Prison, Parole, and Returnees

Prison, Parole, and Returnees

The word parole is a French term, which translated means “word of honor”. Offenders, who have been sentenced to prison, but who are released to the supervision of the Parole Board in their state before the end of their sentence, are “giving their word of honor” to abide by the rules of parole. The offender must report to the parole officer that they were assigned. The parole officer is charged with monitoring the offender. Rules of parole vary, depending on the area where the offender resides. If an offender violates parole, they could be returned to prison. Recidivism is the result of these returning offenders. Climbing recidivism rates have and will continue to affect all taxpayers as budget cuts end programs and support systems, making parole a failure waiting to happen, instead of the success it was meant to be for offenders.
Once an offender leaves the institution they were housed in, unless they have completed their whole sentence, they will be on parole, under the supervision of a parole officer. Many offenders have no social skills, little support from family or friends, most have no marketable job skills, and have never held down a steady job of any type.   The first few days they are home is a difficult time. In prison, they were told what to do, and when to do it. Being out on their own, having freedom they are not accustomed to, they are like a ship without a rudder and have no direction to their lives (Beck, 2000).
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), over 50 percent of those released from incarceration each year will be in some form of legal trouble within 3 years. In a paper written for the Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics the following table gives an example of the number of parolees that returned to incarceration in just the year, 2007 (Probation and Parole in the United States, 2007 Statistical Tables, 2008).

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