With the enormous caseload that most parole officers handle -- 50 percent higher on average than it was in the mid-'70s -- interactive supervision has given way to electronic surveillance, rigid drug testing and mandatory reporting. Instead of providing support for a former inmate, parole officers have become quasi-law enforcement. They carry guns, wear badges and often re-incarcerate parolees for technical violations like failing to report or failing a drug test.
In 1985, 70 percent of parolees successfully completed their parole periods. By 2003, fewer than 47 percent were making it through their parole periods, according to national averages for state prisons. Those who violate their parole and are re-incarcerated account for 35 percent of all prison admissions -- the fastest growing area of incarceration.
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There is some reason for hope. Organizations like the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention at the University of Illinois at Chicago, for example, provides innovative programs aimed at treating violence as a disease. The Chicago program, called CeaseFire, uses ex-offenders in much the way Alcoholics Anonymous uses recovering alcoholics to convey a message of recovery and hope. Some suggest that CeaseFire is part of the reason the homicide count in Chicago has dropped significantly from last year's nation-leading numbers. There were 393 homicides through the beginning of November 2004, down 126 from the same time the previous year.
Many progressive counties are considering reentry programs to assist former inmates to reintegrate into their communities. The programs vary in scope, but the emphasis is on providing life skills, employment opportunities, housing options and educational enhancement. Drug and alcohol treatment, mental health services and behavioral disorders are also provided. Through such efforts, the goal of local government is to help former inmates become productive, law-abiding citizens.
The federal government has also acknowledged that helping ex-offenders successfully reenter society can prevent and deter future criminal acts, although it has not allocated anywhere near the amount of resources needed to deal with the problem.
If men and women like John Popovich are to have a good chance of making a go of it on the outside, governors and state legislatures will ultimately have to deal with this issue, even in an era of declining state budgets. Logic dictates that re-incarcerating two out of every three offenders is a costly, self-defeating effort. A public official can still be tough on criminals while being smart on crime prevention by reducing the cycle of incarceration and, in turn, reducing costs and victimization.
Author's e-mail:
matthewmangino@aol.com
Matthew Mangino is the district attorney of Lawrence County in western Pennsylvania. He also serves on the executive committee of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Institute. He was a Democratic candidate for Congress in 2000.
