By 1999, it had dropped to 46.6 percent of inmates seeking parole for the first time.

Instead, he said, his example demonstrates that inmates seeking freedom should not draw attention to themselves.

Some inmates did not seek clemency, and their briefings might take only 15 minutes.

He said much of his work is to motivate inmates to seek treatment in community-based organizations once they're discharged.

But again and again, the board members expressed skepticism that any inmate seeking release would meet their criteria to be set free.

Furloughs would permit inmates to have job interviews, seek housing and perhaps become reacquainted with a family.

The inmates are seeking damages from their estates.

And he said the inmates were seeking assurances that there would be no "reprisals or repercussions" after the uprising ended.

The inmate, Wilford Berry, 36, who was convicted of murdering a former boss in 1989, had sought to be put to death.