Montana Title 46. Criminal Procedure § 46-23-201. Prisoners eligible for nonmedical parole

(1) Subject to the restrictions contained in subsections (2) through (4) and the parole criteria in 46-23-208, the board may release on nonmedical parole by appropriate order any person who is:

(2) Persons under sentence of death, persons sentenced to the department who have been placed by the department in a state prison temporarily for assessment or sanctioning, and persons serving sentences imposed under 46-18-202(2) or 46-18-219 may not be granted a nonmedical parole.

(3) A prisoner serving a time sentence may not be paroled under this section until the prisoner has served at least one-fourth of the prisoner's full term.

(4) A prisoner serving a life sentence may not be paroled under this section until the prisoner has served 30 years.

(5) If a hearing panel denies parole, it may order that the prisoner serve up to 6 years if the prisoner is confined for a sexual or violent offense, as defined in 46-23-502, or up to 1 year if the prisoner is confined for any other offense before a hearing panel conducts another hearing or review.

(6) Nothing in this section prohibits the department from transferring a prisoner who is within 14 months of parole eligibility to a prerelease or treatment center for the purposes of preparing the prisoner for release into the community.