Parole Grant

Each inmate whose sentence carries the possibility of parole has the right to a personal appearance before the Board at some point during his or her sentence to determine whether a parole date will be granted. These original parole hearings are scheduled as follows:

For cases where a life has been taken, the Board reviews each case individually and schedules the original hearing based upon the unique facts in that case. Once an offender is committed to prison in one of these cases, the file will be reviewed by the Board as soon as practicable for the determination of the month and year for their original hearing date. The Board will only consider information available to the court at the time of sentencing.

For sex offenses, 3rd degree offenders will be heard at 12 months, 2nd degree offenders at 18 months, and 1st degree offenders at 36 months. For all other offenses, original hearings are scheduled for 3rd degree offenders at 3-4 months, 2nd degree offenders at 6 months, and 1st degree offenders at 36 months.

Rehearing

One possible decision of the Board at a Parole Grant hearing can be to not grant a parole date, but rather, to schedule a date for an additional hearing. A rehearing is conducted in much the same way as the initial Parole Grant hearing.

Redetermination

After the Board has made a decision in a case, when that decision is to grant a lengthy rehearing or a parole date in the future, there is a mechanism for review of such cases

The Redetermination policy is as follows:

"Offenders will be eligible to apply for redetermination at five-year intervals from the last time-related decision. A time-related decision is defined as a personal appearance hearing or redetermination review dealing with release or rehearing dates. Offenders who have been given a decision of natural life in prison will be eligible for redetermination at ten year intervals."

Rescission

After the Board makes a decision to grant an inmate a parole date or a rehearing date, that individual may, at any time, be referred to the Board for a review of that decision due to violations of prison regulations or new criminal convictions. The outcome of a rescission hearing may be to postpone the previously set release date or date of rehearing. Rescission hearings are conducted by Hearing Officers who make interim decisions. All such interim decisions must be reviewed and ratified by a majority of the Board Members.

Parole Violation

The process for a parole violation hearing is as follows: when an offender violates the terms or conditions of the parole agreement, the initial phase is represented by way of a warrant request. If the Board Member finds that probable cause exists, the warrant may be issued. Within 14 days of being detained on the Board of Pardons warrant, (Morrissey v. Brewer), Adult Probation and Parole must establish probable cause for detaining the parolee. This is done by one of five ways; 1) a prerevocation hearing; 2) a prerevocation waiver; 3) a bindover from circuit to district court; 4) a new conviction; or 5) by the Board's own motion. After probable cause has been established, within a reasonable period of time, (Morrissey v. Brewer), the offender has the right to be heard at a Parole Revocation hearing. The Board has set that period of time to be 90 days; however, cases are scheduled as soon as possible after a warrant is executed.

At the Parole Revocation/Parole Violation hearing, the offender has the right to be represented by counsel and is also allowed to offer pleas to the parole violation allegations against him/her. The Board Member or Hearing Officer conducting the hearing will take testimony from the parole agent as well as the offender and will then render an interim decision. All interim decisions are reviewed by the Board Members and become final after receiving at least a majority of concurring votes.

Special Attention

At any time during an offender's incarceration or parole, the Board may review his/her case. This review may be the result of recommendations from prison caseworkers, parole agents, a request from the offender, or occasionally from an outside source. In any case, new information must be presented which has not been considered at the last review of the Board. This type of review can be either an administrative review of the file or a personal appearance hearing.