Within one (1)year after his admission and at such intervals thereafter as it maydetermine, the board shall secure and consider all pertinent informationregarding each offender, except any under sentence of death or otherwiseineligible for parole, including the circumstances of his offense,his previous social history, his previous criminal record, includingany records of law enforcement agencies or of a youth court regardingthat offender's juvenile criminal history, his conduct, employmentand attitude while in the custody of the department, the case plancreated to prepare the offender for parole, and the reports of suchphysical and mental examinations as have been made. The board shallfurnish at least three (3) months' written notice to each suchoffender of the date on which he is eligible for parole.
Before rulingon the application for parole of any offender, the board may requirea parole-eligible offender to have a hearing as required in this chapterbefore the board and to be interviewed. The hearing shall be heldno later than thirty (30) days prior to the month of eligibility.No application for parole of a person convicted of a capital offenseshall be considered by the board unless and until notice of the filingof such application shall have been published at least once a weekfor two (2) weeks in a newspaper published in or having general circulationin the county in which the crime was committed.The board shall,within thirty (30) days prior to the scheduled hearing, also givenotice of the filing of the application for parole to the victim ofthe offense for which the prisoner is incarcerated and being consideredfor parole or, in case the offense be homicide, a designee of theimmediate family of the victim, provided the victim or designatedfamily member has furnished in writing a current address to the boardfor such purpose. Parole release shall, at the hearing, be orderedonly for the best interest of society, not as an award of clemency;it shall not be considered to be a reduction of sentence or pardon. An offender shall be placed on parole only when arrangements havebeen made for his proper employment or for his maintenance and care,and when the board believes that he is able and willing to fulfillthe obligations of a law-abiding citizen.When the board determinesthat the offender will need transitional housing upon release in orderto improve the likelihood of him or her becoming a law-abiding citizen,the board may parole the offender with the condition that the inmatespends no more than six (6) months in a transitional reentry center.At least fifteen (15) days prior to the release of an offender onparole, the director of records of the department shall give the writtennotice which is required pursuant to Section 47-5-177.Everyoffender while on parole shall remain in the legal custody of thedepartment from which he was released and shall be amenable to theorders of the board. Upon determination by the board that an offenderis eligible for release by parole, notice shall also be given withinat least fifteen (15) days before release, by the board to the victimof the offense or the victim's family member, as indicatedabove, regarding the date when the offender's release shalloccur, provided a current address of the victim or the victim'sfamily member has been furnished in writing to the board for suchpurpose.
Failure to providenotice to the victim or the victim's family member of the filingof the application for parole or of any decision made by the boardregarding parole shall not constitute grounds for vacating an otherwiselawful parole determination nor shall it create any right or liability,civilly or criminally, against the board or any member thereof.
A letter of protestagainst granting an offender parole shall not be treated as the conclusiveand only reason for not granting parole.
The board mayadopt such other rules not inconsistent with law as it may deem properor necessary with respect to the eligibility of offenders for parole,the conduct of parole hearings, or conditions to be imposed upon parolees,including a condition that the parolee submit, as provided in Section 47-5-601 to any typeof breath, saliva or urine chemical analysis test, the purpose ofwhich is to detect the possible presence of alcohol or a substanceprohibited or controlled by any law of the State of Mississippi orthe United States. The board shall have the authority to adopt rulesrelated to the placement of certain offenders on unsupervised paroleand for the operation of transitional reentry centers. However, inno case shall an offender be placed on unsupervised parole beforehe has served a minimum of fifty percent (50%) of the period of supervisedparole.