Texas Parole Board Hearings

The granting of parole is a privilege that rests solely on the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole.
Among the many things the parole board takes into consideration before ruling on a parole application is the severity of the offense committed that incarcerated the inmate, the amount of time already served by the inmate, and the progress the inmate has made while incarcerated (educational programs, counseling and participation in services offered by TDCJ).

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Parole Division identifies future parole-eligible inmates six months before their initial parole eligibility begins and four months before any subsequent review dates. The offender's case file is then pulled for review. The Parole Division then sends a written notice to family members of the victim(s) or trial officials involved in the case, interviews the offender, and creates a parole case summary. The designated board office reviews and votes on the offender's file.

The parole panel is comprised of three voting members, and two votes' majority is necessary for a final decision.
Voting occurs sequentially. One member of the panel records his or her vote, then passes it to another panel member. When two members vote similarly, the vote is considered final. An interview may be scheduled with the offender at the board's discretion, and support or protest letters lodged by victims, victims' family members, or trial officials are considered. If the victim(s) request an interview by the parole panel, it must agree as defined by law. The parole panel then notifies the offender of their decision in writing. If the offender is denied parole, the communication includes his or her next review date; if the offender is granted parole, the communication may include specific terms and conditions.

Members of the parole panel typically review:

• The seriousness of the offense or offenses, letters of support or protest submitted to the panel on behalf of the offender
• The amount of time the offender has served and the original sentence length
• The offender's criminal history as well as other arrests, probation, and/or parole
• The offender's current age
• The number of times he or she has been incarcerated
• His or her juvenile criminal history, if any, and
• How well the offender has adjusted to institutional life, i.e. the offender's participation in education opportunities or specialized programs.

Members of the parole panel must consider a very large volume of cases each year. They usually devote just a few minutes to each case. For that reason, it's important to consult with an experienced Texas parole lawyer to ensure that members of the parole panel have all the information they need to properly decide your case.

It's important to realize that the Texas Parole Board doesn't have a definitive time table or deadline to grant or deny an offender's parole. Typically the parole board votes on the inmate within two weeks' of receiving the IPO's file. Occasionally, a voting member may request a meeting with the offender which may delay the decision. Members of the parole board may take any amount of time they believe is necessary to make a thoughtful decision, and it's often difficult to predict the timeline for an offender sentenced to a short prison term. Much depends on the amount of time it takes for the offender to be processed and for the IPO to generate a report.

Texas Parole Approval / Disapproval Votes

If members of the parole board approve parole the following classifications may apply:

• FI-1 (the offender should be released on parole as soon as he or she is eligible)
• FI-2 (the offender should be released on parole at a specific future date)
• FI-3R (the offender should be transferred to a Texas Department of Criminal Justice rehab program, e.g. Change / LifeSkills, not earlier than a specific date and for a minimum of four months (he or she is to be released on parole upon completion of the rehab program)
• FI-4R (the offender must be transferred to a Sex Offender Education Program, or SOEP, not before a certain date or a minimum of four months, to be released on parole upon program completion)
• FI-5 (the offender must be transferred to an In-Prison Therapeutic Community Program, or IPTC, to be released thereafter to aftercare components
• FI-6 (the offender must be transferred to a DWO rehab program, to be released thereafter to an aftercare program)
• FI-6R (the offender must be transferred to a rehab program, e.g. the Pre-Release Therapeutic Community, or PRTC, or the Pre-Release Substance Abuse Program, or PRSAP, no sooner than six months, with the offender's parole release on completion);
• FI-7R (the offender must be transferred to the Serious and Violent Offender Re-entry Initiative, or SVORI, no earlier than the noted date and a minimum of seven months, to be released on parole on completion)
• FI-9R (the offender must be transferred to the Sex Offender Treatment Program, or SOTP9, no sooner than the noted date, to be enrolled for a minimum of nine months, and to be released on parole at completion)
• FI-18R (the offender must be transferred to the Sex Offender Treatment Program, or SOTP-18), the Inner Change Freedom Initiative, or IFI, not before the noted date, to be enrolled a minimum of 18 months, to be released on parole at completion)
• CU-FI (denotes the date upon which the offender with consecutive sentences would've become parole-eligible for a single sentence)
• RMS (the offender should be released to mandatory supervision.

Alternately, members of the parole board may designate that the offender is denied parole.
In this case they may submit a vote of either:
NR - Next Review.
This is sometimes referred to as the inmate's "set-off", and the board may indicate that the next review occur up to five years from the last review. Many set-offs may occur in one year, but a longer set-off may occur in a more serious case.
SA - Serve All.
This denial vote doesn't provide for a subsequent review and requires the offender to fulfill his or her original sentence, or to be considered at a later time for discretionary supervision if he or she is eligible.