I am a concerned Texan and an attorney in San Antonio that represents
prisoners throughout the State of Texas. I am hired privately by my client's and
their families and speak directly with Parole Board Members on individual
cases. I have been doing this work for several years and have spoken to
different
Parole Commissioners all over the state on hundreds, if not thousands, of
occasions.
My office is currently heavily involved in a fight to maintain the
current eighteen member parole board in Texas. Recent bills have attempted to
reorganize the Parole Board, creating seven Parole Board Members and eleven
Commissioners. Such a reduction would have a monumental impact on the level and
quality of communication the Board would have with offenders, and the families
of
offenders. I feel that it is critical for my office and organizations like
yours to express our concern about this issue.
I am interested in joining any prisoner or victim rights or other
prison related group and getting mutually agreed upon messages noticed by the
legislature. I feel such an effort will require our grassroots cooperation. I
have
already written the Texas House and Senate members on this issue and would
like to work with other organizations on similar common ground issues. If your
organization sends me a blank letterhead sheet I will order some of your
organizations letterhead and compose a letter to the Texas legislature arguing
our
similar issues. I will then send the completed letter to your organization and
your organization can approve or amend and approve the letter then have it
signed by your a member or leadership in your organization and send it back to
my
office.
Once I have your approval, I will then print up the letter and send it
out to each of the Texas House and Senate members at no charge to your
organization. All I need from your organization is your blank letterhead and
your
approval of the letter we send. I already have the database, staff and knowledge
to communicate your message to the legislature. In this way the hard work,
knowledge, experience and resources of my office can greatly benefit our mutual
causes.
My only other requirement is that we also send a separate letter
showing a desire to maintain the current size of the Texas Parole Board. In this
way as a member of your organization I can further your issues and in return
your organization will be supporting our mutual interest in preventing the
reduction of the Texas Parole Board as well.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at your earliest
convenience.
Sincerely,
Paul A. Hampel
1-888-707-2765
1-888-70-PAROLE
cell: (210) 325-0536
www.lawyertexasparole.com

Below is part of my reasons for maintaining the current Texas Parole Board.
Recent bills have attempted to reorganize the Parole Board, creating seven
Parole Board Members and eleven Commissioners. Such a reduction would have a
monumental impact on the level and quality of communication the Board would have
with victims, offenders, and the families of victims and offenders. The Texas
Board of Pardons and Paroles currently votes a minimum of two votes and as
many as eighteen votes for each case in a prison system housing over 140,000
inmates. At the present time, many persons have expressed a desire to have
contact
with the actual voters at the time when decisions are made. Under the current
system, victims are assured of communication and the Board sincerely attempts
to speak with all persons seeking correspondence on each case.
This communication effort is an enormous task and is an essential part of
intelligent, informed, and fully comprehensive parole decisions. The concerns of
victims, the level of support, and a detailed review of both the state,
inmate, victim and family information must be considered for a comprehensive
review
to occur. This detail and time is necessary to grant the privilege of parole
where it is deserved. This effort also reduces recidivism by granting parole to
inmates with a reasonable chance of success on parole. All of these factors
must be considered as a whole by a single individual if informed votes are to
continue in the future. This comprehensive task will be greatly compromised by
separation or delegation of the different factors in the decision that would
result from this proposed reorganization.
The efficiency of the parole system will also be greatly compromised if the
size of the Parole Board is reduced or if the parole decisions are separated
and divided amongst different parole personnel. The effort required to make
these decisions will have to be duplicated by several members if the duties are
divided. This would result in a much less efficient system that would be more
bureaucratic and would compromise the overall quality of the voting process.
In the current budget times it is critical for all Texas government to give
careful consideration to all expenses. I feel this is a key reason for urging
maintaining the current Parole Board structure. The changing of the Parole
Board structure involves considerable retraining and effort. This retraining
takes
a great deal of time. The resulting inefficiency would be a burden to the
entire Parole system that would result in considerable costs.
Over the last eight years I have seen tremendous progress on the part of the
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. These accomplishments include, but are not
limited to the following:

" The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has become more efficient using
taxpayer money judiciously with great caution and skill.
" The Board has provided greater access to the public both in terms of
important information as well as individual time to families wishing to speak
with
Parole Commissioners.
" The Board has developed and published clearer guidelines easily understood
by the lay public that explain the bases and reasons for the individual parole
decisions.

These accomplishments are the result of hard work and considerable
cooperation on the part of all of the Parole Board's members and staff. The
current
communication and cooperation of the Parole Board is exceptional. It has allowed
the Parole Board to accomplish a great deal in a short period of time. I urge
maintaining the current Parole Board structure based on these accomplishments
and efforts. Such passion and commitment in government must be valued if
government is to operate at it's highest level. I hope you will consider these
thoughts in your service.
Thank you for your time and efforts in this matter.
Sincerely,
Best wishes,
Paul A. Hampel