Parole in the United States

Derived from the French word parole means “word,” the applied meaning is “on your word” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2012). The Parole system in the United States is designed to give some inmates in prison a second chance at changing his or her life for the good through conditional release. While some in society do not believe in parole and have a hard fast theory that if a person does the crime then do the time. While that is true for crimes like murder or crimes committed on children but for lesser offenses like bad checks or some forgery cases there must be a balance of crime versus punishment. The prison system is overcrowded and the cost to keep a person incarcerated for a crime that would be better served on probation or in rehabilitation programs. Parole plays a significant role in a state corrections system and if it were not available to some inmates there would not be a reason to behave while incarcerated or participate in programs to rehabilitate or change his or her life.

“The mission of the Division of Probation and Parole is to enhance public safety and promote offender reintegration in the community through proactive supervision and referral to community based resources” (Commonwealth of Kentucky, 2011).

The parole system has a very lengthy history dating back to the 1800s. The two main prisons at the time were the English colony at Norfolk Island ran by Alexander Maconochie and Ireland’s prisons off the coast of Australia ran by director Sir Walter Crofton. Maconochie disapproved of fixed prison terms so he developed the mark system. Through the mark system, prisoners earned responsibilities through study programs, labor, and good conduct. The idea behind was that the more responsibilities earned would lead to the prisoner release. The release was not considered time served but task accomplishment. When Maconochie became superintendent at Norfolk, he was able to institute his mark’s system program, and the prisoners