On May 12th, Maryland Governor Wes Moore signed House Bill 467 / Senate Bill 822 into law.
Based on Campaign Zero's research on parole across the United States, and sponsored by Delegate Embry and Senator Smith, this bill is poised to be the most significant update to parole in Maryland in a generation, impacting every parole-eligible person in the state now and into the future.
Parole allows incarcerated people to be reviewed at a parole hearing, conducted by the Parole Commission (parole board), after serving a specified portion of their sentence in prison. If deemed ready by the Commission, rehabilitated individuals will transition to a period of “community supervision,” which allows them to return home to their families and jobs while formally remaining under the custody of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
Maryland law does not currently specify how frequently a person should get parole hearings once they become eligible for parole. In this absence, the Maryland Parole Commission required people to apply for parole hearings and had the discretion to deny parole hearings to any incarcerated person. The legislature made their offense eligible for parole, the judge gave them a parole-eligible sentence, but the Commission could decide not to grant them a parole review. Some people waited decades for their next hearing, others never received a second one.
That changes on October 1st.
Because of this bill, a majority of people will now be guaranteed a parole hearing no later than every two years, and no one will wait longer than five years. These set cadences are based primarily upon the length of a person’s sentence, along with additional consideration for the nature of the offense type for longer sentences. The new schedule will allow all parties – the Parole Commission, incarcerated people, and victims – to know when parole hearings will occur and be able to plan and prepare in advance.
Sentence of 10 Years or Less: Parole hearings not later than every two years.
Sentence Over 10 Years: Parole hearings not later than every three years.
Sentence Over 20 Years for a Crime Against an Individual: Their second hearing will be not later than three years. All subsequent hearings will be not later than every five years.
Establishing a schedule for parole hearings is only the headliner — this bill does so much more, including:
Enhanced Transparency: Current state law requires an annual report from the Parole Commission, but does not specify what information the report must include (Md. Code, Corr. Servs. § 7-208). This bill requires the Maryland Parole Commission to include specified hearing data in its annual reports, including parole grants and denials, disaggregated by race. This data will provide critical insight into decision-making patterns.
Automatic Record Access: Until now, parole-eligible people and their representative had to request access to documents that would be reviewed by the Commission to make a parole release decision (Md. Code, Corr. Servs. § 7-303). This bill ensures these documents are provided automatically, reducing administrative barriers and delays.
Clear Justifications for Parole Decisions: Current Maryland law requires the Commission’s votes to be made public (Md. Code, Corr. Servs. § 7-304), but this bill adds a mandate that the Commission’s justifications for its votes are also public record.
Timely Notification of Parole Decisions: The wait time for people to be notified of parole hearing outcomes shortens from up to 30 days (Md. Code, Corr. Servs. § 7-307) to a maximum of 14 days.
Extension of Time to Appeal: Today, incarcerated people only have five days to decide whether or not to appeal a parole decision (Md. Code, Corr. Servs. § 7-306). This bill increases the time allotted to the incarcerated person and the Parole Commission to file an exception (appeal) to a decision from five days to 30 days.
Recording of Parole Hearings: A new section is added to state law requiring all parole hearings to be recorded, for the recordings to be provided to the incarcerated person at no cost, and for the recordings to be retained for at least three years after their incarceration, supervision, or appeals are exhausted (whichever happens last).
Increased Victim Consideration: Requires the Parole Commission to consider all victim impact statements, not just the most recently updated (Md. Code, Corr. Servs. § 7-305), prior to deciding parole release.
This bill impacts almost every incarcerated person in Maryland — approximately 15,000 people — and will continue to help every person given a parole-eligible sentence into the future.
A healthy parole system provides regular, standardized opportunities for people to be reviewed for their readiness to return to community. Not everyone will be released, but everyone should be treated fairly throughout the process and given an opportunity for meaningful review.
With the signing of this bill, we’re moving closer to this goal, helping ensure the Maryland parole system continues to improve its standards and serve the public interest. But there’s more to be done — stay tuned for our future work at the next session in January 2027. We’re just getting started.
House Bill 467
Delegate Elizabeth Embry (D - Baltimore City)
Senate Bill 822
Senator William Smith, Jr. (D - Montgomery County)
If you’re new to our parole work, check out our blog post: On the Issue of Parole. Our website with our full review of parole laws across the country is scheduled to be released later this year.
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