Preliminary and Final Revocation Hearing Process
The Final Revocation Process has several administrative steps. These steps include an Attorney Screening, Preliminary Hearing and/or a Final Revocation Hearing.
ATTORNEY SCREENING - Upon a person in custody being served a Notice of Charges and Violation Report by the Illinois Department of Corrections, if requested, an Attorney Screening will be conducted to determine if the individual meets the qualifications for a State paid attorney to represent them during the revocation process. An individual may elect to have private representation, at their own expense.
PRELIMINARY HEARING - An individual may choose to have a Preliminary Hearing upon being served their Notice of Charges and Violation Report. This hearing will determine whether probable cause exists to proceed to a Final Revocation hearing with the Illinois Prisoner Review Board. Probable Cause is established when the Hearing Officer finds that sufficient evidence is presented and reasonable grounds exist to believe the person in custody has committed any act which would constitute a violation of the law or conditions of parole or release.
FINAL REVOCATION HEARING - Upon a finding of Probable Cause by a Board assigned Hearing Officer or upon the person in custody electing to waive their Preliminary Hearing, and the person in custody being admitted into an Illinois Department of Corrections' facility, a Final Revocation Hearing will be scheduled. This hearing is to determine whether a preponderance of credible evidence exists to believe that one or more conditions of parole/release have been violated. A preponderance means that there is more evidence than not (51%) that a violation did occur. A revocation hearing may be conducted for violations of the law, a conviction has occurred, or if technical violations allegedly violated. A court decision alone, does not guide the Board's decision to find a violation.
Each Final Revocation Hearing will be conducted by one member of the Board in consultation with two other members. The majority of the three member panel must agree with the decision to make the decision valid.
The Board Members have the following options when making their decisions:
- Find the individual in violation and return them to parole/release status with or without additional conditions;
- Find the individual not to be in violation and resume them to parole/release, when plans are approved by the Parole Division of the Illinois Department of Corrections;
- Find the individual to be a violator and revoke their parole/release, at which time their time will be calculated by the Illinois Department of Corrections and a release date will be determined.