(a) The Parole Board shall be the paroling authority for the units of the Department of Corrections and shall make recommendations to the Governor in cases from the criminal courts that, in the board's opinion, the defendant in the case should be pardoned.
(b) The board shall consider the work skills, education, rehabilitation, and treatment programs recommended to the inmate upon intake and determine whether the inmate took advantage of those opportunities while incarcerated in the department in making decisions regarding parole.