Texas Attorney General Opinion: MW-361 Page: 1 of 2
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The Attorney General of Texas
August 17, 1981MARK WHITE
Attorney General
Supreme Court Building
P.O. Box 12548
Austin, TX. 78711
512/475-2501
1607 Main St., Suite 1400
Dallas, TX. 75201
214/742-8944
4824 Alberta Ave., Suite 160
El Paso, TX. 79905
915/533-3484
1220 Dallas Ave., Suite 202
Houston, TX. 77002
713/650-0666
806 Broadway, Suite 312
Lubbock, TX. 79401
806/747-5238
4309 N. Tenth, Suite B
McAllen, TX. 78501
512/682-4547
200 Main Plaza, Suite 400
San Antonio, TX. 78205
512/225-4191
An Equal Opportunity/
Affirmative Action EmployerMr. Ruben M. Torres, Chairman
Texas Board of Pardons & Paroles
Stephen F. Austin Building, Room 711
Austin, Texas 78711Opinion No. MW-361
Re: Interpretation of article
42.12, 15(d) Code of Criminal
ProcedureDear Mr. Torres:
You have requested our opinion regarding the proper construction
of section 15(d) of article 42.12, Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.
That section provides:
A prisoner who has not been released to
mandatory supervision and has 180 calendar days or
less remaining on his sentence may be released by
order of the Board to mandatory supervision.
Section 15(c) provides, in pertinent part:
A prisoner who is not on parole, except a
person under sentence of death, shall be released
to mandatory supervision by order of the Board
when the calendar time he has served plus any
accrued good conduct time equal the maximum term
to which he was sentenced. A prisoner released to
mandatory supervision shall, upon release, be
deemed as if released on parole. (Emphasis
added.)
You explain that the Board of Pardons and Paroles has heretofore
construed the word "sentence" in section 15(d) to refer to the maximum
term to which a prisoner was sentenced by the trial court, without
taking into account any good conduct time under section 15(c). You
ask whether the Board may interpret the word "sentence" to refer to
the release date imposed by section 15(c), i.e., the maximum term less
good conduct time.
Crediting good conduct time is not discretionary, but is required
by the clear language of section 15(c). Thus, for purposes of
determining a prisoner's release date, a "sentence" in section 15(c)
seems to refer to the prisoner's maximum term less good conduct time.
We believe that the Board's proposed construction is in fact the mostp. 1208
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: MW-361, text, August 17, 1981; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth272206/m1/1/: accessed April 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.