Evening star., 1939-07-23
Parole Board
Acts 10 Keep
independence
Separate Budget
Also Requested
In Report

In Report
Assertions that the Districts pa
role system should be held in an in
dependent status, despite other re-
organization that may come to the
municipal government, and provided
with a separate budget Of its own,
were voiced by the Board of Inde-
terminate Sentence and Parole in its
annual report, released last night.
I'm any reorganizat ton of the Dis
trict government, We ask that the
matter OF an independent status for
the parole board be given careful
consideration" the report stated.
I'VE believe that the facts contained
IN this report show the need of a
board OF parole that is not only in
dependent but adequately equipped"
The report was signed by all three
members of the board, Frank R. Jel-
left, chairman; DR.. Emmett j. Scott
and Wilbur La Roe, jr.
AT the outset of the report, the
board told the Commissioners, I'VE
again call your attention to the ad-
visibility, first, of seeing that our
board IS given an entirely independ-
ent status, with a separate budget
entirely separated from the budget
OF the penal institutions of the Dis
trlct, and second, the absolute neces-
slty OF giving our board a budget of
adequate proportions to do the work
along lines and in accordance with
the principles set down by the At
torney Generals conference on pa
role, held at the request of the Presi-
dent and held in our city last April"
Improvement Reported.
In spite of all handicaps, the Dis
trict's parole system has shown i'm
provement in the last II months. the
board said During the last fiscal
year 472 per cent of all new applica-
tions filed were granted, as COM
pared with So per cent in the pre-
vious fiscal year.
However, the board said that "un-
fortunately more than half the
prisoners fail to apply for parole,
that only 418, or 46!6 per cent of the
897 prisoners eligible for parole dur
ing the last year, filed applications.
Partly, this was due to a desire on
the part of the men to avoid un-
necessary publicity and, in part, to
the inability of the board to do ade-
quate pre-parole work both in prison
and outside. due to an inadequate
staff, the board said.
mo parole system can be said to
work satisfactorily when more than
half the men fail to apply" said the
board. "Of those men who do ap-
ply we grant less than half; this is
in part because due to an made
quate staff we are unable properly
to supervise all who are under our
charge
| The result is that only about
one-fourth of all the prisoners are
released on parole, and the corol-
larry Of this is that three -fourths
of the prisoners are released with
out parole but on conditional re-
lease and under the supervision of
our board for the period of their
good-time allowance.
Grave Danger Cited.
Included in the latter group are
the more dangerous felons, released
only because their sentence has ex-
pired. constituting a grave danger
to the public. These dangerous men
are released without a home. with
out job and with a strong pos
sibility that they will revert to
crime because there is no other
means of obtaining a living and
without the assistance the law has
presumed they will have from the
| Parole Board.
This danger is intensified by the
release of many such prisoners with
considebaly less than the $40 gra-
tuity contemplated by law. This
may save reformatory money, but
it is cruel and unwise sort of
economy"
The board said that during the
last year it had released 1l9 pris-
oners, of whom only two had their
paroles revoked, these for violations
of the Districts board rules, and not
i for new crimes. This is a rather
remarkable record" the board said
! At the same time the board had
under supervision a group of 314
persons, representing all PAROLES re-
gardlesS of the time they had been
on parole. But even in this large
group. there were only 10 violators,
the board said, there being only one
| case IN which the crime was of
such nature to call for a sentence
Of over year.
Prepare Confidential Records.
There were 9l6 men, on condi-
tional release-not parole-who were
under the boards supervision last
year, those who are automatically
released at the expiration of mini
mum sentences. For this group, the
board said, it was obliged to issue no
less than 159 warrants during the
last year. The board revoked the
conditional releases and returned to
the reformatory l06 men in this
category for wide assortment of
new crimes, including housebreaking,
burglary, embezzlement and assault
with an adequate staff for pre-
| parole work and supervision after
release, we feel that we could greatly
reduce this serious hazard to soci-
ety." the board declared. These
men are a danger to the community,
not only because they are released
without plan, but because the
supervision is inadequate"
The board warned that because
of its inadequate staff, even the con-
fidential records in regard to pris-
oners, and their families, were large
ly prepared by prisoners and for this
reason such information becomes
common knowledge" among all the
inmates. "Our repeated pleas for
more help have to a considerable
extent been disregarded," the board
concluded.