Gordon v. Board of Parole & Post-Prison Supervision, 343 Or. 618

Summary

The Oregon Supreme Court reviewed a parole board order deferring Dennis Leroy Gordon’s initial parole release date for two years based on a finding of severe emotional disturbance. The court considered which parole rules applied after Gordon’s election between Oregon’s discretionary and matrix systems and whether the board acted inconsistently with its rules and prior practices. It reversed the Court of Appeals and remanded the matter to the Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision for further proceedings.

Holdings

1. The June 2003 order was inconsistent with the Board's prior officially stated policy and practice of applying the rules in effect when a discretionary-system inmate elected matrix treatment, which the Board had previously applied to Gordon's 1988 election.
2. The Board failed to provide a rational, fair, or principled explanation for changing from its prior practice of applying the rules in effect at the time of Gordon's 1988 election to a policy applying the rules in effect at his first election in 1984.
3. The case must be remanded to the Board to permit it, if possible, to provide a rational, fair, and principled explanation for departing from its prior practice of applying the rules associated with Gordon's 1988 election.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Board's June 2003 order, which applied the rules in effect when Gordon first elected matrix treatment in 1984, was inconsistent with the Board's prior policy or practice of applying the rules in effect at the time of an inmate's most recent matrix election.
2. Whether the Board adequately explained that change in policy or practice under ORS 183.482(8)(b)(B).
3. Whether the appropriate remedy was remand to permit the Board to provide a rational, fair, and principled explanation for its departure from its prior practice.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded