If you’ve watched a lot of prison shows, you may have noticed a common theme among
many of the inmates who are interviewed by the television crew.
That being, many of them don’t seem able to take responsibility for their own actions.
For instance, you may have heard some say something along the lines of, “It wasn’t
my fault.
If she wasn’t in the room, I wouldn’t have had to ‘shake her up,’” or, “I
was just doing what kids do, messing around because I was bored.
All I did was harmlessly ‘jack’ someone and they went and put me here in the slammer!”
Perhaps some are simply unaware of why their crimes negatively impacted other people.
Others may just be feeling a little salty that they had been caught.
Regardless of their reasoning, we think it’s safe to say that these arguments wouldn’t
hold up in front of a parole board.
So, what is parole?
How does it work exactly and what’s the process?
First off, we think it should go without saying that any arguments like, “I was dared to
do it” or, “if the kid didn’t have the lollipop in the first place, I wouldn’t
have had to steal it,” aren’t going to earn you a whole lot of sympathy.
So, if someone is that dense while in jail, they can probably kiss their chances for parole
goodbye.
Uttering something like this is almost on the same level or mental capacity as asking
a Disney World staff member, “what time is the 3 o’ clock parade?”
If you want out of prison, you really must pick up some degree of common sense with your
choice of words and be on your best behavior.
This includes owning up to and accepting responsibility for past behavior while working to improve
your conduct in the future.
According to our sources, parole is “conditional freedom for a prison inmate.”
The prisoner, also referred to as the “parolee,” gets freedom from behind bars, “but has
to live up to a series of responsibilities.”
Not everyone who is arrested gets considered for parole.
According to justia.com, “offenders who have been convicted of first-degree murder,
kidnapping, rape, arson, or drug trafficking are generally not eligible for parole.”
For a prisoner to go through the process of parole, they must first serve a portion of
their prison sentence.
The case is then referred to the board who decides whether they should be released into
the community or continue the remainder of their sentence.
We should note that a parolee who violates the rules of the conditional release risks
being returned into custody.
So, what are these rules and how does a prisoner become a parolee?
It really depends on the severity of the offense and the individual.
To answer these questions in more depth, we should first explain the process of the parole
board.
The job of a parole board is to decide if it is safe to release certain people from
prison.
Safe for society, that is.
The parole board’s interest isn’t focused on the inmates themselves but, rather, more
towards the safety and wellbeing of the community of law-abiding citizens outside of prison.
Thus, parole is not really that easy to obtain.
It must be earned.
Good behavior alone isn’t enough to do this since the parole board also considers everything
from age and mental stability to prior criminal record.
When members of the parole board examine a prisoner’s case, they study and scrutinize
hundreds of pages of evidence about the person, from the initial sentencing to how they behaved
in prison and what their plans are upon release.
It is a grueling process that requires a lot of training on the part of the parole board
members.
So, the prisoner should put on his best front while being interviewed if he hopes to gain
a sliver of their approval for release.
Parole board members also consult a wide variety of experts including psychologists, psychiatrists,
probation officers and prison staff who have worked with the person.
So, if you’re a prisoner who has continuously harassed and verbally abused the guards from
your cell, this is where karma can kick you to the curb.
The victim is also invited by the parole board to explain how the crime has impacted his
or her life.
So, if you’re the prisoner going through the process with the parole board, you’d
better hope and pray that your victim does not hold a serious grudge against you.
As you can probably imagine, the position of parole board members comes with a lot of
pressure.
If the board gives approval to release a prisoner and that person returns to a life of crime,
they’ve just unintentionally unleashed criminal activity back into society.
That means that the weight of any actions the person takes against others are on their
shoulders.
Thus, it makes sense that members of the parole board would be tough to sway since they must
take the decision-making process very seriously.
It is also probably a lot easier for them to deny prisoners release than to grant it.
Thus, they will only release someone from prison if they truly believe that the risk
to the public is minimal.
So how do parole board members determine that someone is safe enough to release?
First, they question whether the person going through parole completely understands what
lead them to commit their offense in the first place.
This requires some level of self-awareness on the part of the prisoner as well as the
capacity to take responsibility for the crime that was committed.
Our introduction for this episode opened with lines that are examples of terrible responses
to give to questions from a parole board.
So, what is an example of a good answer?
Probably something along the lines of, “I recognize that what I did was terrible, and
I live with the guilt every day.
I never should have attacked my girlfriend with that banana.
I am always working on ways to improve myself while I am in prison so that I can be an asset
to the community and a productive member of society once I am released.”
As goofy as the banana example is, it is not that far fetched.
Believe it or not, this really did happen.
In January 2014, a Florida man – not surprisingly – was arrested for domestic violence after
assaulting his girlfriend with a banana.
Interestingly, a woman in Lake County, Florida, was also arrested in October 2013 for twerking
in front of a school bus full of children.
She was charged with disorderly conduct.
Luckily, she didn’t have to go through the parole board since she was released from jail
after posting a $250 bond.
Nevertheless, we think that being a parole board member in the state of Florida must
be pretty interesting, to say the least.
So, what else do parole board members look at?
Well, as part of the decision-making process, they examine the factors that could lead the
prisoner to potentially commit the offense again.
They also look for evidence of change and how the person is different now from when
the crime was committed.
They want to know if the person under review has used their time in prison productively
while working on the issues, problems and addictions that got them arrested to begin
with.
One important question that is asked by the parole board is “what will your life be
like outside of prison?”
When asked this, it is best to explain your plans for a different lifestyle from the one
you had before.
We wouldn’t recommend an answer like, “well, I hope to reunite with my old gang and maybe
hit some bars and clubs like we used to.”
Instead, you should maybe explain how you plan on doing some volunteer work, perhaps
with old people in a nursing home, reading to the blind, or helping out at an animal
shelter.
Maybe discuss how you plan on applying for a small job and getting a little apartment
in a clean part of town.
Emphasize how your release will benefit rather than burden the community.
The parole board also wants to know about your family relationships and whether you
will have enough social support when you are outside of prison.
The field of psychology consistently highlights the vitality of social connections and support
in many ways.
Having others for encouragement and support has a massive influence on those trying to
get through a wide variety of difficult situations.
From grieving the loss of a loved one to recovering from alcoholism, we often take for granted
the importance of having others around to help us through tough circumstances.
This also applies to prison inmates.
According to a 2016 dissertation by Hail-Jares, “considerable research has illustrated how
social support systems contribute to better in-prison behavior, prompt prosocial identity
change, and, eventually translate into lower long-term recidivism rates.”
Just as hanging out with the wrong crowd can encourage maladaptive behavior, spending time
with good people can promote healthy, beneficial, proactive behaviors, which, in turn, lower
the chances of a prisoner recommitting an offense.
The problem, as Hail-Jares explains, is that many incarcerated men tend to be drawn towards
other inmates to lean on for support leading up to release.
It can be difficult for prisoners to obtain social support from the outside since their
family members may have ostracized them for their crimes and for getting arrested.
Making wholesome, new friends outside of prison can also be difficult since your label as
an ex-convict may make you more susceptible to being ostracized by others.
Thus, the subject of social support consideration by the parole board is a common obstacle for
prisoners hoping to be released.
After all, what law-abiding citizens want to associate with a criminal?
One of our more eccentric writers, who once thought of the random idea for a diamond studded
collar for your pet cockroach, told us about a peculiar experience she had when she was
single and using online dating sites and apps.
She arranged to meet with a guy in a public setting that she had been chatting with via
keyboard for about a week or two.
He said that he had to meet at a restaurant in a specific location, which seemed a little
odd to her at first, but she shrugged it off and continued with the date anyway.
While eating lunch at a sushi restaurant, he mentioned that he had a 6 o’clock curfew
and couldn’t stay out late.
She was puzzled by this as it seemed a little more than unusual.
Upon further inquiry, her date admitted that he was on house arrest and couldn’t stay
out later than this.
Startled, she nearly choked on her sashimi.
She then attempted to make the politest excuse possible while hightailing it outta there.
So, guys, as a side suggestion, you should take heed of this story because if you’re
ever on a first date that is going badly, telling the girl that you’re on house arrest
might just end up being your ticket to freedom.
It has the added benefit of granting you with the perfect excuse to end the date early if
need be.
If, however, your date ends up being okay with it when you lie about being on house
arrest... well, we wish you luck with that.
Here at the Infographics Show, the misery of our writers’ experiences provide us and
you, our beloved viewers, with endless, quality entertainment.
This is why we decided to exploit - er, rather, use her story as a real-life example to demonstrate
how it can be difficult for prisoners to form new friendships and relationships once they
are out of prison or undergoing some form of porbational punishment.
Like with the case of the poor house arrest guy.
Now, part of you may be wondering what the difference is between parole and probation.
Prisonfellowship.org explains that, whereas parole is a period of community supervision
upon release from prison, probation is a court-ordered period of supervision in the community that
is an alternative to jail or prison.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, about 4.8 million people in the U.S. are on
probation or parole.
Probation is mainly restricted to those who are low risk, first-time, non-violent offenders.
House arrest is included in the probation category, which means that our writer’s
past online suitor was probably not that bad, or, at least, not a “hardened” criminal.
Maybe she overreacted.
Though, we can also see why she would have been too shocked to continue her date.
After all, online dating can be daunting and nerve-wracking as is with the average joe
or the average jane, let alone with someone who has offended the law in the past.
If you’ve watched our other video, The Tinder Killer, then maybe you have some inclination
of what we mean.
So, if you’re on house arrest or undergoing any kind of probation or parole, it might
be best just to be upfront about it when trying to meet people, especially when using online
dating resources to do it.
Find someone who is cool about that sort of thing.
Either that or you could simply take the easy way out and blame the timid girl who didn’t
want to finish your date, saying, “well it was all her fault for not being cool with
me about my house arrest situation.”
Whatever floats your boat.
Though, we should mention that this attitude might hinder rather than benefit your cause.
So, for prisoners who earn parole, what are some of the rules they must follow once they
are released into the community?
Some examples of conditions include regularly reporting to parole officers, mandatory participation
in intensive supervision programs, finding and maintaining regular employment, no drug
or alcohol usage, no leaving the state without permission – if in the U.S., and no associating
with others who have criminal records.
This last one can be tough since, as we just mentioned with our writer’s comical story,
it can be a challenge for anyone with a criminal record to befriend the average, non-offender
without being scrutinized for their past activity.
Thus, life as a parolee can be quite limiting.
But at least it’s better than being behind bars.
What do you think about the process of parole?
Would you be cool with befriending or even dating ex-convicts or parolees?
Do you already know someone who is going through parole?
We’d love to hear your stories.
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video Jail vs Prison - What's ACTUALLY The Difference?!
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!