You Want the Ex-con to Succeed, Lest He Return to a Life of Crime

    We send them back to prison on no more of a parole violation than failure to report that they are living at a new address. We have such an extensive parole system, that it traipses them in and out of court, tying up court time that could be used for more meaningful cases.

   We have twice as many people on parole and probation as we do prisoners in prison cells -- so many that if we gathered them all together to form a city, it would be the second-largest city in the nation. 

   Often, the parole and probation work is done by contracting it out. We should audit the private firms that work with our parole and probation, for if the art of private enterprise is to reduce costs, are we?

   No longer sending them back to prison for small infractions makes sense. We do not need people in prison for such simple offenses as "absconding," or, in other words, failing to report where they are living.

  Probation and parole needs to be refocused. It should largely be there to serve the ex-con, not to reconvict him. If we want them to reform, we need to place them back in society in a way that gives them the best chance to succeed. If they lack a job, or if we have them paying fees they cannot afford, they are more likely to return to a lives of crime. 

  If they end up in homes where there are bad influences, they will return to lives of crime. Our current system does call for placing them in homes where other people live who also have criminal records, and in homes where drugs are not present. But, the ex-convicts largely find their own homes, then the probation or parole officer just comes by and checks off on it. It shouldn't be that way. The probation and parole officers should find the homes. Jobs? If the ex-con finds his or her own job, that is well. But the P and P officer should also be doing that. And, once in a job, the parolee often needs even better income than what it offers, so the parole officer should be looking to place the person in yet a better job. 

   Again, the probation and parole officer should be there to help the parolee or person on probation. They should be doing every thing they can to make the transition coming out of prison pleasant and comfortable. You want the ex-con to adapt, so, rather than making it hard for him, you should make it easy.

Utah Department of Corrections Adult Probation and Parole