Parole

Origins and Evolution of Parole

Chief credit for developing the early parole system usually is given to Alexander Maconochie [Page 677](1787–1860), who was in charge of the English penal colony at Norfolk Island, almost 700 miles off the coast of Australia, and to Sir Walter Crofton (1815–1897), who directed Ireland's prisons. Maconochie criticized finite prison terms and developed a system of rewards for good conduct, labor, and study. Through a classification procedure he called the “marks system,” prisoners could progress through stages of increasing responsibility and ultimately gain freedom. Under his direction, task accomplishment, not time served, was the criterion for release.

Walter Crofton implemented Maconochie's marks system in the Irish Prison System in 1854. After a period of strict imprisonment, Crofton transferred offenders to “intermediate prisons” where they accumulated “marks” based on work performance, behavior, and educational improvement. Eventually they would be given tickets-of-leave and released on parole. Parolees submitted monthly reports to the police, and a police inspector helped them find jobs and oversaw their activities. The concepts of intermediate prisons, assistance, and supervision after release were Crofton's contributions to parole.

Zebulon Brockway (1827–1920), a Michigan penologist, was the first to implement parole in the United States. He proposed a two-pronged strategy for managing prison populations and preparing inmates for release: indeterminate sentencing (where inmates would earn release based on inprison behavior) coupled with post-prison parole supervision. He put his proposal into practice in 1876 when he was appointed superintendent at a new youth reformatory, the Elmira Reformatory in New York. He instituted a system of indeterminacy and parole release, and is commonly credited as the father of both in the United States.

Indeterminate sentencing and parole spread rapidly through the United States. In 1907, New York became the first state formally to adopt all the components of a parole system: indeterminate sentences, a system for granting release, postrelease supervision, and specific criteria for parole revocation. By 1942, all states and the federal government had such systems. By the mid-1950s, indeterminate sentencing coupled with parole release was the dominant sentencing structure in every state, and by the late 1970s, nearly 80% of all U.S. prisoners were released as a result of a parole board discretionary decision.

Parole seemed to make perfect sense. First, it was believed to contribute to prisoner reform by encouraging participation in rehabilitation programs. Second, the power to grant parole was thought to provide prison officials with a tool for maintaining institutional control and discipline. The prospects of a reduced sentence in exchange for good behavior encouraged better conduct among inmates. Finally, release on parole as a “back end” solution to prison crowding was important from the beginning. Indeterminate sentencing coupled with parole release was a matter of absolute routine and good correctional practice for most of the 20th century.

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