News & Commentary

Around 9:20 p.m. on Sunday, April 23, 2017, Eugene Mitchell, Shayleen Meuchell, and their four-year-old daughter were in bed at their home in Lolo, Montana, when they heard a violent crash. “It sounded like a truck had driven straight into our house,” Mitchell later said. In a surreal flash, armed bounty hunters kicked in the front door, broke into the bedroom, pointed assault rifles and pistols at the family, and shouted at them not to move.

The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Montana, and Terrell Marshall Law Group today filed a lawsuit against private entities. Bail bondsmen, bounty hunters, and insurance companies profit off our country’s exploitative, for-profit bail system.

Anybody who has family members struggling with addiction — or struggles with it themselves — knows that increased penalties will not help Montanans.  Instead of further punishing people by criminalizing addiction, the state could improve people’s lives and make our communities safer by spending tax dollars on prevention and treatment services. Kudos to the House Judiciary Committee for voting against HB 534. SK Rossi, Advocacy and Policy Director

"Debt-based driver’s license suspensions are a heartless penalty on poverty. Worse - this penalty is nonsensical. Taking away a person’s ability to get to work is an ineffective way for the state to collect money.  It’s pretty simple: if you can’t get to work, you can’t pay off debt.

"Too many people in Montana with mental health or substance use disorders do not have access to the care they so desperately need. This lack of access to care harms both individuals and our communities because it results in too many people needlessly being pushed into homelessness or the criminal justice system.  As a first step, the state should study the current system of services for treatment of substance use and mental health disorders so that we have a good starting point for creating a healthier and more vibrant Montana. The ACLU of Montana supports HJ 9." SK Rossi, ACLU of Montana Advocacy and Policy Director

"Peer support programs are a vital and unique way to support people who are recovering from substance use disorders or other behavioral health issues.  When people have access to peers, their outcomes improve. People in peer support programs have fewer symptoms and end up in the hospital less often. Their well-being and self-esteem improve, and they participate more in their communities. Their recoveries are also more thorough and longer-lasting.

Under current Montana law, the Montana Department of Justice, Motor Vehicle Division, is required to suspend the driver’s license of any person who fails to pay court debt. Every year, the state suspends the driver's licenses of more than 10,000 low-income people who cannot afford to pay court debt, even when the reason for their debt has nothing to do with public safety when driving. In Montana, driving with a suspended license carries a penalty of between 2 days and 6 months of jail in addition to more fines and an extended period of suspension. H.B. 217 would relieve thousands of Montanans from this harmful practice.

Lawmakers, advocacy groups agree: suspending driver’s licenses for unpaid court debt improperly punishes individuals and is counterproductive.

Montana’s budget crisis offered state legislators the opportunity to set aside politics and create budget solutions for Montana. Unfortunately, at a time when the needs of vulnerable Montanans should have created consensus, our elected officials targeted the transgender community for discrimination and kowtowed to the for-profit prison industry.