Evening star., 1938-08-02
Parole

Parole
Continued From First Page.)
Of the penal institutions. and District
omcials revealed that this request is
being considered by the office Of Cor
poration Counsel Elwood H. Seal for
presentation to Congress next session.
The board now has no appropriation
of its own and its staff Of seven per-
sons Is on the pay roll Of the penal
institutions.
Function Of Parole STAFF.
While reporting cooperative work
with penal officials, the Parole Board
said:
1T is not sound policy to have
parole officers dependent in any man.
ner whatsoever upon the officers Of
the penal institutions. The Parole
Board should be as independent as
any court and the parole staff should
be responsible solely to the Parole
Board. Any division of responsibility
or any co-mingling of accounts is con-
trary to the public interest"
The board found support for this
move in the report last year of the
Prison Industries Reorganization Ad-
pointed by President Roosevelt. which
made an analysis OF the District penal
situation.
In discussing the problems of re-
leased prisoners on completion Of their
terms. less good time, the board said:
I'VE are far less concerned about
the men to whom we grant parole, who
are carefully selected. than We are
about the others, totaling over 500. to
whom We denied parole. Most of the
latter will be released in year or two,
even il denied parole.
They are more dangerous type
than the other group. It is most diff
cult to find jobs for them. Many OF
them are hardened criminals. They
come out from the reformatory with
very few dollars in their pockets, often
not more than IS or $6. which is gone
within a few days. The community
then has on its hands men who are
probably hardened criminals without
jobs and, therefore, with . very strong
temptation to commit new crimes.
Releases Revoked.
During the year. it was necessary
for us to revoke the conditional re-
leases Of 127 of these men. While the
law places this difficult group under
our jurisdiction, we are not at all sat-
isfied with the results obtained or with
the protection to the public which the
present system affords.
with our present inadequate staff
of parole officers, it Is not possible to
give this more difficult group adequate
supervision. To find jobs for them is
almost impossible. 1t is a community
problem of serious proportions. The
comparatively innocent men who are
granted parole involve far less hazard
to the community than this larger
and more difficult group, consisting
largely of confirmed criminals, who
are released upon the community be-
cause of the expiration of their sent
| ences.
THE average net sentence, even for
| the more serious crimes, like robbery,
does not average more than four or
five years. The result is that In a
comparatively short time these serious
| offenders are back on the hands Of
the community with no adequate plan
for assimilating them"
The board is requesting the pro-
vision of four additional persons on
its staff for the next fiscal year, in
cluding two additional field officers,
one assistant institutional parole on
Ger and one additional stenographer
for work on records at the reformatory
Even Car Request Denied.
Recalling that Congress had denied
previous requests for separate budget
and an increase in its stan, the board
said: Even our request for Ford
car to enable our parole officers to
make their rounds oficially was turned
down. An enormous amount of time
is wasted riding on trolley cars"
After a flare-up of agitation several
years ago over the granting Of parole
to one or more hardened criminals"
the Commissioners directed that prior
to each parole hearing. the board
should make public announcement of
all the cases coming up for parole
consideration.
The board blamed this rule for a
part of the responsibility for the fact
that IS per cent Of prisoners eligible
for parole had refused to apply for
release. The board said the rule "has
not proved helpful to us. The pub
licity tends to make more difncult the
rehabilitation of the men. We sug-
gest for your consideration that only
the names of those in whom there
is real public interest be published in
the future"