Victims Visitors’ Day scheduled January 7, 2015

Atlanta, GA – The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles will hold the January monthly board meeting Tuesday, January 6, 2015, at the Columbus State University Georgia Law Enforcement Command College, 3902 University Avenue, Columbus, Georgia 31907. The meeting will begin at 2 p.m.

Parole Board Chairman Terry Barnard says the Board is pleased to be able to hold the meeting in Columbus.

“The Parole Board is grateful to Columbus State University for making it possible for the Board to hold its January meeting in Columbus as an off-site meeting. For several months the Board has made every effort to take its monthly meetings into various communities across the state. We hope that by taking our meetings locally, whenever possible, it will allow the public a better opportunity to attend and will afford the Board more tools to communicate its functions and responsibilities more effectively,” stated Barnard.

The meeting is open to the public. However it should be noted that offender cases are not discussed and parole decisions are not made at the Board’s monthly meetings. It will be the second board meeting conducted away from the Atlanta central office headquarters in the last three months. The October 2014 board meeting was conducted at Hays State Prison in Trion.

Additionally, the Board members will be in Columbus the following day, Wednesday, January 7, 2015, for a Victims Visitors’ Day. During this day-long event, crime victims will meet with parole staff including board members to discuss the crimes and offenders in their cases. That event begins at 10 a.m. at the Columbus Government Center Plaza, 100 Tenth Street, Columbus, Georgia, 31902.

The Board consists of five full-time members who make parole decisions. In FY 2014, the Board made more than 76,000 clemency decisions regarding parole cases.

For more information on the Parole Board, please visit the website at www.pap.georgia.gov.

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