NEWS 2010

Regional Prison Release Plan: As of April 2010 TDCJ has not determined what prison will be designated to be the regional units where inmates will be released if they are granted parole or if they have discharged their sentence. Once I have acquired the names of the designated units for the release of prisoners I will post this information to the web and include it in the next newsletter to the inmate population.

Telephone Service in Prison: The phone system I informed the families and inmates of in 2009 has now been placed in almost all of the units in the State of Texas prison system. The families who have discussed the telephone calls from their love ones in the various prison units have all given positive reviews though they do indicate it is costly to accept the calls from the prison units. Most of the families indicate it is still less expensive to accept the calls than to have to drive or travel to the various units where their love ones are housed.

NEWS 2009

Inmates on Parole Required to Make Restitution: Inmates who are granted parole are now receiving a form the Parole Board is handing out to all parolees informing them to take the form to the district clerk in the location of their conviction and have it completed. The Parole Board is then imposing conditions which require the parolee to pay the costs, fees, and any restitution back to the state of Texas or any victim. I have talked to two parole officers recently and each one was no longer assigned to supervise parolees, but instead they have been reassigned to collect restitution from parolees. It appears the state of Texas is now becoming serious about collecting restitution for court costs, fees and restitution to any victims.

Regional Prison Release Plan: For years, most Texas prisoners have been taken to Huntsville when they are being discharged. Prison officials are considering releasing inmates at regional prisons. This could save money and thousands of miles of crisscrossing bus rides across the state of Texas. Under the current policy, most inmates who are released from prison go by prison bus to the Huntsville Unit where they are processed out and given $100 and a voucher good for a bus ride to anywhere in Texas. A switch to regional releases has been proposed several times in the past and each time it has been derailed for all inmates except for a few due to the concern the prison system might mistakenly release the wrong inmate. Under the present proposal, prison officials indicated the Robertson Unit in Abilene could be used as a discharge point for those inmates housed in West Texas. If the program proves successful, prisons in other regions could also begin discharging convicts. On an average day, as many as 3,000 convicts are on the road in Texas crisscrossing the state moving inmates from one prison to another. At this time, this new policy change is under consideration, but has not been implemented. If this should occur, it would not only save the state of Texas a lot of man hours and expense for fuel costs as well as upkeep on prison buses, but also allow inmate’s families to go to a regional prison and pick up their loved ones. Again, this is a proposal and it has not been implemented. I will try to keep you updated on this proposal in the future.

Telephone Service in Prison: In January 2009, I was a speaker at a seminar on parole matters and one of the other speakers at the parole seminar was the staff counsel for TDCJ. I and others speakers asked the staff counsel to please verify when the telephones would be placed inside the prisons. She called TDCJ and later on during the seminar indicated the company that received the contract would be placing the telephones in prisons sometime in February. Prior to writing this letter, I contacted her again and she informed me the phones are being placed in prisons as we spoke ( February 3, 2009). The phone service will be placed in each prison unit over the next three months and should be in place in all prisons by the end of the Spring 2009. I realize this has been a long time coming, but finally the telephone service will be available to prisoners within the next three or four months, that is, assuming the company placing the phone service in can meet the contract deadlines. I am sure you all recall the previous letters I have sent out indicating this was to begin in September 2008, then January 2009, but at least now it is confirmed the company is placing the phone service in. I would like to point out that the continued use of the phone will depend upon the inmate population not abusing phone privileges.

Restitution Orders by the Criminal Courts: In Walter E. Harrell v. The State of Texas the Supreme Court of Texas (the highest Court in Texas for civil matters) issued a ruling regarding Government Code Section 501.014(e) which concerns the recovery of court fees and costs assessed against inmates by a criminal court. The court ruled collection efforts are designed to reimburse the state, not punish the inmate, and due process is satisfied if the inmate receives notice and the opportunity to be heard after funds are withdrawn from an inmate’s trust account. In this case due process was satisfied when the convicting trial court issued orders directing the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to withdraw certain funds from the inmate’s trust account to pay for court costs and appointed counsel fees and sent the notice at the same time the funds were withdrawn. This means monies contained in an inmate’s trust fund can be removed without the need of the state proceeding through the civil remedy of garnishing the inmate’s trust fund.

NEWS 2008

The Gross and Sirack Inmate Lawsuits: I will attempt to explain what has occurred in these two lawsuits. The lawsuit filed by Mr. Sirack has been dismissed at the federal trial level and as of the date of this letter there has been no appeal filed in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. I have also been informed by various inmates that Mr. Sirack is contemplating filing a new lawsuit. I am not sure whether to classify this as a rumor or if Mr. Sirack is in the process of drafting this petition. To date a search of federal courts by my office does not indicate such a lawsuit has been filed.

The case of Gross v. Quarterman was dismissed on December 7, 2007 by Melinda Harmon United States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas. She granted a summary judgment for the respondent (State of Texas) and dismissed with prejudice petitioner’s (Gross) Petition for habeas corpus relief. To date a search of Federal Courts does not indicate an appeal has been filed.

Texas Prisons: For years, most Texas prisoners have been taken to Huntsville where they complete their sentence before being discharged or released on parole. Officials are considering a plan to begin releasing inmates at regional prisons. This is a historic policy shift that could save an inmate’s family money and thousands of miles of driving across the state and incurring the high price of gasoline to pick up loved ones being released from prison. This was not done out of consideration for the families, but due to the cost incurred by the State from transporting prisoners from the 107 units scattered throughout the state of Texas to Huntsville. To date no decision has been made as to when this policy may go into effect, but I will attempt to keep the inmate population apprised when/if a decision is made and if this change of policy occurs.

NEWS

July 15, 2006

CBS 11 News in Dallas broke a story about an ex-convict pretending to be an attorney with a "parole consulting firm" called Parole and Probation Services . In the story filed March 14, 2006, CBS indicated he was charging $5,000.00 to desperate mothers and wives of inmates who wanted their loved ones home again. He promised he could get inmates out because he "worked with the Parole Board," but no attorney named Bob Johnson had ever registered with the state prison system as representing an inmate as required by law. CBS News indicated he had taken over $450,000 from Texas inmates' relatives and loved ones. It is illegal in Texas for any non-attorney to represent inmates in parole matters for compensation, and any lawyer doing so must register the relationship with the state. Again, desperate people will pay disreputable people money just for the hope generated by false promises. Why inmates go to such individuals when there are attorneys who have been representing inmates before the Board for many years and have maintained a very high success rate is difficult to understand. Most of the fees he charged would be what most good attorneys would charge. A good attorney should do an investigation, prepare the parole package and appear before the Parole Board, plus an attorney is obligated by law to perform the legal services he has been paid to perform.

August 20, 2006

Houston Chronicle on Sunday August 20,2006 reported Texas needs three more prisons to keep up the a growing inmate population, the top prison official have told lawmakers. A steady growth in the prison population will require more than 11,000 new beds. The agency presented the 5.6 billion dollar two-year budget including 520 million dollar prison expansion to the legislature.

Sep. 27, 2006

CBS 11 News in Dallas broke a story about an ex-convict pretending to be an attorney with a "parole consulting firm" called Parole and Probation Services. The non-attorney, Mr. Johnson, has been returned to TDCJ and the Attorney General's office as well as the State Bar of Texas are continuing to investigate any attorney associated with Mr. Johnson. The Office of the Inspector General is investigating Parole and Probation Services Inc. Parole and Probation Consulting, Parole Legal Services and National Parole Services Inc.