MRIS - "Medical Parole"

Medically Recommended Intensive Supervision (MRIS) provides for the early parole review and release of certain prisoners who are mentally ill, mentally retarded, elderly, physically handicapped, or require long-term care -- as these terms are defined by the Texas Correctional Office On Offenders With Medical or Mental Impairments.

The purpose of MRIS is to provide for the release of prisoners who pose minimal public safety risk from incarceration to more cost effective alternatives.

MRIS is available to any prisoner who is not serving a death sentence.

An offender other than an offender who is serving a sentence of death or life without parole may be released on medically recommended intensive supervision except that an offender with an instant offense that is an offense described in Article 42A.054, Code of Criminal Procedure, or an offender who has a reportable conviction or adjudication under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, may only be considered if a medical condition of terminal illness or long-term care has been diagnosed by a physician, if:

• The Texas Correctional Office on Offenders with Medical or Mental Impairments, in cooperation with the Correctional Managed Health Care Committee, identifies the offender as being:

• A person who is elderly or terminally ill, a person with mental illness, an intellectual disability, or a physical disability, or a person who has a condition requiring long-term care, if the offender is an offender with an instant offense that is described in Article 42A.054, Code of Criminal Procedure; or

• In a persistent vegetative state or being a person with an organic brain syndrome with significant to total mobility impairment, if the offender is an offender who has a reportable conviction or adjudication under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure;

• The parole panel determines that, based on the offender's condition and a medical evaluation, the offender does not constitute a threat to public safety; and

• The Texas Correctional Office on Offenders with Medical or Mental Impairments, in cooperation with the pardons and paroles division, has prepared for the offender a medically recommended intensive supervision plan that requires the offender to submit to electronic monitoring, places the offender on super-intensive supervision, or otherwise ensures appropriate supervision of the offender.

For more information on MRIS procedures and how to pursue MRIS, you can contact Yolanda Torres at yolandamtorres@gmail.com