It would seem commonsense would dictate that anytime someone who commits a crime that involves a victim that the victim, or their family should be notified.  Some folks buy into the whole “they paid their debt to society” bit, but crime victims never get back what they lost.  From the Gasden Times:

Mary Anne Rippey of Killen doesn’t like a new bill that allows the prison commissioner to parole terminally ill inmates, even convicted murderers, to nursing homes.

Rippey, whose brother was killed in 1999, said the bill that passed in the special legislative session allows the release of certain incapacitated or dying inmates even if they’re serving life sentences for murder.

Victims must be notified before an inmate can be released under the medical furlough plan, but there’s no requirement to take victim objections into account. Inmates can be released to a family member, to mental hospitals and even to nursing homes.

“When you look at the bill, the biggest thing is the prison commissioner has the exclusive power in decision-making to release people,” Rippey said. “We have a parole board right now, why go around it?

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