In Re the Personal Restraint of Shepard

In In re Cashaw, 123 Wn.2d 138, 150, 866 P.2d 8 (1994), we ruled that the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board (Board) must "comply with its own regulations for conducting parolability hearings whenever it relies on an inmate’s lack of rehabilitation in setting a minimum term to coincide with the inmate’s maximum term”. We now rule that the Board may not amend its regulations retroactively to deny an inmate the right to appear at a parolability hearing.

Facts

Petitioner Robert Shepard 1 has a long history of committing major crimes and violating parole. On March 10, 1972, the Snohomish County…