As an earlier poster noted, the Texas prison system came under the control of Judge (In)Justice in the 1970s who is very pro-criminal. Plus, throughout the 1970s and 1980s, there was rampant corruption in the Texas parole process.
In the 1990s, after Kenneth McDuff, the legislature toughened up the parole eligibility requirements and the standards for actually being rewarded parole.
This guy has good timing.
It was not timing at all. He was a modle prisoner. The law in Texas at the time he was convicted said that anyone doing a life sentence was eligible for parole every seven years. This was his second time to be up for parole. The "massive early paroles" you speak of were not applicable to convicts with violent offences, muder is a violent offence.