If your or a loved ones is going through the parole process in Texas you should have an understanding how that process works. An experienced Texas parole lawyer offers a short explanation of the process.
After an individual is sentenced to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice the county commitment documents are forwarded to TDCJ so the offender can be placed at a unit. Soon after arriving at a prison unit the inmate will receive a time calculation sheet showing a parole eligibility date. Starting about six months before an inmate’s eligibility date a parole officer will begin to put together a case summary. The parole officer obtains information from police reports, probation reports and interviewing the offender. The case summary includes institutional adjustment information and medical, drug and psychological history. Once the case summary is completed it is sent to the regional Parole Board office for that unit. The case summary arrives around the offender’s eligibility date but can arrive up to two months in advance and can arrive after that date.
If you are going to hire a Texas parole attorney it is important that we have enough time to provide the parole board with the information we would like to submit by this time. We give notice to the parole board that we are representing an offender at the time we are hired. The parole board will then contact us when they have received the case summary. The case summary includes offense reports, a thorough criminal history, probation reports, information obtained during the parole interview and information about where they will parole to if granted parole. When the case summary arrives it will be assigned to one of the three members at the Texas Parole Board office. He or she is called the lead voter. It is our practice to request the opportunity to make a presentation to the lead voter in order to explain to them why our client should be paroled. The lead voter casts their vote and then the case summary goes to one of the two other parole board members. For a person to be granted parole or denied there must be two out of three votes. If the second voter follows the vote of the first then the decision is complete. If the offender is denied they will receive a reason for the denial and will be given the date for their next scheduled review.
If you or a loved one finds themselves in the parole process you need an experienced Texas parole lawyer to help you through the process. At Topek and Topek we pride ourselves on our communication with our clients and their families and believe it is the best way to make sure that the parole board will get a complete picture of the offender and the reasons why they should be granted parole. Please contact us so we can discuss your case with you and answer any questions you may have. Out offices are in Houston TX but we regularly meet with loved ones living in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth, McAllen and other cities around the state. Call us at 713-651-1444 for a free consultation