Our Parole Guide is Now Available to People Incarcerated in Texas Prisons
Dear Friends,
I have important and exciting news to share: Texas Defender Service’s guide on how people can advocate for themselves on parole is now available to everyone in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. People incarcerated in Texas prisons can now access the guide for free through their tablet!
The guide, called “How to Write Parole Packets: A Guide to Writing a Parole Packet—For Incarcerated People and Their Loved Ones, By Someone Who’s Been There,” was written by Jorge Renaud, who spent 26 incarcerated in Texas prisons.
Jorge wrote this guide to help others like him advocate for themselves to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Incarcerated people and those who love them deserve a voice in whether they will be granted a second chance. Many people who are incarcerated in Texas are prepared to return to their families and communities, but the parole board denies them a second chance at an alarmingly high rate. In practice, people who are incarcerated have little access to information about how to effectively advocate for themselves before Texas’s Board of Pardons and Paroles. “How to Write Parole Packets” will help change that.
The reality is that most of the time, the Texas Parole Board doesn’t review details about a person’s life and their goals when deciding whether they deserve a second chance. In fact, Institutional Parole Officers who conduct parole interviews tend to focus on a person’s criminal history and substance use history without allowing the incarcerated person to share their personal growth or a detailed plan for reentry. Unless an incarcerated person or their family submits a packet, the Texas Parole Board will not have any information besides what is submitted by the Institutional Parole Officer.
Through this free guide, individuals who are incarcerated can think through how to better provide context for past events, share their accomplishments, and explain how they have prepared to reintegrate in their communities. This means more incarcerated people will be able to share their story and ensure members of the Texas Parole Board have all the relevant information before making a decision.
“How to Write Parole Packets” is already available to the public on Texas Defender Service’s Parole Website.But now, anyone who is incarcerated in Texas can access the guide for free through the Edovo app. Edovo is an education nonprofit focused on providing educational opportunities for incarcerated people nationwide. We share our thanks with Edovo for partnering with us to ensure that all incarcerated Texans have access to this important guide.
This is just the next step in our goal of making self-advocacy parole resources more accessible to people incarcerated in Texas and their families. We will continue to provide trainings for family members of incarcerated people and in the coming months will begin parole training workshops inside TDCJ facilities.
With gratitude,
Burke Butler
Executive Director
Texas Defender Service
