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:

(a) confined in a state prison;

(b) sentenced to the state prison and confined in a prerelease center;

(c) sentenced to prison as an adult pursuant to 41-5-206 and confined in a correctional facility as defined in 41-5-103;

(d) sentenced to be committed to the custody of the director of the department of public health and human services as provided in 46-14-312 and confined in the Montana state hospital, the Montana developmental center, or the Montana mental health nursing care center.

(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.