By Crystal Simmons
Your Houston News
DALLAS, Texas — With more alternative programs in place for inmates, the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole is pardoning more inmates and seeing fewer return to jail, according to Commissioner with the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole Lynn Ruzicka.
Ruzicka, one of 14 commissioners with the board, gave an update on the parole system during the last Houston Northwest Chamber public safety forum.
Out of the inmates up for parole, 27-28 percent were released in 2001 while the current release rate hovers around 35 percent, said Ruzicka. A 2 percent increase in approvals translates into approximately 1,500 additional parole releases per year and an annual savings of almost $26 million, a 2010 report by the Center for Effective Justice showed.
“We’ve gotten more options so revocations are going down,” she said. “The release rate is going up because of the programs we have.”
Full story: More inmates up for parole, fewer returning to jail