State Agencies Undergo Sunset Review Process – Board of Pardons and Paroles
Over the past couple of months or so, I have been outlining Texas’ sunset review process. The agencies I have covered so far include the Texas Board and Department of Criminal Justice, the Texas Board of Professional Engineers and the State Commission on Judicial Conduct and many others. As a reminder, in order to identify and eliminate government waste, duplication and general inefficiencies in state agencies, the Texas Legislature established the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission in 1977. The sunset review process is designed to review each of these agencies every twelve years. This review is done by taking up a certain number of the state agencies each session when the Texas Legislature convenes.
In last week’s article we examined the State Commission on Judicial Conduct which is tasked with investigating allegations of judicial misconduct or judicial disability and for disciplining judges. In this week’s article we are going to look at the Board of Pardons and Paroles. The mission statement of the Board of Pardons and Paroles as outlined on their web site is “to perform its duties as imposed by Article IV, Section 11, of the Texas Constitution and:
- Determine which prisoners are due to be released on parole or discretionary mandatory supervision;
- Determine conditions of parole and mandatory supervision;
- Determine revocation of parole and mandatory supervision;
- Recommend the resolution of clemency matters to the Governor.”
The Board of Pardons and Paroles is overseen by a seven member board which is appointed by the Texas Governor, with the advice and consent of the Texas Senate. Each member is appointed for a six-year term and are appointed in staggered two-year increments. All members of the board must be representative of the general public. In addition, members of the board must reside in the State of Texas for two years before they are eligible to be appointed to serve on the board. Former employees of the department are prohibited from being appointed to the board until the second anniversary of their termination from the department. At any given time, no more than three former employees of the department may serve as members of the board.
To assist the Board of Pardons and Paroles, twelve Parole Commissioners are hired by the board. Parole Commissioners assist in determining which inmates are to be released on parole or mandatory supervision. It is important to know what a parole is. A parole is a discretionary release of an offender by a decision of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, which allows the offender to spend the remainder of his or her sentence in the community while being supervised. Parole is a privilege provided to offenders that the Board of Pardons and Paroles feel have merited the opportunity to re-enter the community. Some offenders may also receive mandatory supervision. Mandatory supervision is a legislatively mandated release of a prisoner into parole supervision when their actual calendar time and good conduct equal their sentence term. Prisoners can earn good conduct time by being involved in work programs or self-improvement programs.
If you are interested in learning more about the Board of Pardons and Paroles, you can go to their website at https://www.tdcj.state.tx.us . Some of the other agencies we will review in the upcoming weeks include the State Pension Review Board, Texas Ethics Commission, Texas Facilities Commission and a number of other agencies currently going through the sunset process.
If you would like to learn more on your own about the Sunset Advisory Commission or other agencies undergoing the sunset review process, you can go to www.sunset.state.tx.us .
