Thank you for writing to me. This letter is written in an effort to continue to keep inmates updated on the current issues regarding parole and parole related matters, as well as to address some of the repetitive questions asked in the letters I receive from the inmate population. Because of the costs involved in sending out over 2000 of these letters I will no longer be able to keep reiterating the need to hire attorneys well in advance of your parole review date as well as other matters I have consistently tried to explain to the inmate population.

PAROLE BOARDS AND THEIR MEMBERS:

Alvin Shaw of the Gatesville Parole Board has retired and the Governor has appointed Conrith Davis from Sugar Land to take his position and has assigned him to work out of the Huntsville Board. Parole Commissioner Pamela Freeman has moved from the Palestine Parole Board to the Angleton Parole Board leaving a vacancy at the Palestine Board for the time being.

PAROLE APPROVAL RATES:
(Month to month voting percentage of the 6 Boards combined.)

In my last newsletter I indicated the Parole Board voting pattern was trending downward from 30% toward a 25% overall release rate. This appears to have occurred. The last three months have remained around the 25% release rate.

APPROVED FOR PAROLE BY FI TYPE:

FI APPROVAL RATES BY GUIDELINE LEVEL:

FI 2006 RELEASE TO DISCRETIONARY MANDATORY SUPERVISION APPROVAL RATES:

As you can see it is not mandatory for the Parole Board to follow the guidelines or to release you when you appear before the Board on Discretionary Mandatory Review. At best only 50% of the inmates charged with nonviolent offenses are receiving Discretionary Mandatory Release. The Board continues to vote based upon their discretion, not on some numerical equation. There is no 3-days credit for each day you serve and then you will be released. Release is not based on when your good time + your actual time = your sentence anymore except for those crimes committed prior to September 1, 1996. The only guarantee you will be released is if you serve out your entire sentence, which the Board is requiring from a lot of inmates. Release to parole based upon a certain percentage of time served has not occurred since the Texas Legislature passed the change in law back on September 1, 1996 which did away with mandatory release. There is no short-way discharge left except for certain cases that were committed prior to September 1996. There is no longer such a thing. The Board Members consider the evidence contained within an inmate’s file. If the evidence indicating you deserve to be released is not in the file then you will probably be denied. Release to parole is based solely on the evidence contained in the inmate’s file. The inmate population must get all evidence to be considered into their file in time for the Parole Board Members to review the file. If the evidence is not in the file, the Parole Board will base their decision on what is contained in the file at the time of the vote, which is usually the judgment and sentence from the court, a synopsis of the police report, a letter from the district attorney explaining why the inmate should not be released and a letter from any victim requesting the Parole Board deny the inmate’s release to parole. One of the first things that an inmate or his/her family should know is that all documentation contained within an inmate’s file is negative. Part of what I do is present a person to the Board, instead of just another TDCJ number that represents one more convicted felon(s) who is eligible for parole. The Parole Board generally spends approximately 2-3 minutes deciding whether or not to release an inmate to parole. When I represent an inmate, the Board does spend considerably more time than the average 2-3 minutes most inmates who are not represented receive. I must get the Board’s attention, hold their attention and present a human being to them, who although convicted of a crime or crimes is a good candidate for release to parole and why.

Documenting every aspect of my client’s life, his/her accomplishments, his/her rehabilitation, as well as many other factors, along with the credibility I have built with the Board Members, are some of the reasons I have been able to maintain an 80% + release rate for my clients over the many years I have represented inmates before the Board. Although some of my parole assistance files do not pose extraordinary challenges, the greater portion of them are very challenging and require me and my staff to go the extra mile to accomplish the mutual objective of the inmate’s receiving the privilege of release to parole. A few examples of some of my release successes 2006 are: (1) Capital Murder reduced to Murder 45-year sentence - FI-2; (2) DWI 6-years FI-1 1st review; (3) Arson & Burglary of Building 15-years 2^nd review - FI-1; (4) Poss with Intent to Deliver & Manufacturing Meth. 6-years- FI-1 first vote; (5) Burglary Building with intent to commit Sexual Assault 15-years, Burglary of Building 6-years,1st review - FI-18; (6) theft > $200,000.00, 10-years, first review - FI-1. Past victories do not guarantee future successes. Hard work on my part and my clients part do affect the Parole Board’s vote.

WHY SHOULD AN INMATE CONSIDER HIRING AN ATTORNEY FOR PAROLE ASSISTANCE:

Since my last letter, 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.

In the 11-years I have been representing inmates before the Parole Board, I have discovered that when inmates and/or their families, contact my office, they are searching for someone to guarantee parole will be granted. I cannot do this! No one can! Still, there are individuals who are taking the inmate’s families’ hard-earned money and not producing a parole package or only filing a three-page parole package requesting the inmate be released. These individuals have no idea what they are doing or how difficult it is to gather the necessary evidence needed to change the Parole Board’s opinion of an inmate. Investigation of the inmate’s past life, his accomplishments, his troubles, etc. and trying to discover what the Parole Board Members perceive is the cause of the inmate’s criminal problem, takes a lot of time and hard work. When someone promises you they will guarantee your release you should run away as fast as you can. Look at the figures I have included with this letter. When only 25% of the inmates who come before the Parole Board receive parole and only around 50% receive discretionary mandatory release, you should realize the right information has to be gathered, presented in a thorough package and a very strong argument must be made to convince the Parole Board to release you.

I also receive letters from inmates who indicate they are being told by some attorneys that the inmate needs to remain in prison because the have “not served enough time” and the attorney will not accept their case. When I receive these types of letters from inmates I wonder just what the attorney is waiting for? The job is to uncover the evidence that will show the Parole Board the client does not need to spend any more time in prison, instead of waiting until the inmate has served a substantial portion of the sentence and then filling some pieces of paper which may or may not change the Parole Board Members minds. True ,you have to pay for the investigation and the time needed to read all of the evidence, compile a thorough package and present strong argument that captures the Parole Board’s attention and changes their mind to deciding to grant release, but is this not better than waiting around in prison for years while you “serve enough time?”

I am still allowed to appear before the Board Members and argue for the release of my client. The Board does have the right to deny anyone requesting an appearance with the exception of the victim or the victim’s family. More and more, the family of the victim or the victim are protesting the release of the inmate to parole. This right to appear is being communicated to the families of the victim or the victim and they are appearing in most Parole Board hearings. It takes a strong argument and very strong evidence to overcome the emotional impact the Board receives when they hear the stories from these families or victims.

I have received a copy of the Petition filed by Attorney Sirak in the “Gross” or as it is now known Iron Thunderhorse case. I have not had the time to review the entire 116 pages, research the law, and form an opinion of the legal arguments. I therefore cannot give you my opinion of this case. The last time I checked on the Iron Thunderhorse case, there had been no hearing set as of April 2006. I do know the case Mr. Sirak filed in Ohio regarding the prison system there was dismissed. He did indicate in a newspaper interview that he planned to appeal the Court’s ruling. I anticipate it will take at least 3 - 5 years for the Ohio case to go through the various courts of appeal before it will be heard by the United States Supreme Court, if the Supreme Court grants cert.

Time payment plan: If you decide to hire me and do so well in advance of your eligibility date, I can design a time payment plan for your family or loved ones, but I must be paid in full before I submit the parole package or request an appearance before the Parole Board to argue for an inmate’s release to parole. The time payment plan has been very helpful to many of my clients who have limited financial resources and thereby allowed them to hire me without causing them financial distress because they have hired me many months or even years in advance. If you wait until the last minute, the entire fee is going to be due immediately.

Please do not send any of your documentation to me prior to retaining me.

Sincerely,

James Randall Smith
Attorney at Law