Parole Resources

This guide is intended to help you write book reports. Book reports can be an important way to show the Board that you are thinking about and working on some aspect of yourself and/or your life crime(s). Book reports can also help you to fill in gaps in the programming that is available to you at your institution. CLICK HERE

This Guide is intended to take some of the mystery out of what happens on the day of and during a hearing. As you prepare for the hearing, keep in mind that the main purpose of the hearing is for the Board to determine whether the person before them has identified the factors that contributed to their crime and whether they have taken appropriate steps while incarcerated to make sure those factors will not contribute to another crime in the future. ​CLICK HERE

This Guide is intended to help you understand the Comprehensive Risk Assessment (CRA or "psychological evaluation") process and challenge any factual errors, mischaracterizations, or omissions you find in those reports. CLICK HERE

This Guide is intended to help you through the process of writing letters of remorse to the victim(s) of your crime, to their families, and to the communities that you affected. Use this Guide as a resource to help you through your own journey of remorse, but do not feel tied to the advice given. CLICK HERE

This Guide is intended to help you draft a strong letter of support. Letters of support are an important part of the documentation the person you support will provide to the Board in advance of or during their parole consideration hearing. CLICK HERE

This Guide is intended to help you write a Relapse Prevention Plan (RPP). While an RPP is not required by the Board, it can be a very important document for you to prepare and give to the Board in advance of or during your parole consideration hearing. CLICK HERE

Compiled by Legal Services for Prisoners with Children Update January 2019 CLICK HERE

In the realm of higher education, behind bars correspondence studies reign supreme . While traditional college students attend school in-person, and some even via internet technologies such as Blackboard, prisoners largely participate in higher education the very old fashioned way: CLICK HERE

The California Prison and Parole Law Handbook (Prison Law Office, 2019) contains information about setting parole dates for people with indeterminate sentences and the parole suitability process. It also covers early parole eligibility consideration for people who committed their crimes when they were young, people who are elderly, people serving sentences for non-violent offenses, and people who are medically incapacitated or terminally ill. CLICK HERE

A How-To-Guide For Incarcerated People Seeking Resentencing Under California's Second-Look Resentencing Law CLICK HERE

The Basic Handbook for the Life Prisoner The purpose of this handbook is to teach you how to use the tools of grace, truth, and information to: Prepare for your lifer hearing, Have a successful hearing, Be prepared to file a writ, and fulfill your goal of earning Release CLICK HERE

An action guide for understanding and preparing for your parole hearing CLICK HERE

The Board of Parole Hearings has been conducting elderly parole hearings under a court order since October 2014. At these hearings individuals who have been incarcerated for 25 years, and are over 60 years of age are considered for parole release. CLICK HERE

On February 10, 2014, the federal three-judge court overseeing the California prison overcrowding class action case (Plata/Coleman v. Brown) issued order that required the State to develop and implement "a new parole process whereby inmate who are 60 years of age of older and have served a minimum of twenty-five years of their sentence will be referred to the Board of Parole Hearings to determine suitability for parole" CLICK HERE

BARCLAYS OFFICIAL CALIFORNIA CODE OF REGULATIONS TITLE 15. CRIME PREVENTION AND CORRECTIONS DIVISION 2. BOARD OF PAROLE HEARINGS CHAPTER 3. PAROLE RELEASE Article 17. Parole Consideration Hearings for Elderly Inmates is added to read as follows: ARTICLE 17. PAROLE CONSIDERATION HEARINGS FOR ELDERLY INMATES CLICK HERE

A Guide for People in Prison and Families and Friends CLICK HERE

Thank you for your interest in asking for a court hearing to make a record of how your young age at the time of your offense affected your actions. In People v Franklin (2016) 65 Cal.4th 261, the California Supreme Court said a defendant who will be entitled a youth offender parole hearing under Penal Code section 3051 may ask the superior court for permission to preserve evidence that is expected to helpful at the parole hearing. CLICK HERE FOR FULL DOCUMENT

This letter is for people sentenced to lengthy prison terms in California for crimes committed when they were juveniles (under age 18) or young adults (under age 26); these people are called “youth offenders.” The information here applies mainly to youth offenders whose convictions are final (no longer on appeal), and who are serving any of the following types of sentences: life without the possibility of parole (LWOP); indeterminate terms (life with the possibility of parole after a minimum number of years); and long determinate terms (a set number of years). CLICK HERE