OK...I am new at this.
1) My husband was sentenced to 3 years in prison for his fourth DWI.
2) He time began on Nov. 8, 2003 (night he was arrested)
3) He was sentenced on Dec. 10, 2003
4) He was transferred to TDC (Garza West) on Jan. 7, 2003

Question: I just called the automated system for TDC...It said his parole eligability date is March 13, 2004.

It also said his projected release date is March 27, 2005.

Can anyone explain all of this and does this mean that his case WILL be looked at in 2 months? What if he is still at Garza doing his testing and classifications when the board looks at his case?

I am still very confused how all of this works!!!

Kelly,

I got your PM, but I wanted to go public on this one...as it may help others. It's my hope to get all this "general" info put together in one place, a PTO library, if you will.

His parole eligibility date means that in Mar '04, the process will begin. The file will flag on the system to be pulled. It does not mean he will be voted in March. It usually takes a while. When Skip was in, I was told the first review is a 4-6 month process. It wouldn't hurt to go ahead and write letters. The board probably won't see the actual file for a while, so you have time.

The projected release date is the date calculated by the system for what USED to be mandatory supervision. Prior to 1996 (and provided your offense was eligible for parole) once the flat time+good time+work time = sentence length, TDCJ had to let you go on mandatory supervision. This measure was to keep prison populations in check. In 1996, the legislature changed this ruling, and while they still use the calculation, the release is at the discretion of the board.

You will find MANY threads in the Texas forum dealing with discretionary release. There are also tons of people in the Texas forum who will be more than happy to help. Let us know what questions you have after reading this, and we'll take it from there!

kath