Chapter 11 Prisoner Reentry

Introduction 95% of all prisoners will one day be released from prison, most on either mandatory supervision or discretionary parole release Reentry means the process of preparing for release from prison and the release into the community itself while remaining under supervision

About 600,000 prisoners are released from state and federal prisons every year Unconditional releases, receiving no supervision because they have served their full sentence, account for 20% Parole is the conditional release of an offender, under continued custody, to serve the remainder of the sentence under supervision

Mandatory release (postrelease supervision) is granted automatically at the expiration of time served plus good time credit and is established by law Discretionary release is determined by members of a parole board who decide that a prisoner has earned the privilege of release while remaining under supervision in the community

The Origins of Parole Parole is derived from the French parole d’honneur, meaning “word of honor” Parole originated almost simultaneously in Europe with: Manuel Montesinos, a Spaniard, in 1835 Georg Michael Obermaier, a German, in 1842 Alexander Maconochie, an Englishman, in 1837

A 1597 English law provided for the transportation of English prisoners to America The king granted reprieves and stays of execution-pardons-to convicted felons who could be put to work in the colonies Upon arrival in the colonies, the services of the prisoner were sold to the highest bidder, resulting in indentured servitude

The Revolutionary War ended the transportation of criminals to America and resulted in same practice to Australia in 1788 In 1811, the ticket of leave was adopted to shorten the sentence The Marks System was proposed by Alexander Maconochie in 1837 The Norfolk Island penal colony was transformed by Maconochie using the Marks System as superintendent in 1840

The Irish System was modeled after Norfolk Island by Sir Walter Crofton in 1854, based on: Strict imprisonment Indeterminate sentence Ticket-of-leave Prisoners released under the Irish System were supervised by police in rural areas and an inspector in Dublin

Development of Parole in the U.S. Parole was first tried in the U.S. at the New York Elmira Reformatory in 1876 Four concepts justified parole in the U.S.: Reduction in the length of incarceration as a reward for good conduct Supervision of the parolee Imposition of the indeterminate sentence Reduction in the rising cost of incarceration

The indeterminate sentence was adopted in 1876 in New York By 1944, every state had adopted parole and indeterminate sentencing The Medical Model, based on rehabilitation, was the primary philosophy from 1930-1960 A philosophical change occurred in the 1970s as individualism, rehabilitation, sentence indeterminacy and parole all fell from favor

The medical model and indeterminate sentencing were replaced by the justice model and determinate sentencing because of: Steadily increasing crime rates The perceived failure of rehabilitation programs The perception that parole boards were incapable of making predictive judgments about offender’s future behavior

In contrast to the rehabilitative idea, the just desserts or justice model changed the focus from the offender to the offense Determinate sentencing abolished or tightly controlled discretion The Justice Model sought to end the “haphazard and irrational manner” that sent some offenders to prison and said the goal of sentencing should be punishment

From Discretionary Parole to Mandatory Release In 1977, about 88% of prisoners were released by a parole board By 2003, the percentage was reduced to only 24%-39% of released prisoners, while mandatory release numbers increased As of 2001, 15 states had abolished parole and another 5 abolished discretionary release

Parole Today After abolishing parole boards, some states have reintroduced discretionary release to control for institutional crowding In 2005, 765,300 (347 of 100,000 population) were on parole 53% were on mandatory release 40.5% were on some form of discretionary release Less than half successfully complete their term

Functions of Parole Parole is tasked primarily with protecting the public from released offenders, and accomplish this goal by: Enforcing restrictions and controls on parolees in the community Providing services that help parolees integrate into a non-criminal lifestyle Increasing the public’s level of confidence in the system

Parole boards have functioned in some states as the “back door” of America’s prisons Medical parole, or compassionate release, is the conditional release of prisoners with a terminal illness The optimal solution regarding the indeterminacy of sentencing and the proper role of parole is not yet at hand and will continue in the public policy debate.