CHEYENNE -- The Wyoming Senate agreed Thursday to consider a bill to allow medical furloughs for state prison inmates.

The Senate voted 25-5 for introduction of Senate File 88, sponsored by Sen. Curt Meier, R-LaGrange, to give the governor the option of granting a medical furlough when an inmate needs special medical treatment.

In June 2007, Gov. Dave Freudenthal commuted the sentence of Jeffrey Reichert so he could be eligible for parole and receive additional treatment for cancer. Reichert, a Torrington businessman, was convicted of defrauding dozens of farmers of more than $1 million.

In October, 2004 he pleaded guilty to check fraud and converting to his own use proceeds from the sale of dry beans owned by 59 farmers. Reichert was sentenced to 11 to 19 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution.

In seeking commutation of the sentence, his attorneys said in court records that Reichert was suffering from lung cancer.

Reichert is living on supervised parole in Laramie, Melinda Brazzale, public information officer for the Wyoming Department of Corrections, said Thursday.

In a letter to the state Parole Board last year, Freudenthal said he was reluctant to commute Reichert's sentence and requested that the Legislature provide the option of a temporary medical parole. He recommended that the board monitor the situation closely, and if the time comes when Reichert is able to work, to have him make restitution on the debt that he owes so many people.

Meier, during his argument for introduction of the bill, didn't mention Reichert by name but said his victims were upset when he was released early from prison.

The bill authorizes the Parole Board to give an inmate a medical furlough which can be rescinded if the inmate's condition improves.

"In the last six months of life, inmates would not have to spend the time behind bars," Meier said.

Contact Joan Barron at {M3joan.barron@trib.com or by phone at 307-632-1244.