After 40 years in prison, a man convicted of first degree murder in Russell County may be eligible for parole on Oct. 1.

Raymond Russell Carrier, 63, is among the Kansas Department of Corrections inmates who will go before the Prisoner Review Board in September. He was convicted for a murder that happened on Oct. 26, 1970.

Carrier is in the maximum security level of custody at Lansing Correctional Facility.

Inmates are required by law to receive a hearing when they become parole eligible, and then the review board considers whether they are actually suitable for parole. Numerous factors are taken into account, including the inmate’s behavior, and input from the victims, prison staff and public.

Also eligible for a parole hearing in September is Robert James Malone, 41, who has convictions in Pawnee County. Although Malone’s original crimes of theft and aggravated sodomy were committed in Wyandotte County in 1992, he battered a correctional officer and committed sexual battery in Pawnee County on Oct. 10, 2005. He is under special management at the Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility.

The prisoner review board will hold public comment sessions next month for all inmates who are eligible for parole hearings in September. Hearings will be held Aug. 22 at the Finney State Office Building in Wichita; Aug. 23 at City Hall in Kansas City; and Aug. 24 at the Landon State Office Building in Topeka. The review board also accepts written comments.