This web page can be printed and sent to your love one in prison to help him or her understand the parole rules or policy affecting him / her.

Hello and thank you for visiting my web page. The parole process in Texas is confusing and intimidating to those individuals who are not familiar with how the Parole Board operates and how the parole system functions. Most inmates never place the right evidence or information in front of the Parole Board in time to allow the Parole Board to properly evaluate this information and decide if the inmate should be released to parole. When the Parole Board is spending less than 5 minutes on average per parole application and the parole release rate has fallen to approximately 25%, do you wish to take the chance of being denied parole and receiving a “set-off “ for up to five-years? Or, do you need an attorney to uncover the evidence and prepare the presentation needed to argue why the inmate should be released to parole?

PAROLE IN THE STATE OF TEXAS:

There was a substantial change in how parole was applied beginning September 1, 1996. Prior to September 1, 1996, an inmate who had committed a crime that was not specifically listed as not being eligible for Mandatory Supervision would have to be released to mandatory supervision when the inmate’s actual time served plus good-time credit accumulated equaled the sentence imposed on the inmate. Any crime committed after September 1, 1996 no longer had Mandatory Release available, instead, when actual time served plus good-time credits accumulated equals the sentence, the inmate would be eligible for a Discretionary Mandatory Review. At the Discretionary Mandatory Review, a three-member parole board panel will determine if an inmate should be released to Discretionary Mandatory Supervision. It was not mandatory for the Parole Board to release an inmate as it was prior to September 1, 1996. I have acquired the statistics for parole and mandatory release rates for the parole board in the state of Texas for September 2010 through Feburary 2012.

An inmate convicted of a crime after September 1, 1996 can, and in most situations will have to serve a substantial portion of the sentence, if not the entire sentence, if the inmate does not convince the Parole Board he/she deserves to be released back to society on parole. In Texas there is no mathematical formula that will allow an inmate to be released short of serving the entire sentence. There is no two-for-one credit or any other mathematical formula that assures the inmate will be released. The Parole Board determines if an inmate should be released to parole on a case by case basis. The inmate in Texas goes into review 6 months prior to the parole appearance date and can be voted by the Parole Board any time during this 6 month window. Prior to an inmate’s file being sent to the Parole Board, information is sent to the inmate’s file by the sentencing court, the District Attorney’s Office that prosecuted the inmate, the arresting agency, as well as the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). The Parole Board does not have the funds or the manpower to investigate each inmate’s application for parole beyond the information sent by the various agencies I have listed above. Instead it is incumbent upon the inmate to discover any beneficial evidence, submit that evidence, and create a compelling argument as to why the Parole Board should release the inmate to parole. If this is not done, the Parole Board will deny the inmate parole and if parole is denied the Parole Board will then determine when they will review the inmate’s file again. The Parole Board may refuse to review (set-off) the inmate’s file for not less than one-year from the date of the last review to no more than five-years. There is no appeal from a Parole Board decision refusing parole and setting off the inmate’s next review to some future date not exceeding five-years.

The following information is based upon the laws which are currently in effect as of April 2010. Parole and mandatory supervision eligibility is determined by the laws in effect at the time the offense is committed, not the date of sentencing. Many of the inquiries I receive are in regards to an inmate’s eligibility date and there is quite a bit of confusion about it. The following chart includes all time served in custody (both county jail and prison) and reflects an inmate’s first parole eligibility date. Please keep in mind, the parole board is presently placing inmates files in parole review some six-months in advance of these calculated time frames, and they are voting cases as early as three-months prior to the inmates parole eligibility date. In other words, you need to hire me well in advance of the computed parole eligibility date.

On February 15, 2012, the parole board met and set up procedural hurdles for submitting information to the board which requires certain time frames to be met. If these time frames are not met, documentation submitted will not be accepted and taken into consideration during the review process. Also, changes have been made in the parole guidelines regarding the Risk Item Factors Scale and these new changes will greatly impact inmates in review.

PAROLE			DISCRETIONARY MANDATORY
Yrs.	3g Offenses	All Other Offenses	3g/508.149 Offenses	All Other Offenses
1	N/A	1 mos 13 days	N/A	5 mos 21 days
2	N/A	2 mos 25 days	N/A	11 mos 8 days
3	2 yrs	4 mos 8 days	N/A	1 yr 5 mos 2 days
4	2 yrs	5 mos 21 days	N/A	1 yr 10 mos 22 days
5	2 yrs 6 mos	7 mos 3 days	N/A	2 yrs 4 mos 12 days
6	3 yrs	8 mos 15 days	N/A	2 yrs 10 mos 3 days
7	3 yrs 6 mos	10 mos 0 days	N/A	3 yrs 3 mos 20 days
8	4 yrs	11 mos 8 days	N/A	3 yrs 9 mos 16 days
9	4 yrs 6 mos	1 yr 0 mos 24 days	N/A	7 yrs 3 mos 4 days
10	5 yrs	1 yr 2 mos 8 days	N/A	4 yrs 8 mos 24 days
11	7 yrs 6 mos	1 yr 9 mos 9 days	N/A	7 yrs 1 mos 6 days
15	7 yrs 6 mos	1 yr 9 mos 9 days	N/A	7 yrs 1 mos 6 days
20	10 yrs	2 yrs 4 mos 12 days	N/A	9 yrs 5 mos 18 days
25	12 yrs 6 mos	2 yrs 11 mos 15 days	N/A	11 yrs 10 mos
30	15 yrs	3 yrs 6 mos 18 days	N/A	14 yrs 2 mos 12 days
35	17 yrs 6 mos	4 yrs 1 mos 21 days	N/A	16 yrs 6 mos 24 days
40	20 yrs	4 yrs 9 mos	N/A	18 yrs 11 mos 6 days
45	22 yrs 6 mos	5 yrs 4 mos 3 days	N/A	21 yrs 3 mos 18 days
50	25 yrs	5 yrs 11 mos 8 days	N/A	23 yrs 8 mos
55	27 yrs 6 mos	6 yrs 6 mos 11 days	N/A	26 yrs 12 days
60	30 yrs	7 yrs 1 mos 15 days	N/A	28 yrs 4 mos 24 days
LIFE	30 yrs	7 yrs 1 mos 15 days	N/A	N/A

3g Offenses where good time credits have no effect on an offender’s sentence:

Parole eligibility is based on calendar time. The inmates convicted of a 3g offense are not eligible for mandatory supervision. Any 3g offense committed on or after September 1, 1993 requires an inmate to serve a minimum of one-half of the total sentence to become parole eligible. The following is the current listing of 3g offenses:

Aggravated Sexual Assault

Aggravated Kidnapping

Aggravated Robbery

Indecency with Child-Contact

Murder

Sexual Assault of a Child

Offenses with Affirmative Finding of Deadly Weapon

There are certain offenses where a life sentence carries unique initial parole eligible requirements by statute:

Capital Murder	40 years actual time served
Aggravated Sexual Assault (two prior convictions 1 sex related)	35 years actual time served
Aggravated kidnapping with Intent to Abuse Sexually (two prior felony convictions 1 sex related)	35 years actual time served
Indecency with Child-Contact (two prior felony convictions 1 sex related)	35 years actual time served
Burglary Habitation with intent to sexual assault or indecency with Child-Contact (two prior felony convictions 1 sex related)	35 years actual time served

Aside from the above listed offenses, good time credits for offenses listed below and as defined in 508.49 of the Texas Government Code count toward an inmate’s parole eligibility. The good time credit does not count, however, toward release on mandatory supervision. If the inmate is never approved for parole, the inmate convicted of the following will serve the entire sentence:

Aggravated Assault 1st and 2nd degree	*Drug-Free Zone Offenses	Robbery
Arson 1stdegree	Indecency with Child-Exposure	Sexual Assault
Burglary Habitation 1st degree	Injury to Child, Elderly, Disabled 1st degree
Use of Child in Offense

*Drug-free zone offenses carry a unique parole eligibility requirement. If convicted of such a crime, an offender must serve five calendar years to become eligible. Consequently, if an offender is sentenced to five-years or less, he or she is not eligible for parole or mandatory supervision.

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Pardons involving Completed Terms of Deferred Adjudication With the passage of proposition #9, the Texas Constitution has been amended to authorize the Governor, on the written recommendation and advice of the Board of Pardons and Paroles , to grant a pardon to a person who successfully completes a term of deferred adjudication community supervision. Senate Bill 144 implemented the constitutional amendment by amending Code of Criminal Procedure 48.01 effective January 1, 2012. To be eligible for pardon based upon a deferred adjudication community supervision, the following criteria must be met: Must successfully complete the term of deferred adjudication community supervision, and May submit the application on or after the 10th anniversary date of the discharge and dismissal of the deferred adjudication community supervision. Should you wish to apply for a pardon after completing deferred adjudication please contact my office.

BILLS PASSED BY TEXAS LEGISLATURE 2011:

The following is a list of the bills enacted and signed into law by the 85th Texas Legislature in 2011. All these laws were passed by the Texas Legislature and have been sent to the Governor to be signed and will be effective September 2011, unless otherwise stated. Because of the legislative impasse that occurred between the Republican and Democratic Legislatures, most bills dealing with criminal justice matters never made it to the floor and therefore did not become law.

HB #200	TDCJ must notify Social Security, SSI, Social Security Disability Insurance, upon an inmate being confined and released on parole, discretionary mandatory release, or discharged from prison. TDCJ must also notify the sheriff, district attorney, Judge of county in which the inmate is released if the inmate is a member of a threat group upon that inmates released from prison.
HB #1770	The state may pay a halfway house for inmates who are placed at the halfway house no more than the actual cost to keep the inmate incarcerated. The key word is may. This will only occur if there is sufficient funds in which to do this.
HB #1940	This legislation entitles a parolee to a preliminary hearing if a motion to revoke parole is filed. The only exception to the requirement to grant a parolee a preliminary hearing is if the parolee waves(gives up this right in writing) or if the motion to revoke parole concerns only administrative violations.
HB #2004	This bill allows the sale of the Central unit by TDCJ. No other TDCJ units will be closed except the Central unit contrary to the rumor that was going around TDCJ would be closing more units and inmates would be released because of those closings.
HB #2124	This bill provides victims must be notified if a defendant is acquitted by reason of insanity in any criminal case.
HB #2649	This bill only deals with inmates who have been sent to a state jail facility for a state jail charge. An inmate may be awarded diligent participation credits to reduce down the amount of time the inmate would be incarcerated if the inmate has served 80% of his sentence.
HB #2734	This bill makes it easier to revoke illegal criminal aliens on parole who reenter the United States after being deported.
HB #2735	This bill allows the Parole Division the possibility of issuing a summons for a parole revocation hearing instead of issuing a “blue warrant” and incarcerating a parolee until there is a hearing and decision on a parole revocation. There is a very limited ability to issue such a summons. The parolee cannot be on intensive supervision, cannot be an absconder, and there must be a finding the individual is not a threat to the public safety.
SB #315	This bill sets up an agency to compile and maintain information on prison gang members and criminal street gang members.
SB #1	This is a budgetary bill that was passed during the special session of the Texas Legislature. Included in this budgetary bill was a provision which allows TDCJ to collect $100 from the inmates trust fund for medical care.

BILLS THAT FAILED TO PASS THE 2011 TEXAS LEGISLATURE:

There have been rumors circulating amongst the inmate population regarding the passage of some of these bills. These are included in this newsletter to help stop the rumors. I realize it is difficult to live in prison without hope but to place your hope in ridiculous rumors is to actually have no hope at all. I believe a statement you should make to someone who is telling you about a rumor purporting to make it easier to leave prison other than through parole is this. “I will believe you when all of the other rumors you have told me become true.”

With over 2000 bills proposed in this Legislature there was not one bill proposed to reduce down the mandatory requirement to serve one half of your sentence if you are convicted of a 3g offense.

HB #3763 & 3538	Release to super intensive parole or intensive supervision inmates who have reached 65 years of age and have serious medical conditions. This bill did not become law.
HB #694	This bill would have allowed release from TDCJ of certain inmates who have completed rehabilitation programs and requiring the parole panel to set certain dates of release. This bill did not become law.
HB # 886 & 1477	This bill would have required the state to allow retention of good time of parolees who have served time on mandatory supervision and parole and it could not be forfeited. This bill did not become law.
HB # 1220	This bill would have allowed TDCJ to restore forfeited good time. This bill did not become law.
HB # 1299	This bill would have required the parole board to release inmates who have served 90% of their sentence or were within one year of completing their sentence. This bill did not become law.
HB # 2412	This bill would have set forth mandatory supervision for certain drug possession offenses. This bill did not become law.
HB # 3340	This bill provided a warden could make recommendations to a parole panel regarding an inmate’s eligibility for parole. This bill did not become law.

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In Texas the Parole Board, the District Attorney’s Office, and some large cities have victims’ advocates whose job is to contact the victim of any crime, notify the victim the inmate is coming up for parole review, and to assist the victim in presenting evidence to the Parole Board as to why the inmate should not be allowed to receive parole. Most people believe the inmate will appear before the Parole Board and be able to explain to the Parole Board why he or she should be released from prison. Actually, the Parole Board Members rarely see or hear from the inmate. The Parole Board will decide if an inmate should be released based upon evidence presented in an evidentiary package called a parole package. The inmate may present whatever information he or she may be able to accumulate in this parole package. The victim, under Texas law, has an absolute right for a personal appearance before the Parole Boards, and at this parole appearance the victim can argue why the inmate should not be released. Some large cities have set up video studios where the victim may go and produce video testimony arguing against the release of the inmate and this video is then sent to the Parole Board and the Parole Board will utilize this video in determining if they will grant parole to the inmate. The burden is upon the inmate to convince the Parole Board he deserves to be released to parole. The Parole Board’s on internal parole statistics for the year September 2010 and through February 2011 indicates the Parole Boards are releasing approximately 30% of the inmates who are reviewed for parole based on the guidelines set out by the parole board as indicated by the release rates by guideline scores, though this may vary from month to month.

Inmates, in the state of Texas, are still under the misconception that remaining disciplinary free, submitting a few letters of support and indicating a job offer is available upon release is sufficient to convince the Parole Board the inmate deserves to be released. While this may be sufficient in very rare situations, it is not good enough to convince the Parole Board to release most inmates. The Parole Board commissioned a study of each inmate in custody and the crime or crimes the inmate had committed. Once this study was completed a system of guidelines was set up by this commission and submitted to the Parole Board. The Parole Board was to take into consideration the recommendations of this commission when the Texas Parole Board determined if an inmate should be released to parole. The approval rate by guideline level is not strictly followed by the Parole Board in the State of Texas. The Parole Board has always insisted it will base its recommendation for parole solely upon the discretion of the Board Members, and will not follow any arbitrary system that requires the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to release an inmate.

In Texas the Parole Board is divided into six geographical regions consisting of the San Antonio Parole Board, the Amarillo Parole Board, the Angleton Parole Board, the Gatesville Parole Board, the Huntsville Parole Board, and the Palestine Parole Board. The Parole Boards are made up of the following individual Parole Board Members and Parole Commissioners. The unit the inmate is confined in and the unit’s location within the state will determine which Parole Board will review the inmate’s file, read the information contained in the inmate’s parole package, and listen to the argument in his/her behalf by his/her attorney at the parole appearance. The Parole Board is basically a jury made up of three individuals who were appointed by the governor of the state of Texas to sit on the Parole Board. Their job is to determine if an individual should be released from prison. The inmate must convince two-thirds of the members of this jury that he/she deserves to be released from prison and should be allowed to serve out the remainder of the sentence on parole. The Parole Board responds to evidence very much like a jury in any criminal case responds. If there is more positive evidence indicating the inmate has rehabilitated himself/herself, is out of denial, accepted responsibility for the crime he/she has committed, corrected those behavioral problems that caused the criminal activity, and appears to be an individual who, if released to parole, will no longer commit antisocial behavior and that he/she will conform to the rules society has placed on all of its citizens, then that individual would have a reasonable chance of receiving a favorable vote from the three people who make up the jury the State of Texas calls the Parole Board. Like a criminal jury, the Parole Board looks at the evidence presented and contained in the inmate’s parole file and then forms an opinion based upon that evidence. The perception the Parole Board forms of what the inmate is like, and whether or not this person is be worthy of being released to society, affects whether there would be a favorable vote received by the inmate.

Inmates often write me, or family members call me, requesting I represent the inmate by filing a time-cut. If you would click on the link, you will find the procedural requirements for a time-cut. In almost every situation parole is a more viable alternative.

I often receive letters from inmates as well as telephone calls from family members about current rumors that supposedly will affect the inmate population. I have always attempted to address these rumors as rapidly as possible to keep the inmate population informed of the facts and truth regarding these matters.

I send out an inmate information letter several times a year to inmates who have written to me and requested it be sent to them. This letters addresses news that may affect the inmate population, proposed legislation in Texas, or legal opinions from the Texas Courts or the Federal Courts that may impact the lives of inmates.

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PAROLE REVOCATION:

When an inmate has received the privilege of parole from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles a new bureaucracy takes over the parolee’s life called the Parole Division. The Parole Division has the duty of overseeing the parolee while the parolee is serving out the remainder of his sentence. In Texas there is no early termination of parole. Should the inmate violate a condition of parole or commit a new crime, the Parole Division may file a warrant for the parolee’s arrest and place the parolee in custody until there is a parole revocation hearing. There is no bond for a parole revocation warrant. In rare situations a parole warrant may be withdrawn and a summons issued for the parolee to attend a revocation hearing.

Should a parolee be arrested on a parole revocation warrant, sometimes called a blue warrant, the parolee will be placed in the county jail where the parolee has been arrested and remain in custody until one of the following has occurred:

1.

If the allegation is the parolee violated a condition of his/her parole, sometimes called a technical violation, the parolee will be served a set of papers containing the alleged violation by his/her parole officer. At that time the parolee will be asked if he/she wishes to give up his/her right to have a parole revocation hearing by signing a specific document. Should the parolee waive his/her right to have a revocation hearing then the written allegations will be sent to the Parole Board and the Board will determine if the inmate should be returned to prison based upon the written allegations. (I strongly recommend an inmate never waive his/her right to have a hearing.) The allegations of a violation of a condition of parole should be served upon the parolee within 10-days of his/her arrest and incarceration. Under the present policy and rules of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, as well as the Parole Division, the parolee is not entitled to a preliminary hearing prior to the parole revocation hearing. A parole revocation hearing should be held 10-days after the inmate has been served the allegations of a violation of one of the conditions of parole. The revocation hearing is conducted by a hearing officer employed by the parole division, the allegation of a parole violation is prosecuted by the parole officer in charge of the parolee, the parolee may retain an attorney to defend against these allegations or the parolee may represent himself/herself at the revocation hearing. If the parole officer proves by a preponderance of the evidence the parolee violated one of the conditions of his/her parole, the hearing officer will then make a recommendation in writing to the Parole Board. This recommendation is then sent to the Parole Board and if two out of the three Parole Board Members agree, the parolee’s parole may be violated and he/she will be returned to prison to serve out the remainder of his sentence, or he/she may be placed back on parole with new stipulations placed upon him/her.

2.

If the allegation is that the parolee has committed a new criminal act, a parole revocation warrant will be issued, the parolee will be arrested and placed in custody. As previously indicated, there will probably be no bond set on the parole revocation warrant and the parolee will have to remain in custody until there is a final decision by the Parole Board to revoke the parolee’s parole and return the parolee back to prison or to reinstate the parolee back to parole. The major distinction between what occurs on a technical violation and a new charge is that there is no requirement to have a either a preliminary hearing or a revocation hearing until the new allegation of a criminal act has been disposed of either by a finding of not guilty, a plea of guilty, a finding of guilt, or a dismissal of the criminal charges. Should the parolee be found guilty either through a plea or a finding of guilt by a jury or a judge and the parolee is sent to county jail the Parole Division may, at its discretion, hold a parole revocation hearing prior to the termination of the sentence, or hold a revocation hearing not more than 30-days after the termination of the sentence.

If parole is violated and the parolee is revoked, the parolee will be returned to prison and the parolee will be credited only for the actual time he has served on his sentence. The parolee will lose all good-time accumulated as well as any time the parolee has served on parole (street time)and will only be credited for the actual time he/she has previously served in prison as well as the time he/she served incarcerated on the motion to revoke parole. The exception to the foregoing occurs when the parolee is paroled on a non-violent offense and he has not committed any other violent offense and the parolee has served more than one-half of the sentence when the actual time served plus the time he/she has accumulated on parole exceeds one-half of the sentence he/she received.

As you can see, a parole revocation can be very costly to the inmate. It is not usual for a person convicted of a crime in the state of Texas to spend more time on parole and incarcerated than the actual number of years he was originally sentenced to. It is very important for a parolee to convince the Parole Board the parolee either did not commit a crime or if there was a violation that occurred the violation is such, and the parolees conduct is such, it would be wrong to incarcerate the parolee and therefore the parolee should remain on parole. These hearings are extremely important. If the Parole Board is not convinced the parolee should not be returned to prison, the parolee will again become an inmate and either serve out the remaining years of his/her sentence or convince the Parole Board to again release the inmate back to society on parole. Obviously, once revoked on parole, the Parole Board will be less than enthusiastic about granting an inmate parole a second time. Even if the inmate’s chances are likely he/she will be revoked and returned to prison, a parole revocation hearing can be utilized to place positive information or mitigating information within his/her file which will give a better understanding of what occurred when the inmate’s file is next reviewed by the Parole Board and increase the inmate’s chances of receiving parole..

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