Day Release

Early History

Temporary release from prison dates from the mid-1800s when British prisoners were sometimes given an opportunity to earn supervised release on tickets-of-leave through display of repentance and good behavior. In the United States, early prison authorities and sheriffs informally allowed day release without any specific legislation or power to do so. Women particularly went out to domestic service during the day and returned to prison at night. The first day release legislation in the United States was the Huber Law. Passed in Wisconsin in 1913, it envisioned work release as providing support for prisoners' dependents. The real impetus for day release, however, came with the Federal Prisoner Rehabilitation Act of 1965, which allowed prisoners to “work at paid employment or participate in a training program in the community on a voluntary basis while continuing as a prisoner” (P.L. 89–176). Much state legislation followed the federal legislation.

Later History

Day release programs long preceded halfway houses and other residential community treatment, but the halfway houses also fit the definition as places of partial confinement, especially since offenders perceive release to a halfway house more onerously than does the public. The use of halfway houses in the United States expanded with rehabilitative corrections and the expansion of parole. In 1961, Attorney General Robert Kennedy recommended using federal funds to [Page 469]establish halfway houses, especially grants from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration and the Office of Economic Opportunity. At first, halfway house programs served to help inmates locate employment; it was only later that they developed into residential programs. By the 1970s, “budget weary legislators often viewed halfway houses as an inexpensive lunch” (Hicks 1987: 7) since costs might run as little as 60 percent of those of incarceration.

When retributive corrections became paramount in the United States in the early 1980s, funding for many day release programs disappeared. The introduction of determinate sentencing at about the same time also had a diminishing effect on day release. Determinate sentencing removed incentives for participation in day release because the offender already had an ensured date for full release. Another disincentive was the increase in prison industries: Prisoners usually preferred to earn money, however little, rather than participate in educational or training programs.

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