NCJ Number
205259
Journal
Review of Policy Research Volume: 21 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2004 Pages: 93-106
Date Published
January 2004
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Based on interviews with 53 Kentucky parolees, this study examined the effectiveness of Kentucky's current parole system; recommendations are offered for correcting what the study found to be a failed system.
Abstract
Beginning in May 2002, initial parolee interviews focused on three types of cases: persons currently on parole supervision in the Louisville area; persons within this group who had been on supervision for an extended period of time and were viewed by parole staff as "successful;" and parolees who had "failed" supervision and had been recently returned to prison for their revocation hearing. In September 2002, additional interviews were conducted with persons who had "served out" their prison sentences and were released without parole supervision, as well as with more inmates who had their parole revoked and were returned to prison. The study found a lack of effective prison programs, inmates leaving prison with little or no money, problems with finding employment upon release, parolee mistrust of parole officers, the need for protection from petty parole violations, the loss of credit for good time served on parole, and the lack of economic resources. A number of the interviews focused on overcrowding in the prison system; inadequate, deteriorating facilities; bad food; poorly trained staff; and token education and vocational programs. The impression was that the Kentucky prison system was operated as a warehouse with little attention to inmate needs or rehabilitation. The study's major finding was that Kentucky was operating a "perpetual incarceration machine." The prison system failed to prepare inmates for release into the community, and the parole system compounded the problem by operating like a law enforcement agency that focused on detecting parole violations. The study recommends terminating the practice of violating parole for failing drug and alcohol tests, curfew violations, and misdemeanors and restricting violations to convictions for a new felony. Parole agencies should end the adversarial relations between parole staff and parolees, provide treatment or hospitalization for parolees with serious drug problems, hire persons with social science rather than criminal justice degrees, hire job developers for each office, and give less emphasis to supervision and surveillance. Other recommendations pertain to public employment for ex-inmates, sentencing reform that eliminates long prison sentencing for nonviolent drug offenses, and the use of correctional alternatives to imprisonment. 28 references