A.
The Mississippi Code of 1972 Annotated, §
47-7-5 created the Mississippi
Parole Board, hereinafter referred to as "The Board."
B. The Board has exclusive authority for
granting or revoking parole as provided by Miss. Code Ann. §§
47-7-3,
47-7-17, 47-7-27, and 47-7-29. However, the Mississippi Supreme Court has
repeatedly announced that an inmate's parole is only a privilege, not a
right.1
C. The Board may adopt such rules not
inconsistent with law as it may deem proper or necessary with respect to the
eligibility of offenders for parole, the conduct of parole hearings, or
conditions to be imposed upon parolees. The Board shall have the authority to
adopt rules related to the placement of certain offenders on unsupervised
parole and for the operation of transitional reentry
centers.2
D. The Board has exclusive responsibility for
investigating clemency-recommendations upon request of the Governor.
E. The Board has no statutory authority over
operations of the correctional system. The Mississippi Department of
Corrections hereinafter referred to as "The Department," has sole authority as
to where inmates are housed, program assignments, designation of trustees,
granting of leaves, computation of parole eligibility, disciplinary actions and
supervision of parolees.
1 "......because the Mississippi
parole statutes contain no such mandatory language, employing the permissive
"may" rather than "shall," prisoners have "no constitutionally recognized
liberty interest" in parole. Vice v. State, 679 So. 2d 205,
208 (Miss. 1996). Additionally, parole should not be used as leverage in a plea
deal.
2 However, in no case shall an
offender be placed on unsupervised parole before he has served a minimum of
fifty percent (50%) of the period of supervised parole.
