2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XVIII - Prisons, Imprisonment, Paroles and Pardons › Chapter 127 - Officers and Inmates of Penal and Reformatory Institutions. Paroles and Pardons › Section 130 - Granting of Parole Permits; Record of Decision; Jurisdiction of Parole Board Over Parolee; Terms and Conditions Including Payment of Child Support Due Under Support Order; Certificate of Termination of Sentence; Alcohol and Drug Free Housing Requirement

Section 130. No prisoner shall be granted a parole permit merely as a reward for good conduct. Permits shall be granted only if the board is of the opinion, after consideration of a risk and needs assessment, that there is a reasonable probability that, if the prisoner is released with appropriate conditions and community supervision, the prisoner will live and remain at liberty without violating the law and that release is not incompatible with the welfare of society. In making this determination, the parole board shall consider whether, during the period of incarceration, the prisoner has participated in available work opportunities and education or treatment programs and demonstrated good behavior. The board shall also consider whether risk reduction programs, made available through collaboration with criminal justice agencies would minimize the probability of the prisoner re-offending once released. The record of the board's decision shall contain a summary statement of the case indicating the reasons for the decision, including written certification that each board member voting on the issue of granting a parole permit has reviewed the entire criminal record of the applicant, as well as the number of members voting in favor of granting a parole permit and the number of members voting against granting a parole permit. Said record of decision shall become a public record and shall be available to the public except for such portion thereof which contains information upon which said decision was made which said information the board determines is actually necessary to keep confidential to protect the security of a criminal or civil investigation, to protect anyone from physical harm or to protect the source of any information; provided, however, that it was obtained under a promise of confidentiality. All such confidential information shall be segregated from the record of decision and shall not be available to the public. Said confidential information may remain secret only as long as publication may defeat the lawful purposes of this section for confidentiality hereunder, but no longer. A prisoner to whom a parole permit is granted shall be allowed to go upon parole outside prison walls and inclosure upon such terms and conditions as the parole board shall prescribe, but shall remain, while thus on parole, subject to the jurisdiction of such board until the expiration of the term of imprisonment to which he has been sentenced or until the date which has been determined by deductions from the maximum term of his sentence or sentences for good conduct and any further deductions for compliance credits granted pursuant to section 130C, provided that such combined deductions shall not exceed 35 per cent of the term of imprisonment to which the prisoner has been sentenced, or until such earlier date as the board shall determine that it is in the public interest for such prisoner to be granted a certificate of termination of sentence. In every case, such terms and conditions shall include payment of any child support due under a support order, as defined in section 1A of chapter 119A, including payment toward any arrearage of support that accrues or has accrued or compliance with any payment plan between the prisoner and the IV–D agency as set forth in chapter 119A, provided, however, that the board shall not revise, alter, amend or revoke any term or condition related to payment of child support unless the parole permit itself is revoked. If the terms and conditions prescribed by the board include residence in alcohol and drug free housing, the board shall refer and require that the prisoner to whom the permit is granted reside in alcohol and drug free housing that is certified under section 18A of chapter 17 in order to satisfy those terms and conditions.