We all agree that the criminal justice system as a whole in is need of some urgent repairs. The prison system is just one part of the system with the other two being the police and the judiciary.
One system that can be developed and implemented to tackle some of the problems in the prison is a parole system.
What is a parole system? It is a system by which people who have been convicted and are serving time in prison for specific crimes are given an opportunity to make a case for early supervised release from prison.
How a parole system works is that Mr A may be serving a sentence of six years for a specific crime. This crime will have to be on an approved list of crimes that makes one eligible for parole. This list does not necessarily have to include serious crimes like murder, manslaughter, rape, drug trafficking, kidnapping, etc.
After serving a part of the sentence, for example, 50 per cent, Mr A can apply to a Parole Board for consideration of parole. There, he will have to make a case that he has been reformed, displayed good behaviour while in prison, expressed remorse for committing the crime, will not be a threat to the victim, relatives and/or the wider society, will be able to find meaningful employment, has support systems like a family, etc.
The Parole Board then looks at his request, interview him and other stakeholders etc, and makes a determination. If parole is granted, Mr A will be released from prison and assigned to a parole officer. Mr A is given a list of things that he can and cannot do while out on parole, for example, he must obey the law, must refrain from drugs and alcohol, must not make contact with the victim, must gain employment, must maintain contact with the parole officer etc.
Once there are any breaches to these rules, the parolee (Mr A) will be sent back to prison to continue the rest of his sentence. Therefore, parole is a type of provisional release.
What will a parole system bring to T&T? Clearly, there can be a reduction in overcrowding in the various prisons. This would be most welcome! Then, it allows prisoners who were well-behaved and rehabilitated before the end of their full sentence to be reintegrated into society under supervision. A parole system also provides motivation for prisoners to behave well in prison so that they become eligible for parole. Therefore, behavioural problems in prison can be lessened.
The economy can benefit whereby employment is also created as there will be need for a parole board, parole officers etc.
There are hundreds of people who are graduating from various local and regional universities in areas of social work, mediation, sociology, psychology, criminology, law etc, and cannot find relevant employment. This is a right opportunity to jump start this sector.
Parole systems have been in place in several countries and have been working fine. It is not a perfect system. Like any other system, there may be some issues, but in the big picture of criminal justice it brings benefits to many.
Over a decade ago, there was a Cabinet-appointed Parole Introduction Committee established in T&T to advise on this matter. It included experts from various relevant spheres of society. However, the committee's work ended prematurely.
There is time now for the country to revisit this development in our criminal justice system as we strive to be on the cutting edge of things. From the research gathered, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. We can examine what exists elsewhere and adjust it to suit our peculiar needs.
Do you know that in T&T we have a system currently whereby people who are sentenced to a particular term of imprisonment benefit from a mandatory reduction in the actual length of time they are held behind bars? It is 50 per cent or 33 per cent off depending on the sentence.
This means, therefore, that whether a person is "ready" for early release in terms of having been rehabilitated etc, he is automatically released from prison before his sentence ends.
Would it, therefore, make more sense to have a person applying for such early release through a parole system and have this release granted based on good behaviour, rehabilitated etc? Would it also make more sense for this early release to be supervised and conditional, ie, what a parole system would have provided? So, we have a system whereby people are being released from prison "early" without any checks and balances on his/her readiness for society.
The intriguing question now is: is there a relationship between our current mandatory early release policy and the current crime rate or prisoner reoffending or prisoner recidivism rates?
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