The bill would amend the Government Code as it relates to certain inmates’ eligibility for mandatory supervision if they were convicted of injuring a child and to reconsideration of parole eligibility for those inmates. Under the provisions of the bill, an inmate may not be released to mandatory supervision if the inmate is serving a sentence for or has been previously convicted of a second- or third-degree felony for injuring a child. Also under the provisions of the bill, the Board of Pardons and Paroles (BPP) could delay reconsideration of these offenders’ eligibility for release to parole up to five years after the date of the previous denial.

 
By allowing the BPP to delay reconsideration of these offenders for release to parole, the bill’s provisions could increase the length of incarceration for prisoners convicted of certain offenses involving child injury. However, the bill’s provisions do not affect parole eligibility criteria and only provide the BPP the option to delay reconsideration; therefore, it is assumed the BPP would make similar parole approval decisions under the bill’s provisions as before these provisions were enacted. It is assumed that these provisions would not have a significant impact on length of stay and, as a result, would not significantly impact state correctional agencies’ workload and programs.

Also, under the provisions of the bill, offenders convicted of certain child-injury offenses would be ineligible for release under mandatory supervision. Among fiscal year 2012 prison releases, offenders who were convicted of certain child-injury offenses and released to mandatory supervision had an average length of stay of 1,021 days. Since mandatory supervision would no longer be a release option for these offenders, they would be released under parole supervision or discharged upon completion of their entire sentence. Their length of incarceration is expected to increase by 172 days based on a weighted average of the length of incarceration for fiscal year 2012 prisoners who were convicted of certain child-injury offenses and discharged or released to parole.

In order to estimate the future impact, the proposed conditions of the bill have been analyzed using recent trends observed in populations convicted of certain child-injury offenses and released from prison. Assuming sentencing patterns and release policies not addressed in this bill remain constant, the probable impact of implementing the provisions of the bill during each of the first five years following passage, in terms of daily demand upon the adult corrections agencies, is estimated as follows: