June 2023 Newsletter

Thank you for writing to us. This letter is our continued attempt to keep the inmate population informed on the laws affecting inmates in the prison system in the state of Texas.

RUMORS

The Release Fairy Revisited: There is a certain segment of the inmate population that still believes in the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and the Texas Legislature. We have consistently explained there has not been a change in the law regarding 3g offenses or those other offenses that are not listed under 3g, but require one-half of the sentence to be served day-for-day. If you are charged with one of these offenses, you must serve ½ of your sentence day-for-day before you are eligible for parole. Depending on your charge, you may be eligible for parole when your work time, flat time, and good time equals ¼ of your sentence or you must serve ½ of your sentence day for day. This is the past and present law and there is no way any attorney can change a parole eligibility date. If you are being told an attorney can move up a parole eligibility date you are being lied to. Attorneys CANNOT move up an eligibility date. It has NEVER been allowed. Anyone telling you this is just trying to take your money.

There has not been a change in this law by the Texas Legislature since 1996 (when mandatory release was ended and replaced with projected release date which is not a release date but another parole hearing date). There was no change in the recent 2023 Legislature. In an attempt to stop the rumors before they begin, the Texas Legislature meets every 2-years and the next time it will be in session will be 2025. Any rumors you hear about the Texas Legislature changing some law between now and 2025 will be false. The Parole Time Calculations Chart our office created in 2015 is still the law. If you want a copy of this chart please write to my office. All of the Newsletters dealing with past and present laws & Parole Board members release rates that affect the inmate population are kept on the web page listed above. Anyone can go to the web page and print the information and send it to a person in jail or prison.

NEW LAWS FROM THE 2023 TEXAS LEGISLATURE

We have reviewed the proposed Bills dealing with Inmates and the Criminal Justice System that were submitted in the 2023 Texas Legislature. Over 90% of the Bills submitted were never passed out of the committee and sent to the floor of the House and Senate and voted on. If we have not listed this Bill in this newsletter, it was not voted on and signed by the governor, so therefore it is NOT a law.

• HB-517 – Becomes the law 9/1/2023 – broadens the definition of victim-victim family and who may provide information to a parole panel considering the release of an inmate
• HB-1577 – Becomes the law on 9/1/2023 – denies parole eligibility for mandatory supervision on inmates serving a sentence for previously convicted assaultive cases including sexual assault cases.
• HB-1743 – Effective immediately – TDCJ must access the eligibility of certain inmates first supplemental nutrition assistance programs and send this information to Health & Human Service Commission upon discharge or release from confinement of the inmate.
• HB-2620 – Effective Immediately – TDCJ has 45 days to pick up an inmate after receiving notification from the county and after the 45th day TDCJ will have to pay the county for the inmate’s upkeep, plus an additional 25%.
• SB-374 – Effective Immediately – the parole board must dispose of a parole revocation case in which there is no new criminal charge within 41 days and must dispose of a parole revocation or the inmate has been charged with committing a new criminal action within 91 days if the individual has not been indicted or a complaint filed.
• SB-1004  – Effective on 9/1/2023 – making it a state jail felony to remove or disable a tracking device by someone who has this device imposed as a condition of community service, parole, mandatory supervision or release on bail is a felony of the 3rd if the person is in a intensive supervision program.
• SB-1179 – Effective 9/1/2023 – this is a 34 page Bill dealing with civil commitments, setting forth new criminal penalties for possession of alcohol, drugs, cell phones within a penal institution, and assaults upon guards, sheriffs, police & allowing civil courts to dismiss lawsuits and assess cost on inmates for filing frivolous lawsuits.
• SB-2101 – Effective 9/1/2023 – sets notification requirements upon the state and parole board to notify victims, victims’ families, victims’ relatives, and other individuals granted the right to testify at a pending parole, time allowed to file victim impact statements and providing assistance in doing this.
• HB-1769 – Effective 9/1/2023 – extends the statute of limitation for certain offenses to 10 years on most violent crimes and sexual assault crimes.
• HB-1589 – Effective 9/1/2023 – increase in the criminal penalty for a family violence assault cases.

NOT PASSED

Due to interest by inmates, I have included the following Bills that were not passed:

• HB-812 – Limiting the amount of time an inmate can be confined in Administrative Segregation.
• HB-813 – Requesting a study to be performed and sent to the governor on the impact of inmates being placed in administrative segregation.
• HB-1064 – It would have changed good conduct time, increased the number of days awarded for an inmate in trustee status.
• HB-1618 – It would have changed the good conduct time of certain inmates and changed parole eligibility, but also making it almost impossible for inmates to be released because it required a unanimous vote of all parole board members if a certain crime was committed.
• HB-2030 – Dealt with the restoration of civil rights to certain criminal defendants upon completing their sentence.
• HB-2950 – Setting forth a minimum and a maximum temperature in prison facilities.
• HB-3595 – Release to parole of certain inmates convicted of an offense committed when younger than 25 years of age and changing parole eligibility.

CHANGES TO THE PAROLE BOARDS RELEASE RATES

We have been monitoring the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles release rates and there is bad news for the inmate population. We saw a small percentage decline in the inmate release rate beginning in September 2022 and the decline accelerated in 2023. The overall release rate has fallen from around 37% in September 2022 to 26.7% in May 2023.

WARNING ABOUT WAITING TO HIRE AN ATTORNEY

We continue to receive numerous telephone calls requesting assistance from loved ones of inmates in Texas prisons. Too often, we must refuse representation of the inmate because of the misunderstanding of the term parole eligibility date. Loved ones read the term Parole Eligibility Date on the web and don’t realize it means exactly what it says which is: an inmate can be released to parole any time after that parole eligibility date. It is NOT a parole hearing date. All too often I am contacted too late to be able to assist the inmate. During the representation of an inmate we investigate, gather evidence, review the evidence and prepare a parole package that might be as large as 30-40 pages which has to be filed in a timely manner as required by the Board. We must also prepare a compelling argument to present to the Board. This type of legal work takes time!

Under Texas Parole Board rules and policy, the Parole Board may vote on an inmate’s release to parole no earlier than 60-days before the parole eligibility date. Upon receiving the file, the Board will review any evidence contained in the file and then determine if the inmate should remain incarcerated or be released. Board rules allow all inmates being considered for parole to be interviewed by parole officials (IPO) approximately six (6) months before the parole eligibility date for a first review and four (4) months before additional next review dates. The Board rules require that the parole package MUST be filed on or before the 60-day voting window. We must be hired several months prior to the parole eligibility date to allow us time to find the evidence and place it in the Parole Package and present it to the Parole Board.

It is my advice not to retain any attorney who will accept representing an inmate before the Parole Board who does not have enough time to investigate, evaluate, prepare a substantial parole package and prepare a compelling argument for the Parole Board. There are attorneys who have a form and they remove the name of their previous client from the form and insert their new clients name into the form. It has been my experience that this type of representation does not change a Parole Board Members mind regarding releasing an inmate, especially with the massive drop in the release rate that has occurred and the changes to who can protest at parole hearings and the assistance they can receive. If the inmate is released after such a form is submitted, the inmate would have probably been released anyway. Under Texas law, the burden is upon the inmate to find the evidence, produce the evidence, and convince the Parole Board to grant an inmate parole from prison. If there is no evidence in the file showing the inmate has changed, has confronted whatever has caused him/her to commit crimes, and there is no evidence to convince the Parole Board the inmate is no longer a threat to society (a threat to society can be any future criminal act, it does not necessarily have to be any type of violent crime) then the Parole Board must deny the inmate release from prison. Should the Parole Board decide not to release an inmate to parole, the Board then determines when they would be willing to review the inmate again. While most cases have a one-year set-off before they are reviewed again by the Parole Board, there are other cases that can receive a 5 or 10-year set-off, depending on the type of crime. It is my advice to contact a parole attorney at least a minimum of 9-10 months prior to the parole eligibility date.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you desire my legal assistance with release to parole.

Sincerely,

Gregory Tsioros
Attorney at Law
&
James Randall Smith
Attorney at Law