At least 5 inmates released from prison early due to medical issues are now wanted fugitives

HOUSTON - Here's the question facing the Texas Department of Criminal Justice: How do you lose track of inmates who are supposed to be gravely ill?

Every decade, the Sunset Advisory Commission audits different state agencies. A deep dive into TDCJ brought a strange dilemma to light. It involves prison inmates who are released early due to terminal illness.

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"You've got to be kidding me," said Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers. "How do you go from getting released, because you're supposedly at death's door, to now we don't even know where you are?"

The Sunset Commission found, "As of the third quarter in fiscal year 2024, five Medically Recommended Intense Supervision releasees had absconded, which means TDCJ cannot locate the releasees because they left their approved residence. Conversely, inmates have died from their conditions shortly after they have been denied MRIS, and others have been approved for MRIS, only to die before release."

"What are their offenses? What are you doing to find them? Should the public be notified," Kahan said.

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TDCJ won't give us any info about the wanted inmates, including their names.

During a Sunset Committee hearing in Austin, State Representative Lacey Hull pressed TDCJ Chairman Bryan Collier for more information.

"How many, in total, offenders released on medical parole do we not know the location for and have absconded?" Hull asked.

Collier responded, "I can get you numbers, I can go back roughly 10 years."

This isn't the first time TDCJ has lost track of an inmate claiming to be gravely ill. In 1998, Steven Jay Russell was granted a special medical parole, but his disease was bogus. He ended up going back to prison after trying to fake his own death.