Ark. Code Ann. § 12-28-104 (2026)

1. 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.
2. 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.

History. Acts 1969, No. 377, § 9; 1981, No. 107, § 2; A.S.A. 1947, § 46-916; Acts 2009, No. 788, § 3; 2019, No. 910, § 776.

A.C.R.C. Notes. Acts 2009, No. 788, § 1, provided:

“Whereas, Arkansas Code § 12-28-101(a)(2) authorizes the Department of Correction to provide education and other rehabilitation and treatment programs designed to prepare inmates committed to the department for productive and law-abiding lives upon release from the Department of Correction; and

“Whereas, Arkansas Code § 12-29-301 establishes the Department of Corrections School System to provide elementary, secondary, and vocational and technical education to qualified persons incarcerated in the Department of Correction and the Department of Community Correction and qualified persons supervised by the Department of Community Correction; and

“Whereas, Arkansas Code § 12-29-101(d)(2) provides that inmates in the institutions of the Department of Correction may participate in and benefit from the vocational, educational, and rehabilitation services of their respective institutions solely within the rules and regulations of the department as determined by the director, subject to appeal and review by the Board of Corrections or a designated review board in accordance with procedures that shall be established by the board; and

“Whereas, the Corrections School System along with the Department of Correction and the Department of Community Correction have entered into agreements to provide college courses to qualified persons under Administrative Regulation 500 which are taught onsite by accredited college and universities.”

Amendments. The 2009 amendment inserted (b) and redesignated the remaining text accordingly; and in (a), substituted “Parole Board” for “Post Prison Transfer Board” and inserted “the defendant in the case.”

The 2019 amendment substituted “Department of Corrections” for “Department of Correction” in (a).