experience of his character over the years, including Mr. Mahoney.
Clive has been denied justice by the state of Montana by improper sentencing, and from sabotage by his public defenders who insisted he agree with a false sexual assault charge which DNA and hospital testing do not support, in exchange for a short prison sentence and deportation. Instead he is into his 21st year of imprisonment and in need of medical attention which had been consistently denied him. (Documentation is available at www.citizensforclive.org) Mr. Kinlock has more than proven to this state that he has taken all the steps needed to live productively on the outside. Is the state so vindictive that it would prefer he remain in prison for all the best years of his life before becoming free to adapt to a culture he hasn’t experienced since he was a child? There is obviously something far more sinister here than the idea of ‘Corrections’ or Mr. Kinlock would be a free man right now, having earned that status through 20 years of diligently rehabilitating himself, in spite of the oppressive DOC system currently in place that seems designed to destroy instead of build up those it holds captive.
Mr. Kinlock’s children, and now grandchildren, have been denied his presence all these years and are as anxious as he is to start catching up on all the years they’ve missed. Surely this is more important than making sure he remains warehoused for the next 5 years just to keep the inmate bed count at a premium. Morality needs to be brought back into Montana’s Department of Corrections and to this end we appeal to you of the Law and Justice Committee.”
Joy Wellington’s Statement to the Law and Justice Committee, June 22, 2012