Hess

BACKGROUND

Hess is an inmate at the Snake River Correctional Institu- tion in Oregon, who has been incarcerated since 1984 as a result of multiple convictions on rape, sodomy and child sex- ual abuse charges. Hess first became eligible for parole in May 1994. Under Oregon law, the Oregon Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision (“Board”) must release a pris- oner on his parole release date unless it finds that his parole 1 Hereinafter, all cites to § 144.125(3) are to the 1991 edition of the Ore- gon Revised Statutes unless otherwise noted. HESS v. BOARD OF PAROLE 1461 should be postponed for one of several statutory reasons. See Or. Rev. Stat. § 144.245. The Board may postpone a prison- er’s release date if the prisoner has a “psychiatric or psycho- logical diagnosis of a present severe emotional disturbance such as to constitute a danger to the health or safety of the community.” § 144.125(3). Hess challenges the Board’s Sep- tember 2003 decision to postpone his parole release date by two years under Oregon Revised Statute § 144.125(3).

In anticipation of his 2003 parole hearing, Hess was evalu- ated by a licensed psychologist, Dr. Frank Colistro. Dr. Col-…